Martin Luther King Jr. embraced Jewish people. Remember that as antisemitism rises. | Hill

LeBron Hill
Sun, January 15, 2023

A few weeks ago, I celebrated my one-year anniversary with my partner LilyFish, who works in Jewish education.

I am Black and LilyFish is white. Though I grew up in a Christian household, I have enjoyed learning about Judaism.

Our anniversary also means I have celebrated every Jewish holiday in the Hebrew calendar, finishing with Hanukkah.

For eight nights, just as the sun would set, LilyFish would set the candles on the menorah and begin saying the Hanukkah blessings in Hebrew.

I did not understand everything that was going, but what I did understand was the smile LilyFish gave me as we watched the candles burn on the menorah, guessing which one would be the last to go out. My candle lasted the longest.

Tennessean Columnist LeBron Hill with his partner LilyFish Gomberg

I like to think that my first year experience of Jewish culture and Judaism has been lucky because it's based in love, but it hasn't all been easy.
Kanye West's antisemitic tirade sparks concerns

When Kanye West began his antisemitic Twitter tirade in 2022, I saw it as another desperate attention grab. So, I gave it no time, until LilyFish's and my dynamic hit me the face.

One day, during Sukkot — a Jewish harvest festival — and in the midst of rising antisemitism thanks to Kanye's remarks, I took LilyFish out to lunch.

As we sat down and began to eat our food, I heard someone say "Blacks and Jews, it's pretty crazy right!?"

I turned around and to see it was the white woman who had been looking at us in the line as we ordered our ramen. She continued to talk and explained how she's been watching the news and grew concerned about antisemitism in the Black community.

The lady then complimented LilyFish's rainbow kippah a traditional skullcap. Not most none-Jews know to call it that, which led me to ask her: "Are you Jewish?" "Yes!" she said with excitement.

LilyFish and the woman ended up having a lovely conversation about Jewish community.

I felt like a dodged a bullet when it turned out the woman was pleasant because I thought: "I'm totally unprepared to face antisemitism."

I realized I needed to educate myself on antisemitism and learn how to prevent it. I began learning from one of my heroes, Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK stood united with the Jewish community

While reading the book "Shared Dreams: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Jewish Community" by Mark Schneier, I learned the civil rights icon found commonality between the two groups of people.

"There are Hitlers loose in America today, both in high and low places," Dr. King said according to the book. "As the tensions and bewilderment of economic problems become more severe, history's scapegoats -- the Jews -- will be joined by new scapegoats, the Negroes. The Hitlers will seek to divert people's minds and turn their frustrations and anger to the helpless and the outnumbered. Then whether the Negro and Jew shall live in peace will depend upon how firmly they resist, how effectively they reach the minds of the decent Americans to halt this deadly diversion."

King's solidarity with Jewish people went beyond just marching alongside them. He appreciated their faith.

"I strongly disagree with the statement ... that more than 5.5 million Jews in America are 'lost without hope'," Dr. King said in response to when Southern Baptist ministers tried to invalidate the Jewish faith. "This type of narrow sectarianism can only lead to irrational religious bigotry and serve to create a dangerous climate of separation between people of different religious persuasion."

But it's not to say that all Black and Jewish communities completely aligned.

In November 1956 when the Supreme Court ruled segregation on buses were unconstitutional, the Jewish community in Montgomery, where the boycott took place, stayed neutral on the subject. Local Rabbi Eugene Blachshleger "made no public pronouncements on (desegregation) either from my pulpit or in the columns of our daily press."

Even still, Dr. King kept his relationship with the Jewish community.

Let us be inspired by MLK to have a conversation.

I imagine while marching on the Selma bridge and before giving his "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, Dr. King looked around and saw his Black and Jewish brothers and sisters and witnessed unity.

Ultimately, I learned that the first step in combating antisemitism is education. After the conversation LilyFish and I had with the woman at the ramen restaurant, I could have just moved on and not given it another thought. Instead, I chose to learn about Judaism. I attend events at Moishe House Nashville, a Jewish community building space, and immerse myself in Jewish community.

Dr. King knew that understanding folks who are different than you is the first step to building community with them, and thus making meaningful change in the world.

Let Dr. King’s words and actions not just inspire us, but push us to learn about the Jewish community through personal relationships and education.

Let's unite by what we have in common, not what makes us different.

LeBron Hill is an opinion columnist for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee and the curator of the Black Tennessee Voices Instagram account. Feel free to contact him at LHill@gannett.com 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Antisemitism: Remember, Martin Luther King Jr. embraced Jewish people