View allAll Photos Tagged Segregation
A Celebration of Memories-Segregation and Desegregation, Then and Now with a special dedication to students from the Pinellas High School Class of '69.
A Celebration of Memories-Segregation and Desegregation, Then and Now with a special dedication to students from the Pinellas High School Class of '69.
Segregation/Integration
Given the rise in trend over the usage of the term ‘cultural appropriation’ in recent years. The line between appropriation and appreciation becomes increasingly blurred. At what point do we cross the line into offence?
As such, are these accusations bridging into the absurd and causing more harm than good? Is this entire debate encouraging segregation over integration?
leekhbenjamin@gmail.com
Original Material Type: Newspaper clipping
Article Title: Painful return to WWII prison camp
Author: Annie Nakao
Publication Info: San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle, July 14, 1996
Subject Keywords: Japanese Americans, Tulelake, Tule Lake, Tule Lake Segregation Center, prison camp, internment camp, World War II,
Collection: Western Addition Branch Archives
Repository: San Francisco Public Library - Western Addition Branch
-Curator Commentary, April 18, 2025-
On the Southern Poverty Law Center's Misguided Exploitation of Historical Injustices: "Black. Jewish. Divided by Hate. Stronger Together (March 25, 2025)"
By Curator, April 18, 2025
The SPLC's cynical use of the Leo Frank case in its Jewish-focused outreach to estranged African American audiences has been criticized for lacking any pretense of nuance or subtlety. The article relies too heavily on emotionally charged buzzwords, clichéd victimhood narratives, historical oversimplifications, broad generalizations, and guilt-by-association conflations. The message essentially reflects a total absence of self-awareness, soul searching and critical thinking or analysis, which undermines the credibility of authors Ward and Levi.
The Southern Poverty Law Center's insincere propaganda of March 25, 2025, titled, 'Black. Jewish. Divided by Hate. Stronger Together' is a poorly concocted attempt to misrepresent the sexual violence and slaying of 'Little' Mary Phagan and Leo Frank's criminal case in an effort to rebuild a fractured Black-Jewish alliance. It comes across as either racially shallow and desperate or, at worst, condescending, suggesting that Black American adults are naive and uninformed, with child-like minds. Rather than addressing the real concerns of African Americans, the SPLC doubles down on an academically flawed version of the Phagan-Frank criminal affair by lambasting Pentagon official Kingsley Wilson, whose statements on the 1913 trial are grounded in facts.
Kingsley Wilson (@KingsleyCortes on X) promulgates the following summarized points about the trial of Leo M. Frank:
1. Leo Frank raped and murdered a 13-year-old girl (Mary Phagan).
2. Leo Frank tried to frame a Black Man for the crime.
3. The ADL is despicable and turned off comments to gaslight.
Thousands of pages of extensive research, records, legal documents, photos, images, news reports, and ephemera contained within the comprehensive archive, 'The Leo Frank Museum and Gallery' at Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/leofrankcase/), delves directly into the prosecution and defense theories, witness testimony, forensic evidence, and trial exhibits from the Leo Frank case, providing substantial support for sustaining the assertions that Kingsley Wilson makes about the Leo Frank case.
Back-Jewish Intercommunity Fragmentations
To delve much deeper and further elucidate intercommunity divisions superficially addressed by Eric K. Ward and Seth Levi, it's crucial to examine the factors contributing to discord in Black-Jewish relations, an issue the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) seems to overlook or approach with limited perspective.
Black and Jewish Relations in America: A Fractured Alliance Crumbles
Economic, political, and social relations between Black and Jewish communities were historically complex, varying by region and era (e.g., Reconstruction, Jim Crow, Civil Rights). For much of American history, however, these relations were shaped by social and economic hierarchies. These interactions were often characterized by tension and inequality, particularly in the context of slavery, segregation, and labor dynamics, where African Americans frequently occupied subordinate roles, including as enslaved people or low-wage workers, in households and businesses owned by Jews and others.
Yet, in the middle of the 20th century, a meaningful shift occurred in the appearance of these longstanding dynamics. Amidst the rising tide of the Civil Rights Movement, the Black–Jewish alliance briefly flourished and blossomed in a vivid profusion for a generation, driven by a common vision for fundamental humanity and fairness.
"Fundamental humanity" refers to the basic, essential qualities that define what it means to be human. It emphasizes shared human traits such as empathy, compassion, dignity, and the inherent worth of all individuals, regardless of their background, race, or identity. In essence, it captures the core aspects of human nature that connect all people, often tied to ideals of equality, justice, and moral responsibility.
