You Racist Animal You

I have heard the phrase “you can’t erase 300 years of persecution” several times and today, The President of The United States of America used it.   Since I am a U.S. citizen who grew abroad, I have a different perspective on things.  Let me share.

The first thing that has come to my mind is that our country is not that old.  On July 4, 2015, the U.S. will celebrate its 239th birth day.  How do we account for the missing 61 years?  Perhaps we need to begin counting from the date the first black slaves were brought to America?  ”According to the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, slavery in North America began with the first Spanish settlement in what is now South Carolina in 1526, 93 years before Africans were brought to Jamestown.”(1)  That date gives us 489 years.  So, we are either short or over the stated 300 years.  

Since I cannot figure out how they have come up with the 300 year mark, I’ll turn my focus to another important part of that phrase “erase”   If by “erase” it is meant to forget, then I agree – no one can erase the past.  However, what if by “erase” we meant things like overcome, move-on, learn from it… What then?   I have seen much talk about how “white people” want “black people” to forget because they don’t want to deal with blacks.  I have seen much talk about racism.  I have seen a lot of desire to keep the pain of the past alive to stoke the flames of anger.  Why?  Let’s look at the question from a different angle.

Are Blacks the only group that has been persecuted?  Stay with me… I have Guaymi indian in me and you know the Spanish enslaved and baptized Indians…or else.   I know that you have heard this argument before but humor me…this is about why Blacks hang on to the anger so I have to bring another group into the equation – Jews. Yes, Jews.  Take a look and pay attention to the dates:

   Jewish Persecution | Timeline of Judaism | History of AntiSemitism
Lesser Known Highlights of Jewish International Relations In The Common Era (an Abbreviated sampling)

