An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Racism: Alive and Well In The South
Pastor’s flier used to ‘incite tensions’
The Anti-Defamation League on Monday condemned a flier circulating in Memphis that says U.S. Rep. “Steve Cohen and the Jews Hate Jesus,” saying it “attempts to incite tension” between African-Americans and Jews.
Now, if I remember my Bible lessons, it wasn’t the Jews, per se, who hated Jesus. It was the ruling class in the Temple who had issues. They feared him because He made it known that they were doing nothing more than paying lip service to the teachings of the Old Testament.
The flier, which provides the name and telephone number of Rev. George Brooks of Murfreesboro, Tenn., has been in circulation since at least last Thursday. On Monday, Brooks took responsibility for the broadside.
He said he sent the flier because the 9th Congressional District is “about 90-something percent black.” According to the latest U.S. Census, in 2000, the district was 59.7 percent black.
So, by that sort of logic (or lack thereof) Barack Obama can’t represent me as President of the United States, because, well, I’m white….mostly. Better tell all those white folks that have voted for him in the primaries!
On Monday, Cohen, a Memphis Democrat, said he doesn’t know who Brooks is or why someone in Murfreesboro — well outside his district — would want to incite discrimination.
My guess is this Brooks character subscribes to the Louis Farrakhan doctrine.
The Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, released a statement in Atlanta Monday condemning the flier, saying, it “makes an outrageously false claim about Jews’ attitudes toward Jesus, and it attempts to drive a potentially dangerous wedge and incite tensions between African-Americans and Jews in Memphis.”
I guess the name Michael Schwerner doesn’t ring a bell with some folks anymore.
Last August, the Black Baptist Ministerial Association took Cohen to task for his support of the Hate Crimes bill vote he’d cast months earlier. When he was given an audience before the group, one minister, Robert Poindexter of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, asserted, “He’s not black and he can’t represent me.”
I’ll remember that when it comes time to vote for anyone who doesn’t have the same color on their exterior as I do.