For decades, the Black-Jewish alliance was a cornerstone of progressive social movements in the United States, an era that now seems relegated to history books as modern populist trends increasingly drift further from those foundational ideals. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, several prominent Jewish leaders and organizations stood alongside African American activists, advocating for racial equality, removing barriers to voting, and dismantling the entrenched system of Jim Crow segregation.
Figures like Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972), who famously marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), embodied shared values and mutual solidarity, grounded in the pursuit of justice and equal protection under the law. However, this coalition has faced mounting strain in the decades thereafter, with numerous events and issues emphasizing a growing divide. Herein are some of the burning vistas and their key flashpoints of contention that have contributed to this sweeping fragmentation.
Burning vistas—those vast and enduring, emotionally charged crossroads where solidarity gave way to suspicion, antagonism, and mistrust, thus marking the gradual dissolution of this coalition.
Monumental Civil Rights Legislation, 1964-1968
Between 1964 and 1968, several landmark pieces of legislation were passed in the United States that significantly advanced the rights of African Americans, especially in terms of civil rights and social equality (briefly).
1. Civil Rights Act of 1964: Prohibited discrimination in employment, public accommodations, and federally funded programs based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, effectively ending legal segregation.
2. Voting Rights Act of 1965: Eliminated racial discrimination in voting by banning literacy tests and poll taxes, and provided federal oversight in areas with a history of disenfranchisement.
3. Fair Housing Act of 1968: Banned discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, or sex, addressing housing inequality.
Together, these laws were pivotal in securing greater equality and protection under the law for African Americans.
Fraying at the edges, Late 1960s
Assassination of Martin Luther King: This seismic event marked a significant shift in the movement, leading to both greater urgency and, for some, frustration with nonviolence.
While some prominent Jewish leaders were active at the vanguard of the Black Civil Rights Movement (e.g., helping to found the NAACP, marching Selma), some African American leaders began to feel used, that Jewish support had always been self-serving and conditional, or that Jewish priorities did not always align with the needs of Black Americans.
Amid rising mistrust, a rift emerged in the late 1960s with the rise of the Black Power movement, which emphasized self-determination, racial nationalism, and greater autonomy, alongside reduced reliance on white allyship, among whom Jews were prominently represented. This ideological shift also fueled a rising skepticism and schism regarding white allies more broadly, particularly liberal and democratic-leaning Jews. For example, some Black activist groups and leaders share the perception that Jewish allies were increasingly preoccupied with their own ethnoreligious advocacy, such as perceived or exaggerated instances of domestic anti-Semitism, U.S. foreign policy regarding Israel, and broader Zionist advocacy, while Black Americans were struggling with more immediate and structurally pressing issues including endemic poverty, longstanding police violence, and systemic racism.
This perceived difference in focus and urgency contributed to growing frustration, especially as the Civil Rights Movement moved into the end of the 1960s, through the 1970s, and began to address issues beyond integration, such as economic empowerment and Black nationalism.
First Fissure: The Six-Day War, 1967
The Six-Day War between Israel and neighboring Arab states in 1967 lasted less than a week, but it left a lasting rift between American Black and Jewish activists who found themselves on opposing sides. Many Black leaders viewed Ashkenazi/European Jews, who held a majority of the powerful positions within the Israeli government and military, as representatives of colonialism and white supremacy in the Middle East. In contrast, they saw Arabs—particularly Palestinians—as the indigenous, brown-skinned victims, with whom they could identify, especially given the Palestinians’ struggles with ethnic displacement and the harsh realities of Israeli apartheid. Nearly six decades later, this divide persists, with Jewish organizations continuing to support Israel, while some Black activists express solidarity with the Palestinian cause in Gaza and the West Bank. The debate over Israel-Palestine remains a significant and ongoing source of tension and falling out for Jews and other minority communities, especially African Americans.
Crown Heights Riots in NYC
On Monday, August 19th, 1991, the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, erupted in widespread violence following the accidental death of a 7-year-old Black child, Gavin Cato, walking on a sidewalk with his mother, Angela Cato. The young boy was struck by a station wagon driven by a Jewish man, Yosef Lifsh, who veered off the road onto a sidewalk at 8:20 PM.
Location: The fatal hit-and-run (disputed) took place at the intersection of President Street and Utica Avenue in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, 11213.
The incident took place in a neighborhood already fraught with burning racial and cultural tensions between the Black community and the rapidly expanding Chabad-Lubavitch community, an Orthodox Jewish sect of Hasidim.
