Clarence Page’s remarks on how the Jewish and African-American communities respond to Louis Farrakhan were well taken.
However, as a “professional in the field,” I must comment that it surprises me how often that well-intentioned people, including community and religious leaders, tell me that they do not understand the Jewish community’s emotional response to Farrakhan.
The reality is that Jewish people in this country feel pain, anger and fear toward Farrakhan not only because of what he says about Jews and what his organization publishes and distributes about Jews, but because of the official invitations he receives and the huge cheering audiences he attracts.
Farrakhan is a dangerous brew of good ideas mixed up with hate and anti-Semitic propaganda. While it may be true that Jewish organizational response to Farrakhan has not always been good, this should not distract us from the real issue at hand.
Farrakhan is too often treated as an issue of black-Jewish relations, both by leadership and the press. Rather, we should treat our demagogues equally, be they David Duke or Louis Farrakhan. They should be exposed, not analyzed. They exploit our communities and get in the way of our dealing with the real problems.
