'WHETHER THE JEWISH COMMUNITY INTENDS TO BE OPPRESSIVE OR NOT, THAT'S HOW IT APPEARS TO US' BLACKS

While others pile on, some Blacks stand by Rodney Muhammad after he shares anti-Semitic meme

By Michael D'Onofrio

The Philidelphia Tribune
July 29, 2020

The condemnation of Philadelphia NAACP President Rodney Muhammad was swift after he posted an anti-Semitic meme on Facebook last week.

State and local leaders and numerous groups have called for his resignation, saying the post was “vile” and “racist."

But the opinion in the Black community is not so unanimous.

“We have to stop being so eager to tear down our own at the behest of others,” said WURD radio host Solomon Jones.

Diving into the racially charged local issue during his Wednesday morning show, Jones admitted the caricature of a Jewish person in the post was “offensive” and accompanying quote was “wrong” — falsely attributed to Voltaire when it's more associated with a neo-Natzi and Holocaust denier. Yet Jones questioned whether Blacks were “too quick to pile on each other.”

“We have to stop being so willing to tear down Black leaders when we are not as willing to fight the battles that need to be fought on behalf of Black people,” Jones told listeners.

Michael Coard, civil rights lawyer and Philadelphia Tribune columnist, also refused to condemn Muhammad.

“I’ll never condemn the WORDS of any Black person who’s pro-Black and anti-white ‘supremacy — at least not until white people publicly condemn the ACTIONS of slavery, the Black Codes, convict leasin, sharecropping, Jim Crow, disenfranchisement, redlining, gerrymandering, police brutality, and systemic racism,” Coard tweeted on Tuesday.

The meme Muhammad shared showed photos of Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, rapper Ice Cube and TV host Nick Cannon, all of whom have recently made anti-Semitic statements. Billy Penn broke the story on Friday.

Below those photos is a caricature of a Jewish man with a large nose and a black beard, and wearing a yarmulke. That image is imposed on an arm sleeve above a hand — wearing what appears to be a large diamond — pressing down on a pile of bodies.

Written under the photos is a quote misattributed to the French writer and philosopher Voltaire; in fact, the quote is more commonly attributed to white nationalist and Holocaust denier Kevin Alfred Strom.

Muhammad, who has led the Philadelphia NAACP since 2014, said in a released statement on Thursday that he was not anti-Semitic and removed the post after learning it "bared significant offense to the Jewish community."

While Muhammad said he does "regret the insult, pain and offense it caused to all particularly those of the Jewish community by this unfortunate episode," he did not formally apologize for posting the meme.

Muhammad said the organization's aim was now to engage in "thoughtful, meaningful, and we hope productive dialogue between our communities."

Muhammad is a long-time Democratic consultant for Mayor Jim Kenney. The Kenney campaign has paid Muhammad more than $95,000 over the years for consulting services.

Gov. Tom Wolf tweeted that Muhammad's social media post was "vile.” Wolf and Attorney General Josh Shapiro joined the growing calls for Muhammad to resign.

A clutch of state officials, and leaders of the NAACP PA State Conference, Philadelphia Urban League, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the Anti-Defamation League, among others, all denounced Muhammad's social media post and racism and anti-Semitism on Tuesday.

The Rev. Kenneth Huston, president of the Pennsylvania conference of the NAACP, said on Tuesday that he was in contact with the national NAACP leadership about Muhammad’s post.

However, Greg Brinkley, former president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Action Network, continued to back Muhammad.

Brinkley said Muhammad has stood up for all people as a civil rights leader throughout his career. It was unfair, Brinkley said, that Muhammad was being attacked for criticizing the Jewish community.

“Whether the Jewish community intends to be oppressive or not, that’s how it appears to us,” Brinkley said.

Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, board secretary of the local NAACP, said on Jones' show on Wednesday that Muhammad should remain at his post and condemned the opportunism of political leaders who were calling for his ouster.

“They don’t get out here and fight against nobody unless it’s their political season for them to do so because they don’t do anything else any other time. And yet they’re going to call for somebody to resign?” she said on Jones' show.

Bilal emphasized that Muhammad was wrong to repost the meme. But she believed that Black people were held to a different standard.

“It almost reminds me of everyday Black people, when we make a mistake, that when we fall down, that everybody piles on or we forever are banished to the world of na-na or beyond because we make a mistake,” she said during Jones' show.

Civil rights activist Asa Khalif tweeted on Wednesday that he was ignoring media who contact him about Muhammad and questioned why they were not more interested in the police killings of Black people.

“Attention members of the press..please stop contacting me regarding Rodney Muhammad’s comments..if your call is not about David Jones, Nizah Morris, Brandon Tate Brown and other black & brown people murdered by police in philly [sic]..keep it moving. Thanks #BlackLivesMatter,” Khalif tweeted.