Yosef Lifsh’s vehicle was part of a three-car security motorcade escorting Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the spiritual leader of this global Hasidic movement. They were en route to Schneerson’s sleeping quarters at Chabad headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, following a visit to Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, where Schneerson often prayed at the grave of his father-in-law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn.
Schneerson was often accused by racially conscious Black research investigators of purportedly making a number of antigentile statements that dehumanized non-Jews. Many Black leaders and residents in New York City viewed Schneerson as a White Jewish racist whose token gestures of outreach masked the group’s perceived racial separatism and ethnoreligious supremacism.
Exclusivity in organizations is not inherently bigoted—much like the Knights of Columbus restricting membership to Catholics, B’nai B’rith to Jews, tribal councils to Native Americans, or women’s groups to biological females. However, when a group’s cultural teachings and identity partly center on dehumanizing nonmembers or advocating violence against outsiders, it becomes antithetical to the principles of cultivating a placid and tolerant, democratic republic.
Raising Eyebrows
Black scholars began increasingly examining Rabbinical Judaism’s texts, particularly the Talmud, and questioning its controversial teachings, many of which elicited serious concerns and gave rise to intense debate. Examples of which are too illicit and disturbing to repeat. Some Black Christian community leaders and their members, after examining what they perceived as: Chabad’s extremist belief system expressed both in oral and written form, raised misgivings that orthodox Jewish sects, including those fundamentally engaged in Torah and Talmudic studies, promote deeply antiblack and antigentile narratives which foster hostility and encourage antagonism, resentment, or ill-will toward African Americans and non-Jews. These concerns reflect deep-seated anxieties about the Lubavitch community’s insularity and its impact on Black-Jewish relations regarding some African American interpretations of Orthodox and even Conservative Judaism more broadly.
Background: The incident occurred in a neighborhood marked by longstanding tensions between the Black community and the growing Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish community. Disputes over housing, policing, exclusionary practices, and access to community resources had created a charged atmosphere. Some African-American residents reported seeing Jewish individuals spitting on churches and regularly dumping large bags of garbage from moving vehicles in front of Black-owned businesses and homes. Unverified claims circulated that Jewish residents were throwing urine balloons and fecal bombs from rooftops onto pedestrians in certain exclusionary and homogeneous areas. Allegations emerged that Jewish groups were collectively purchasing apartment buildings and leased properties to redline and displace Black tenants over time. Additionally, Black residents accused some old and new Jewish real estate owners of acting as slumlords, ignoring persistent maintenance issues in multi-unit buildings and rental property.
Certain reports about the fatal vehicle-pedestrian collision raised doubts about whether the motorcade adhered to traffic regulations, and there were accusations that the driver fled the scene before police arrived, potentially making the incident a hit-and-run. Eyewitness accounts were inconsistent: some Black Crown Heights residents alleged the motorcade was driving recklessly or excessively fast, while others, including Jewish witnesses, maintained the vehicles were moving at a standard speed.
The incident ignited three days of riots, with Black residents clashing violently with Jewish residents, culminating in the brutal murder of Yankel Rosenbaum—a Talmudic scholar, by a mob of roughly a dozen young Black adults who bumrushed him, stomping and stabbing him to death. Lemrick Nelson and Charles Price were the only ones convicted and served lengthy prison terms for their roles—one for the stabbing itself, the other for inciting the mob.
The riots exposed deep-seated tensions, with Black communities feeling marginalized by the growing influence of the orthodox Jewish community and Jewish communities perceiving the violence as antisemitic. The lack of trust and communication exacerbated the conflict, marking a shattering in Black-Jewish relations that reverberated nationwide after TV networks broadcast the unrest. When Reverend Al Sharpton and Sonny Carson led a march through Crown Heights during the unrest, the news of the conflict became a cause célèbre for Black activists across the country. David Dinkins, the first African American mayor of New York City, was a central political figure during the riots and was criticized for failing to use his power and influence to curtail the violence.
Affirmative Action Disparities in Outcome
Affirmative action policies, intended to address systemic under-representation, have been a point of contention. While these policies facilitated the entry and increased matriculation of African Americans into colleges, universities, and graduate programs, they are reported by some sociological researchers and statisticians to have disproportionately benefited Jewish academics and administrators, who secured prominent positions in academia, especially professorial, executive, and mid-managerial ranks. This largely racial and ethnic disparity has led to accusations that Jewish individuals reaped greater professional and career rewards from equity legislation and civil rights advancements, while African Americans faced persistent barriers to similar upward mobility in educational institutions.