DATE PLACE EVENT

250 C.E.         Carthage Expulsion
224 C.E.         Italy Forced Conversion
325 C.E.         Jerusalem  Expulsion
351 C.E         Persia Book Burning
357 C.E.         Italy Property Confiscation
379 C.E.         Milan Synagogue Burning
415 C.E.         Alexandria Expulsion
418 C.E.         Minorca Forced Conversion
469 C.E.         Ipahan Holocaust
489 C.E.         Antioch Synagogue Burning
506 C.E.         Daphne Synagogue Burning
519 C.E.         Ravenna Synagogue Burning
554 C.E.         Diocese of Clement (France) Expulsion
561 C.E.         Diocese of Uzes (France) Expulsion
582 C.E         Merovingia Forced Conversion
612 C.E.         Visigoth Spain Expulsion
628 C.E.         Byzantium Forced Conversion
629 C.E.         Merovingia Forced Conversion
633 C.E.         Toledo Forced Conversion
638 C.E.         Toledo Stake Burnings
642 C.E.         Visigothic Empire Expulsion
653 C.E.         Toledo Expulsion
681 C.E.         Spain Forced Conversion
693 C.E.         Toledo Jews Enslaved
722 C.E.         Byzantium Judaism Outlawed
855 C.E.         Italy        Expulsion
876 C.E.         Sens  Expulsion
897 C.E.         Narbonne  Land Confiscation
945 C.E.   Venice Ban on Sea Travel
1009 C.E. Orleans Massacre
1012 C.E. Rouen, Limoges & Rome Massacre
1012 C.E. Mayence Expulsion
1021 C.E. Rome Jews Burned Alive
1063 C.E. Spain Massacre
1095 C.E. Lorraine Massacre
1096 C.E. Northern France & Germany 1/3 of Jewish Population Massacred
1096 C.E. Hungary Massacre
1096 C.E. Ralisbon Massacre
1099 C.E. Jerusalem Jews Burned Alive
1100 C.E. Kiev         Pogrom
1140 C.E. Germany Massacres
1146 C.E. Rhine Valley Massacre
1147 C.E. Wurzburg Massacre
1147 C.E. Belitz (Germany) Jews Burned Alive
1147 C.E. Carenton, Ramenu & Sully (France) Massacres
1171 C.E. Blois Stake Burnings
1181 C.E. France Expulsion
1181 C.E. England Property Confiscation
1188 C.E. London & York Mob Attacks
1190 C.E. Norfolk Jews Burned Alive
1191 C.E. Bray (France) Jews Burned Alive
1195 C.E. France Property Confiscation
1209 C.E. Beziers Massacre
1212 C.E. Spain Rioting and blood bath against the Jews of Toledo.
1215 C.E. Rome Lateran Council of Rome decrees that Jews must wear the “badge of shame” in all Christian countries. Jews are denied all public sector employment, and are burdened with extra taxes.
1215 C.E. Toulouse (France) Mass Arrests
1218 C.E. England Jews Forced to Wear Badges
1231 C.E. Rome Inquisition Established
1236 C.E. France Forced Conversion/Massacre
1239 C.E. London Massacre & Property Confiscation
1240 C.E. Austria Property confiscation. Jews either imprisoned, converted, expelled, or burned.
1240 C.E. France Talmud Confiscated
1240 C.E. England Book Burning
1240 C.E. Spain Forced Conversion
1242 C.E. Paris Talmud Burned
1244 C.E. Oxford Mob Attacks
1255 C.E. England Blood libel in Lincoln results in the burning / torture of many Jews & public hangings.
1261 C.E. Canterbury Mob Attacks
1262 C.E. London Mob Attacks
1264 C.E. London Mob Attacks
1264 C.E. Germany Council of Vienna declares that all Jews must wear a “pointed dunce cap.” Thousands murdered.
1267 C.E. Vienna Jews Forced to Wear Horned Hats
1270 C.E. Weissenberg, Magdeburg, Arnstadt, Coblenz, Singzig, and Erfurt Jews Burned Alive
1270 C.E. England The libel of the “counterfeit coins” – all Jewish men, women and children in England imprisoned. Hundreds are hung.
1276 C.E. Bavaria Expulsion
1278 C.E. Genoa (Spain) Mob Attacks
1279 C.E. Hungary & Poland The Council of Offon denies Jews the right to all civic positions. The Jews of Hungary & Poland are forced to wear the “red badge of shame.”
1283 C.E. Mayence & Bacharach Mob Attacks
1285 C.E. Munich Jews Burned Alive
1290 C.E. England King Edward I issues an edict banishing all Jews from England. Many drowned.
1291 C.E. France The Jewish refugees from England are promptly expelled from France.
1292 C.E. Italy Forced conversions & expulsion of the Italian Jewish community.
1298 C.E. Germany The libel of the “Desecrated Host” is perpetrated against the Jews of Germany. Approximately 150 Jewish communities undergo forced conversion.
1298 C.E. Franconia, Bavaria & Austria Reindfel’s Decree is propagated against the Jews of Franconia and Bavarai. Riots against these Jewish communities, as well as those in Austria, result in the massacre of 100,000 Jews over a six-month period.
1306 C.E. France Expulsion
1308 C.E. Strasbourg Jews Burned Alive
1320 C.E. Toulouse & Perpigon 120 Communities Massacred & Talmud Burned
1321 C.E. Teruel Public Executions
1328 C.E. Estella 5,000 Jews Slaughtered
1348 C.E. France & Spain Jews Burned Alive
1348 C.E. Switzerland Expulsion
