NFL player DeSean Jackson represents the American dream. At least, he did until last week, when he started to represent everything that is wrong with America. He plays for the best football teams in the US, wins prizes and trophies. Last week, in a social media post, the true face behind his success was unmasked.
The athlete posted a quote attributed to Hitler that claims that "Negroes are the real Children of Israel" and that the Americans would be horrified to realize that they had slaughtered and humiliated the Chosen People by enslaving and discriminating against them – all as part of the protest against institutionalized racism in the US. But the story doesn't end there. Another post says that the Jews' goal is to extort America and seize power over the entire world, a well-known anti-Semitic blood libel. It later turned out that Hitler never said any of this, but the remarks were attributed to him by a group of neo-Nazis whose goal was to show that Hitler was not racist – he simply believed that "Negroes" were the true children of Israel.
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The posts caused severe backlash in and outside of the Jewish community. On one hand, many Jews and non-Jews condemned Jackson for posting the material, forcing him to apologize, but there were also those who backed him, claiming that he was "telling the truth." But that isn't the only anti-Semitic "truth" Jackson has shared recently. A clip of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in which he calls Jews "cockroaches" made its way to Jackson's social media.
Eventually, anyone sane realized that the athlete's posts were beyond the pale, but also that they revealed something about American society that no apology or condemnation can erase. Too many Americans have no real desire to stop racism; they want to look as if they want to, and the difference between the two is light night and day.
In a climate in which celebrities flagellate themselves for an offensive remark they made decades earlier or apologize for daring to play the part of a minority in an animated film, anti-Semitic remarks don't cause any public panic. There were no protests calling for DeSean Jackson to be fired, and TV studios didn't compete to see who could condemn him the hardest.
This might be because Jews in the US, unlike black Americans, are seen as strong and successful and involved in society, so standing beside them – since they are "privileged" – isn't seen as part of the battle against racism in the same way that standing beside the black community is. But in reality, there aren't "ranks" of racism. Hatred is hatred is hatred. Only in the radical progressive world are these "rankings" a way of life. Anti-Jewish (and anti-Israel) sentiment might be wrapped up in pretty words, but in the end, like Jackson's revolting thoughts, it's the same hatred of Jews.
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