From Beirut to Jerusalem: Updated with a New Chapter

Identity and Justice
To Be Jewish, To Be Islamic, To Be Me
Michael T. McPhearson
June 2002
 

I don’t know where to start. So much has already been written. What can I possibly add to the discussion?

Justice

 Friday April 12, 2002 – Palestinians from the Greater New York and New Jersey Region held a large protest in Times Square. I happened to have brought my video camera to work that day so I followed a group of demonstrators who passed my office. During the course of recording I asked a young Palestinian boy who looked to be about 12 or 13 why was he demonstrating? The boy answered with, “Why are you video taping and why do you want to know?” Being fair and astute questions I began to answer him when suddenly a women asked me, “Did you demonstrate against South Africa?”

Caught off guard I replied, “What?”

She said, “Did you demonstrate here against South Africa?”

I thought to myself, “Why is she asking me about South Africa? Is it simply because I am Black?” I then replied, “Before I answer let me ask you why did you ask me that?”

“Because you are Black.”

“OK and what if I said yes?”

“Then that’s why we are here and that boy is here, to fight for freedom and what is right.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then too bad. You should have because you are Black.”

I looked at her and asked, “Am I human? Are you human?”

She replied, “Yes.”

Then could I not demonstrate for Palestinians, or women, or Blacks? Justice is everyone’s right.”

I relate this story to you because it cuts to the core of the problem, one’s identity and idea of justice.

 Identity

To Be Jewish

Growing up I did not have any Jewish friends nor was I aware of any Jews living near me. But as a Southern Baptist Christian the children of Israel were an important part of my religious education and the development of my faith. I was taught that the Israelites were God’s chosen people. They were chosen to bring the light of God to the world by acting as an example of God's love for all of humanity. The Jews in essence were a kind of role model to study in an attempt to understand their successes, mistakes and moments of glorious redemption in the eyes of God.

I listened, read and memorized biblical stories like Jonah and the Whale, Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, and Noah and the Ark. These stories helped me develop a sense of justice and laid the foundation for my spiritual faith. As an African American the story of the Exodus resonated loudly in my heart as a shared experience of slavery and the spiritual journey to freedom with God guiding the way. The Children of Israel always played an important role in my life. They were and are my spiritual brothers and sisters.

Learning about the Jewish Holocaust served to enforce these feelings of kinship in the struggle for justice. The shared experience of government sanctioned and sponsored oppression and the enormity of the tragedy was not lost on me as a child. Today the horror of the tragedy spurs me on to fight for justice.

To Be Palestinian

I grew up squarely rooted in a strong belief in Jesus as the messiah, the savior of all humanity. While my views of him have changed to focus on his humanity rather than his divinity he continues to be my primary spiritual role model. This did not and does not stand in the way of my admiration for Muslims and the prophet Mohammed. My introduction to Islam was via the Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan. I remember little discussion about the Nation, but there was an air of respect in my family for them. It was clear to me that the men in the bowties represented something powerful in the African American community, my community. The community shared the Nation of Islam’s rejection of dark skinned people as inferior and in need of White people’s mercy and generosity. The Nation was and continues to be an important symbol of Black defiance. Their rejection of Christianity is understood. It is Black rejection of White Christian supremacy taken to a logical conclusion. Especially when one knows that many of the enslaved Africans brought to the “New World” where Islamic and that Christianity was used to pacify slaves and sanction slavery. We as Black people know the Nation's ability to forge their own path comes in part from their religion. These feelings easily translate into respect for the religion of Islam.

I do remember at some point feeling a kind of kinship in the struggle for freedom with the Palestinians. Parallels to the idea of a nation of homeless Africans in America were drawn for me by Black activist culture. This Black activist dogma has a strong current of Black Nationalism. It is important to understand that one can be a Black Nationalist and not be a Separatist while it is near impossible to be a Separatist and not be a kind of Black Nationalist. It is also difficult not to sympathize with the Black Separatist view if one is a Nationalist. Both Nationalist and Separatist begin their reasoning with the concept of race as the decisive driving force for all people of African descent to organize and work together. This reasoning is enforced by the clear condition of oppression and racism faced by Black people across the globe. Both see the West and in particular White people as the implementer and benefactor of this worldwide oppression and both believe the answer to Black people casting off the yoke of oppression rest in Black hands. The belief in separation as a viable answer is the point of departure for many Black Nationalist from Black Separatist. But this worldview of Black economic oppression and western dominance runs as a deep and wide undercurrent in the Black community and informs much of African American political thinking. It is an important part of the political reality of being a person of African descent in the United States. This worldview allows for empathy for the Palestinian people.

The Civil Rights Movement is a defining event in U.S. history because the nation took tremendous strides towards its professed value of equality in opportunity and justice for all people. It was a time of transition as a nation struggled to recognize itself as its citizens lived the human condition of coming to terms with each other. Most important, the movement facilitated the American experiment of democracy. Black and Jewish activist formed an extremely effective coalition that helped bring about this movement

It has been made clear by popular culture through the media and education system that the Civil Rights Movement is a primary reason for the economic and social success of dark skinned people in present day America. But the before mentioned importance of the movement for all American citizens is seldom talked about. The boon the movement gave Jews is discussed even less. Why was the movement so important to Jews? Remember, the world was only ten years removed from the horrors of WWII and the Jewish Holocaust when on December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give her bus seat to a White man. The questions of “Why?” and “Could It Happen Again?” weighed heavy in the world but especially for Jews. The streak of racism that permeates U.S. culture is not confined to dark-skinned people. The anti-Jewish rhetoric that fueled the Nazi attempt at their extinction is also alive in America. Europeans who had no use for Jews in their native countries brought hatred for Jews with them when they settled America. As a result the Klan and their ilk hate both Jews and Blacks. The xenophobic tendencies of the Christian Right include rejection of Catholics (also Christians), Jews and Muslims. The Southern Baptist vote to convert Jews is an obvious institutionalized example. Jews were and to a much lesser extent than before the Civil Rights Movement still are a marginalized group. The Civil Rights Movement helped Jews in their attempts to achieve acceptable levels of security in the United States in a time when to be Jewish was to be the less than White. The recognition of the equality of dark skinned to white skinned people under the law elevated the societal expectation of how all white skinned people should and would be treated by society. In short, the movement helped secure Jews status as Whites. The coalition proved mutually satisfying.

But as always relationships change. Western dominance in world affairs and the before mentioned disposition for Black activist popular political thought to empathize with peoples around the globe facing Western dominance naturally led to Black sympathy for the Palestinians. The Jewish American interest in a strong Israel and the realities of color that allow a large number of Jews to be nominally accepted into the dominant White society, widened the already existing color divide between African Americans and Jewish Americans.

TO BE ME

I am deeply saddened by the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. The Israelis and Palestinians are humans in search of justice but blinded by their idea of identity. The conflict seems beyond answers. But the answers lie in respect for human life, the recognition of an individual’s right to be treated with dignity, and the expression of these values in social and economic outcomes. Historical and political considerations are simply points of division to use as excuses to oppress. War demands we pick a side and place winning above all else. I will not pick a side in this circle of death. I am both pro Palestine and pro Israel. Peace demands we see our humanity in the other and justice be the goal. I believe Israelis and Palestinians have joint responsibility in creating a just peace. It is time for new ideas and actions. It is time we demand justice for Palestinians and Israelis. Justice for the people. Justice for all of us.

 http://blackhistory.eb.com/

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/nation-world/html98/bapt_19990909.html