1349 C.E. Worms, Strasbourg, Oppenheim, Mayence, Erfurt, Bavaria & Swabia Jews Burned Alive
1349 C.E. Heilbronn (Germany) Expulsion
1349 C.E. Hungary Expulsion
1354 C.E. Castile (Spain) 12,000 Jews Slaughtered
1368 C.E. Toledo 8,000 Jews Slaughtered
1370 C.E. Majorca., Penignon & Barcelona Mob Attack
1377 C.E. Huesca (Spain) Jews Burned Alive
1380 C.E. Paris Mob Attack
1384 C.E. Nordlingen Mass Murder
1388 C.E. Strasbourg Expulsion
1389 C.E. Prague Mass Slaughter & Book Burning
1391 C.E. Castille, Toledo, Madrid, Seville, Cordova, Cuenca & Barcelona Forced Conversions & Mass Murder
1394 C.E. Germany Expulsion
1394 C.E. France Expulsion
1399 C.E. Posen (Poland) Jews Burned Alive
1400 C.E. Prague Stake Burnings
1407 C.E. Cracow Mob Attack
1415 C.E. Rome Talmud Confiscated
1422 C.E. Austria Jews Burned Alive
1422 C.E. Austria Expulsion
1424 C.E. Fribourg & Zurich Expulsion
1426 C.E. Cologne Expulsion
1431 C.E. Southern Germany Jews Burned Alive
1432 C.E. Savory Expulsion
1438 C.E. Mainz Expulsion
1439 C.E. Augsburg Expulsion
1449 C.E. Toledo Public Torture &. Burnings
1456 C.E. Bavaria Expulsion
1453 C.E. Franconia Expulsion
1453 C.E. Breslau Expulsion
1454 C.E. Wurzburg Expulsion
1463 C.E. Cracow Mob Attack
1473 C.E. Andalusia Mob Attack
1480 C.E. Venice Jews Burned Alive
1481 C.E. Seville Stake Burnings
1484 C.E. Cuidad Real, Guadalupe, Saragossa & Teruel Jews Burned Alive
1485 C.E. Vincenza (Italy) Expulsion
1486 C.E. Toledo Jews Burned Alive
1488 C.E. Toledo Stake Burnings
1490 C.E. Toledo Public Executions
1491 C.E. Astorga Public Torture & Execution
1492 C.E. Spain Expulsion
1495 C.E. Lithuania Expulsion
1497 C.E. Portugal Expulsion
1499 C.E. Germany Expulsion
1506 C.E. Lisbon Mob Attack
1510 C.E. Berlin Public Torture & Execution
1514 C.E. Strasbourg Expulsion
1519 C.E. Regensburg Expulsion
1539 C.E. Cracow & Portugal Stake Burnings
1540 C.E. Naples Expulsion
1542 C.E. Bohemia Expulsion
1550 C.E. Genoa Expulsion
1551 C.E. Bavaria Expulsion
1555 C.E. Pesaro Expulsion
1556 C.E. Sokhachev (Poland) Public Torture & Execution
1559 C.E. Austria Expulsion
1561 C.E. Prague Expulsion
1567 C.E. Wurzburg Expulsion
1569 C.E. Papal States Expulsion
1571 C.E. Brandenburg Expulsion
1582 C.E. Netherlands Expulsion
1593 C.E. Brunswick Expulsion
1597 C.E. Cremona, Pavia & Lodi Expulsion
1614 C.E. Frankfort Expulsion
1615 C.E. Worms Expulsion
1619 C.E. Kiev Expulsion
1635 C.E. Vilna Mob Attack
1637 C.E. Cracow Public Torture & Execution
1647 C.E. Lisbon Jews Burned Alive
1648 C.E. Poland 1/3 of Jewry Slaughtered
1649 C.E. Ukraine Expulsion
1649 C.E. Hamburg Expulsion
1652 C.E. Lisbon Stake Burnings
1654 C.E. Little Russia Expulsion
1656 C.E. Lithuania Expulsion
1660 C.E. Seville Jews Burned Alive
1663 C.E Cracow Public Torture &. Execution
1664 C.E. Lemberg Mob Attack
1669 C.E. Oran (North Africa) Expulsion
1670 C.E. Vienna Expulsion
1671 C.E. Minsk Mob Attacks
1681 C.E. Vilna Mob Attacks
1682 C.E. Cracow Mob Attacks
1687 C.E. Posen Mob Attacks
1712 C.E. Sandomir Expulsion
1727 C.E. Russia Expulsion
1738 C.E. Wurtemburg Expulsion
1740 C.E. Liule Russia Expulsion
1744 C.E Bohemia Expulsion
1744 C.E. Livonia Expulsion
1745 C.E. Moravia Expulsion
1753 C.E. Kovad (Lithuania) Expulsion
1757 C.E. Kamenetz Talmud Burning
1761 C.E. Bordeaux Expulsion
1768 C.E. Kiev 3,000 Jews Slaughtered
1772 C.E. Russia Expulsion
1775 C.E. Warsaw Expulsion
1789 C.E. Alsace Expulsion
1801 C.E. Bucharest Mob Attack
1804 C.E. Russian Villages Expulsion
1808 C.E. Russian Countryside Expulsion
1815 C.E. Lubeck & Bremen Expulsion
1820 C.E. Bremes Expulsion
1843 C.E. Austria & Prussia Expulsion
1850 C.E. New York City 500 People, Led by Police, Attacked & Wrecked Jewish Synagogue
1862 C.E. Area under General Grant’s Jurisdiction in the United States Expulsion
1866 C.E Galatz (Romania) Expulsion
1871 C.E. Odena Mob Attack
1887 C.E. Slovakia Mob Attacks
1897 C.E. Kantakuzenka (Russia) Mob Attacks
1898 C.E. Rennes (France) Mob Attack
1899 C.E. Nicholayev Mob Attack
1900 C.E. Konitz (Prussia) Mob Attack
1902 C.E. Poland Widespread Pogroms
1904 C.E. Manchuria, Kiev & Volhynia Widespread Pogroms
1905 C.E. Zhitomir (Yolhynia) Mob Attacks
1919 C.E Bavaria Expulsion
1915 C.E. Georgia (U.S.A.) Leo Frank Lynched
1919 C.E. Prague Wide Spread Pogroms
1920 C.E. Munich & Breslau Mob Attacks
1922 C.E. Boston, MA Lawrence Lowell, President of Harvard, calls for Quota Restrictions on Jewish Admission
1926 C.E. Uzbekistan Pogrom
1928 C.E. Hungary Widespread Anti-Semitic Riots on University Campuses
1929 C.E. Lemberg (Poland) Mob Attacks
1930 C.E. Berlin Mob Attack
1933 C.E. Bucharest Mob Attacks
1938-45 C.E. Europe Holocaust