Black vs. Jewish Historical Accusations in the Mary Phagan Case: The True Crime that Continues to Divide Race and Faith
The April 26, 1913, rape and murder of Mary Phagan in Atlanta, Georgia, remains one of the most hotly contested episodes in American racial, religious, and ethnic history. Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent and Atlanta’s B'nai B'rith chapter president, was duly convicted of the crime in a trial that has since become a focal point of historical dispute, particularly among Jewish historians, and a lightning rod for broader debate.
With regard to the Fulton County courthouse proceedings (July 28–August 21), some contemporary and historical Jewish commentators, researchers, and scholars, particularly during the Georgia Court Appeals in 1913 and 1914, have alleged that Leo Frank’s trial jury was influenced by antisemitic mob pressure. However, these claims have been consistently challenged by Black researchers and scholars, who emphasize the sworn affidavits of original trial jurors, the trial’s brief of evidence, and a growing body of modern historical analysis that contests longstanding and predominant Jewish narratives as ethnically and racially self-serving and, in some interpretations, a fabricated consensus.
For example, Google, like most search engines, ranks Wikipedia as the top result for the search term “Leo Frank,” where the lede summary asserts that “Modern researchers generally agree that Frank was wrongly convicted” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Frank). However, it is seldom acknowledged that a supramajority of these researchers are Jewish scholars and activists, a factor which some critics argue may contribute to the framing of the case toward a partial or advocacy-driven interpretation. This conclusion continues to be actively contested by a growing number of independent researchers who have re-examined the original trial evidence and contemporary historical records of the press.
While many Jewish historians have argued that Leo Frank was the victim of an antisemitic judicial process, others have pointed to broader historical analyses that challenge the full extent of this claim, suggesting a more complex interplay of evidence and social or ethnic hierarchies—particularly given that, like most Jews of the time, Frank was racially classified as White, while his chief accuser was African American.
Even in recent years, some Jewish activists and figures like former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes (a non-Jew) have continued to publicly assert the claim that antisemitic mobs or crowds gathered outside the courtroom, allegedly shouting anti-Jewish death threats ("Hang the Jew or we'll hang you") at the jury every morning as they entered the courthouse.
There have been no substantiated reports of antisemitic death threats or similar disturbances in newspaper accounts or Frank's appeals records. In contrast to these perceived anti-Gentile blood libels, there was an example of so-called "anti-Gentilism" during prosecutorial examination. During the trial proceedings, Leo Frank's mother, Rachel "Ray" Jacobs Frank (1859–1925), caused a significant disruption in court over child molestation accusations against her son, Leo. She reportedly shouted at prosecutor Hugh Dorsey (1871–1948), calling him a "Christian dog" or "Gentile dog" in response to his cross-examination of a former factory employee about pederast allegations that the defendant Leo Frank had inappropriately touched some of his office boys. This outburst was well documented, as the presiding judge Leonard Roan was forced to pause the trial and have the defense counsel calmly escort Mrs. Ray Frank from the courtroom to deescalate the situation.
Jews Scapegoating Blacks: The Strategic Shifting of Blame in Historical Accounts
Nevertheless, over the past century, with near-unanimity, narratives promoted by Jewish intellectuals in academic institutions, published monographs, and journalistic reports in magazines and newspapers have attempted to shift the blame onto African American workers, Newt Lee, and Jim Conley, while also promoting in parallel the "Jew hatred" narrative about Frank's indictment and guilty verdict.
Conflicting Perspectives: Black vs. Jewish Interpretations and Struggles for Narrative Authority of History
With 10s of millions of interactions on X posting about the Frank-Phagan case, social media has reflected for years the widespread perceptions that these steamrolling efforts by Jewish-American individuals, communal organizations, and advocacy groups to deflect guilt from a prominent Jewish figure onto working-class Black individuals, have likely perpetuated stereotypes about the use of Jewish wealth and power to shape dominant historical narratives, thus further exacerbating distrust between these already estranged communities. And while modern Jewish scholars, journalists, and activists have largely ceased targeting Newt Lee, they are seen by some as continuing to focus their animus on framing Jim Conley and attributing Frank’s conviction to a rampant antisemitism that did not exist during the 25-day trial or during the progressive era of the American South.
