27 Fall 2024 Schneiderman noticed that something had changed by 1920. With mass immigration to the U.S. and the subsequent development of an anti-immigrant mindset, increasing fear of communism, the publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion in English (and its ensuing mass distribution by Henry Ford), growing isolationism and nationalism, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and rising economic uncertainty of the Depression, Schneiderman observed what he later termed, “the transplanting of European antisemitism onto America.” He explained that the new themes introduced an element of fear of Jews as sinister conspirators or wielders of inordinate power. This innovation was an indication of the fact that Jews had become conspicuous in the economic life of the country, and that the success of some of them was beginning to arouse resentment, as if they were alien intruders who had no right to share in the country's prosperity. Antisemitism in the U.S. seemed to develop a certain regularity following World War I until the mid-1930s. Yet when one looks at interventions during this period, Schneiderman lamented, “The Jewish community continued, as in the past, to deal with only the symptoms of existing anti-Jewish prejudice. Action was taken only when emergencies arose.”4 By the late 1930s, 1940s, and following World War II, the levels of sustained antisemitism demanded action. American Jews faced discrimination in employment (such as law firms), housing, membership in social clubs and resorts, and acceptance to certain colleges and medical schools. Various methods and interventions used to challenge antisemitism – from public debate, legislative advocacy, published articles, monitoring the activities of antisemites, and demonstrations – became more regular. Because of these efforts, especially after the reality of the Holocaust came to light, antisemitism – at least in polite society – was no longer acceptable. The peak of these efforts, on display during the Civil Rights movement, would lead to the codification of dozens of laws outlawing discrimination based on religion, race, color, sex, or national origin. To date, over 50 federal laws and dozens of state laws protect Jews in employment, education, housing, health, public services, and federal assistance. Legally, the same antisemitism and racism of the 1920s and 1930s was no longer allowed. Despite the antisemitism from far left and radical and religious groups that emerged in the 1960s, including the Black Power movement and the Nation of Islam which viewed American Jews as privileged “whites” oppressing people of color,5 most forms of antisemitism in the U.S. were on a downward trend by the 1970s and through the 1990s. Moreover, despite periods of increased antisemitic violence in the 1970s and 1980s,6 America was much more tolerant as a whole, and fighting antisemitism was less of a primary focus for the Jewish community compared to previous decades. In the early 2000s, increasing levels of antisemitism were again witnessed following the UN World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa,7 the Second Intifada, and the advent of the internet. Some called this “the new antisemitism,” in its anti-Israel forms, as Jews around the world were targeted as “agents of Israel.” In the same way that individual Jews were viewed by antisemites as “evil,” now it was the Jewish collective or nation state that was labeled “evil.” The ramifications were first felt in Europe, especially in Western Europe. Many violent and fatal attacks were motivated by Islamist extremist interpretations of Islam, as witnessed in Belgium, France, and Denmark between 2014 and 2016. The U.S. government and the American Jewish community watched this latest rise of antisemitism in Europe with great concern, not expecting that within a few years it would surface in America in ways unfelt in decades. Fatal antisemitic attacks in recent years in Pittsburgh, Poway, Jersey City, and Monsey came from 4. Ibid. 5. One famous example of the growing divides between the Jewish and Black communities, especially in urban environments, is the New York City teachers’ strike of 1968 in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville neighborhoods in Brooklyn; see Wendell Pritchett, BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN: BLACKS, JEWS, AND THE CHANGING FACE OF THE GHETTO (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002). In addition, after the Six Day War in Israel, these far left and radical and religious groups would also accuse Jews and Israelis of oppressing the Palestinians. 6. Examples include the Kneseth Israel synagogue shootings in St. Louis in 1977, the neo-Nazi march on Skokie in 1978, the murder of Alan Berg in Denver in 1984, and the murder of Neal Rosenblum in Pittsburgh in 1986. White supremacist actions during the 1980s farm crisis, especially in the Midwest, also became more sustained. 7. “World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, 31 August-7 September 2001, Durban,” UNITED NATIONS, available at https://www.un.org/en/conferences/racism/ durban2001. The content of this footnote has been removed for brevity, available at IJL website: https:// bit.ly/Huffnagle
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