Irving, Ye and Growing Anti-Semitism

Irving, Ye and Growing Anti-Semitism

Commentary by Steven. A. Smith

I stopped following the National Basketball Association years ago. I can talk about the best college players in the game but lose track when they turn professional.

So, when I learned of Kyrie Irving’s suspension from the New Jersey Nets last week – and of the reason – I had to do a bit of research.

Irving is a star point guard for the Nets, one of the best players in the game. And he is a magnet for controversy.

In 2017, he declared to anyone who would listen that the Earth is flat, and the truth of that fact is being kept secret by some conspiratorial cabal he could not describe or identify.

During the pandemic, he refused a COVID-19 shot and so missed half his team’s games because in many states he was not allowed to suit up or play. Rolling Stone reported that Irving “started following and liking Instagram posts from a conspiracy theorist who claims that ‘secret societies’ are implanting vaccines in a plot to connect Black people to a master computer for ‘a plan of Satan.’”

Garden variety lunacy so far, and easy enough for the NBA to ignore so long as Irving could shoot three-pointers.

The NBA’s tolerance ended last week, when Irving shared a tweet referencing a lunatic, toilet-bowl “documentary” titled “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.”

Max Boot, columnist for The Washington Post, described the film as “a movie full of outrageous antisemitic falsehoods,” including “claims of a global Jewish conspiracy to oppress and defraud Black people, allegations that Jews are in part responsible for the transatlantic slave trade and the claim that Jews falsified the history of the Holocaust to ‘conceal their nature and protect their status and power.’”

Called to explain his referencing the film, Irving first declined to apologize.

“I cannot be antisemitic (sic) if I know where I come from,” he wrote on Instagram.  

According to Boot, Irving’s language was code for “the conspiracy theory propounded by a sect called the Black Hebrew Israelites, who claim that Black people are the true descendants of the ancient tribes of Israel and modern-day Jews are impostors with no claim to the Holy Land.”

On Thursday, the Nets and NBA responded, suspending Irving for five games without pay while they “investigated” the incident – as if there is much to investigate. The Nets did say Irving would not play with the team again until he fully apologizes.

Late Thursday, he did apologize, sort of. “To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize.”

The apology did not entirely disavow the anti-Semitic film he had referenced earlier. And he has continued to suggest the film is accurate in part, to the utter dismay of Jewish leaders and the NBA.

The Nets now say Irving must meet with Jewish leaders from New Jersey and New York. And the team said he would have to undergo counseling before he can return. A brain transplant would be more effective.

Why does this matter?

Who cares what a wackaloon basketball player has to say about Jews and the Holocaust?

In part, we care because Irving’s lunacy comes days after the entertainer formerly known as Kanye West tweeted that he would “go death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,”

As The New York Times reported, “Ye’s persistent outbursts have been followed by attention-getting signs of support: In Los Angeles, a group of emboldened antisemites hung a ‘Kanye is right about the Jews’ banner over an interstate on Oct. 22, and then on Saturday (Nov. 1) similar words were projected at a college football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida.”

Twitter first banned Ye for the tweet. But the same day Elon Musk purchased Twitter and eliminated some of the moderation systems, Ye’s account was reinstated.

Musk says he will open Twitter to more viewpoints in the interest of free speech. Now anti-Semitic groups are taking to Twitter to mount vicious anti-Jewish campaigns entering through the front door opened by Musk.

These high-profile anti-Semitic incidents have real-world impact. The same day Irving was suspended, the FBI in New Jersey warned that synagogues in the state were being targeted for violence. A person-of-interest, known for his violent anti-Semitic views, was subsequently arrested.

All of this occurs as anti-Semitism in the United States is on the rise.

American Jews are nervous. In some cities nervousness has given way to real fear as street attacks, especially on the Orthodox, have increased.

I have written before of my own experiences with anti-Semitism, including violence at the hands of a Jewish-hating neighbor when I was a child.

But I have never seen anything like our current anti-Semitic climate. Jews understand this dynamic in the same way Black Americans understand racism in ways white Americans cannot. We know the dog whistles, the coded language that anti-Semites use to signal their hate. We are seeing it play out in midterm elections in Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona, among other places.

Donald Trump, the former president, who once said there were some fine people in the Charlottesville, Virginia, crowd that chanted “Jews will not replace us,” will announce his 2024 presidential candidacy as early as next week.

It is true that many American institutions reject the celebrity-style anti-Semitism of Irving and Ye.

Nike severed its relationship with Irving and will no longer sell his shoe line. Some observers believe his basketball career is over. Ye lost several important corporate contracts, and his own agent fired him.

But it is the lack of effective grass roots support that most troubles American Jews. Throughout history, when times are difficult, Jews become the scapegoats. That is happening now, in the United States, and in Europe where the Holocaust seems to be passing from memory.

It is one thing to fire Irving or Ye. But what about calling out those whose anti-Semitism is less obvious, who rely on code words and dog whistles to promote views that put people like me at such risk?