Suspended by 47-year-old New Jersey Nets general manger Seam Marls Nov. 4, 30-year-old Australian-born point guard Kyrie Irving was accused by Marks, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the Anti-Defamation League [ADL] of anti-Semitism for posting a controversial video disparaging Jews. Irving, known for his controversial ideas, posted a video titled, “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake up Black America, a film that says certain people of color including Black Americans are the true descendents of Israelites. Whatever one thinks of the film, it doesn’t mean that Irving is an anti-Semite, only someone intrigued by controversial ideas. What could be more controversial than William Saudners Crowdy, a descendent of slaves, founding the 1896 Church of God and Saints of Christ, one of the first Black Hebrew Israelite [BHI] churches, starting a new Black church movement.
Depending on the sect, the BHI movements have many diverse views on the ancient Hebrews, including that Jesus was Black and the Negroes were direct ancestors of Jews. While the ADL says BHI churches have a history of anti-Semitism, homophobia, misogyny and xeonophobia, the basic principles of Crowdy’s BHI churches involves Blacks being direct ancestors of Jews and the Chosen People. Rapper, producer Kanye West got him into hot water saying he would go “death con 3” on Jews. West said he could not be anti-Semitic because “black people are actually Jew,” showing, like Kyrie, the influence of controversial religious groups on his thinking. When watching a video identifying the original Israelites as Black, including Jesus, it’s no wonder that Kyrie or Kanye are drawn to conspiracies. Crowdy’s ideas filtered into the Nation of Islam, led by 89-year-old Rev. Louis Farrakhan.
In today’s sensitive anti-Semitic atmosphere, any statement by a professional athlete or celebrity is blown out of proportions, condemned as anti-Semitic. But because Kyrie, or even Kanye for that matter, are influenced by controversial videos form the BYI tradition doesn’t mean that a person is anti-Semitic, not in the conventional mold. Even if the video blames Jews for enslaving African Americans, doesn’t make the video purely anti-Semitic in Hitler’s Mein Kampf model, where certain anti-Semites call for the annihilation of the Jewish people. Crowdy interpreted the bible to show that Black people were the true descendants of Jews. It’s not that far off from reality because of Ethiopian [Black Jews], ancestors of the Queen of Sheba AKA Falasha Jews, who immigrated to Israel in the 1980s. Whatever Kyrie had in mind about “Hebrew to Negroes,” it certainly wasn’t anti-Semitic.
Offshoots of Crowdy’s Black Hebrew Israelite movement have varying degrees of militancy, referring to European Jews as the “synagogue of Satan,” responsible for enslaving millions of Black Americans. ADL officials point out that Black Hebrew Israelites are not the same a Black Jews, especially the ones immigrating to Israel from Ethiopia. Extremist factions of the BHI called the One West Camp, believe homosexuality is plague on society, showing no tolerance of diversity. More BHI sects have become militant according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, calling 144 BHI groups as “Black separatist hate groups because of their anti-Semitic and anti-white beliefs. Two suspects, believed part of BHI group, killed four Jews in 2019 at a supermarket in Jersey City, attributing the killers’ affiliation with Church of God in Jesus Christ in New York—with the Church denying any link.
When it comes to Kyrie Irving, a young basketball player searching for his Black identify, the video he posted has certain objectionable content but it doesn’t mean that Kyrie himself is an anti-Semite. Before NBA Commissioner Adam Silver meets with Kyrie, he needs to know that videos like “Hebrew to Negroes” are not that uncommon, shocking to some but not all that uncommon. Kyrie wasn’t affiliating with known neo-Nazi groups still preaching Hitler’s “Final Solution,” his campaign to round up and murder all European Jews. Kyrie needs Silver to inform him about the acute sensitivity in the Jewish Community to anti-Semitic groups but not brand Kyrie anti-Semitic for having an interest in a controversial video. No doubt the BHI ideas that Jesus was Black and that Blacks are the true “Chosen People” cannot be considered as anti-Semitic in any conventional definition.
Black preachers around the country, including Rev. Jeremiah Wright from the Church of Christ in South Chicago, former President Barack Obama’s church, need to stop the BHI-type anti-Semitic sermons, something commonplace for National of Islam’s Louis Farrakhan. “All you white people get ready for war: We’re coming for you, white boys,” said a preacher in the 2007 documentary “The Gods of Times Square.” “Negroes are the real Jews. Get ready for war,” mirroring the kind of belligerent rhetoric heard in various Black churches. No matter how virulent the rhetoric in some videos, it doesn’t mean that anyone watching is a racist, anti-Semite or anything else. Kyrie didn’t understand the extent of “Hebrew to Negroes” hateful, anti-Semitic or racist flavor. Irving was just exploring his Black identity, hearing controversial ideas expressed by charismatic preachers.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
