For a long time now racism has unfortunately been a part of our society and is witnessed by someone everyday in our normal daily lives. After the year 2020, with the Black Lives Matter Movement going on, you would think society would at least stick to one issue at a time, but lately not only is racism increasing but so is antisemitism.
Antisemitism is not very talked about because it does not target a large percentage of the population. Many people don’t even know the difference between racism and antisemitism and because of this they are also not very educated on the matter either. As of right now, a scandal caused by famous basketball player, Kyrie Irving, is being accused of being anti-Semitic because of a recent Twitter post he shared.
Irving promoted an anti-Semitic documentary about Jewish people called “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake up Black America” because of this it has now caused Irving to be suspended from the Brooklyn Nets indefinitely. According to the ADL website, this documentary is summarized as a 3 hour plus long effort of “proof” that certain people of color, especially Black Americans, are the “true descendants of the biblical Israelites.” The documentary dismisses the feeling of pain and sorrow that approximately six million Jewish people had to experience during the Holocaust by denying their place as white Jews and claiming that only black people can be considered Jewish.
Many people have an issue with this because not only is this information incorrect, but Irving is taking the blame for something he has already apologized for. He is also being judged on how he dealt with the matter. According to the Brooklyn Nets Twitter announcement, as a way of apologizing, Irving donated $500,000 to “causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance in our communities.” A lot of people who took offense to Irving’s post feel that he is trying to “buy” his forgiveness from the Jewish community.
People are also focusing more on how racist it is to the black community because they feel that Irving is being silenced, ignoring the fact that he offended a whole religion. Many people are questioning the consequences Irving has to endure, since he has already made a public apology but lost his career as a basketball player, while Jeff Bezos is profiting off the film by continuing to allow it on Amazon as a product– you can also find one of Adolf Hitler’s memoirs on Amazon and people have pointed out how nothing is being done about that either. Will anything be done about these anti-Semitic posts?
It seems as though there can only be so much said about a topic until social media is done with it. That’s why it is very important to keep talking about these topics so communities can feel heard and not alone. It never becomes that serious until you start to experience racism or xenophobia yourself, so why should Jewish people have to put up with antisemitism?
Although Irving probably didn’t mean for his post to be anti-Semitic, he shouldn’t have shared the documentary regardless. His post has now been deleted but according to an article from The New York Times about this matter, it states that Irving did not feel apologetic for his post because he felt that “history is not supposed to be hidden from anybody.” As if he is in agreeance to the documentary. Irving said, “What I post does not mean I agree with everything posted.”
Irving is a huge influence, something he also recognized from his interview with The New York Times. Irving added, “I’m in a unique position to have a level of influence on my community,” with this knowledge you would think he would be more careful about the things he posts to the public. Kyrie Irving is anti-Semitic, even if parts of him disagrees with the documentary, there is no guarantee that he didn’t agree with it, hence why he posted it. The world would be so much better if the golden rule was followed as stated, “treat others the way you want to be treated.” Kyrie Irving getting suspended is just karma coming back at him.