There are no dates in that list after the Holocaust.  Realize that where it says “expulsion” it refers to a large number of people getting kicked out of their homes.  Seems to me that people have been chasing Jews for a little longer than what whites in the Americas have hurt Blacks.  Yet… you do not see or hear a Jew talk about the past.  Christians hated and persecuted Jews yet you do not see Jews refusing Rome access to Jerusalem. Why not?

Let’s look at, yet another angle.  Did you realize that Anne Frank – that Jewish girl about the diary – and Martin Luther King, Jr., were born in the same year?

While Mr. King grew up to become a civil rights leader and a symbol of the spirit of freedom hinted at in the United States Declaration of Independence, Anne Frank died in a concentration camp when King was nineteen.  

The civil rights movement was a very controversial time in our history.  There were clashes with the police, debates, much anger, people sent to jail but blacks found support from whites and Jews.  Do you realize that, less than thirty years before, Jews had been nearly exterminated in parts of Europe?

In spite of having been persecuted and nearly exterminated, Jews overcame.  They do not forget but they do not allow the past to hold them hostage.  How do Jews overcome?  Well, let’s see… when was the last time that you saw Jews rioting and destroying property?  Anyone….?  I’ll tell you when – Never.

The President said that racism is “in our DNA”  and I say that this statement reduces humans to a condition lower than animals.  I do not appreciate being called an animal by my President.  Perhaps it was hyperbole, however, there are people who believe that he knew exactly what he was saying.

So, I am going to leave you with a couple of questions, first, Which approach works better – hanging on to anger or overcoming?  If you agree with me that people who overcome seem to have a better life then tell me, does someone who says things that keep you angry your friend or your enemy?

To you and to the President I say: Look at the people of Charleston, South Carolina, coming together as a community and earning the respect of America and the World.

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