Modern forensic historians have found no substantive evidence of antisemitism in Leo Frank's trial, yet many accounts by Jewish authors lean on concocted anti-Gentile narratives against Black and White Southerners, some of them even veer into highly inflammatory and racially charged blood libels. One of the most extreme examples of anti-Gentile blood libel is the Leo Frank narrative that the blood of a guilty black man is not enough to atone for the death of a White girl, so that an innocent Jew must die for her rape-and-murder. In this conceptual framework, White Southerners are imbued with so much Jew hatred that they would rather allow, a guilty black homicidal rapist who sexually assaulted and strangled to death a White girl, to be pardoned and go free to make an innocent Jew pay the price for the crime. Some of the Jewish authors who promote this anti-Gentile racial hoax in their books on the Leo Frank case seem to have zero self-awareness or fathom how this incendiary material— a grotesque example of anti-White bigotry, and disgusting weaponization of antisemitism might possibly offend African Americans. This likely represents an extreme example of a repugnant assumption that warrants a formal apology, given how this wrongful belief has been perpetuated as part of our collective historical memory in numerous published accounts on the Frank case.
In fact, Jews often benefited from white hegemony in the segregated South, and assertions of widespread antisemitism in this case lack authentic historical support. Atlanta newspaper reports from the time document no antisemitic shouts, chants, or threats made on the streets through the open windows of the courtroom, as asserted by the ADL, Leonard Dinnerstein (1934-2019), or others. Additionally, appeals records for Frank’s case in state and federal courts contain no allegations of antisemitic menacing through the open windows during court proceedings from outside the courthouse. Such incidents, if they had occurred while the court was in open session, would have warranted arrests and a new trial.
If Jews wish to rebuild trust with the Black community, they could start by offering a sincere and open apology without crafting excuses for the racially charged attempts over the past century to make sacrificial lambs out of Leo Frank's Black employees for the murder and sexual violence against Mary Phagan.
Gaza Conflict and African American Solidarity, Palestinian Genocide, Ethnoreligious Apartheid, Jewish Crimes Against Humanity, and Ethnic Cleansing in Palestine
The perception of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly the ongoing violence during the Gaza "Holocaust", has struck a chord with many African Americans who empathize with Palestinians, viewed as oppressed brown-skinned people facing aggression from largely militant Eastern European settlers and white supremacist Ashkenazi Jews. The perception of Israel’s actions as a genocidal, has spurred solidarity with Palestinians among African American activists, deepening tensions with Jewish communities and non-Jewish Zionism supporters. This rift is intensified by divergent perspectives on Zionism, with some African Americans equating it to apartheid, European Ashkenazi colonialism, and Jewish supremacism, mirroring their own historical oppression by Jewish entities. Some African Americans emphasize that white European Jews from Western nations, lacking racial, ethnic, or geographic ties to the Middle East, routinely displace Palestinians, whose ancestors inhabited the region for centuries, seizing their land and homes, making them effectively homeless.
Allegations of Manipulation and the "Golem" Narrative
Some narratives allege that Jewish activists have historically used African Americans as a "golem"—a metaphorical battering ram to confront white supremacy while advancing Jewish interests predominantly. This perception stems from instances where Jewish-led organizations or initiatives appeared to prioritize Jewish agendas, leaving African American communities feeling exploited or sidelined in broader social justice efforts. The perception is that the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), founded by Jewish interlopers, is frequently recognized as a leading Black civil rights organization, but is often criticized for prioritizing Jewish issues, at times placing them ahead of Black concerns.
Jewish Involvement in the Slave Trade
Another point of contention is the perception that Jewish merchants and ship owners played an outsized role in the transatlantic slave trade and as its labor beneficiaries, particularly in port cities in the Americas and elsewhere. Critics argue that Jewish communities have not sufficiently acknowledged or addressed this history, which contrasts with their vocal advocacy for other historical injustices. This omission fuels resentment among some African Americans who feel their historical suffering, which amounts to a multi-century African Holocaust, is overlooked. Some researchers have put the typical range of transportation and onsite deaths as significantly high.
Performative: Perceptions of Exaggerated Antisemitism and Benefiting White Supremacy
Some African Americans view segments of the Jewish community as significantly overstating experiences of antisemitism in order to preserve a sense of victimhood and maintain social and political influence. There is also a perception that, prior to the Civil Rights Movement, Jewish individuals were able to access economic and social opportunities denied to African Americans, with Jews benefiting, to a large extent, from structures of white supremacy, especially in the American South. This perspective holds that Jewish communities managed to navigate Anglo-Saxon nativism and discrimination more effectively, leveraging those gains while at times offering only symbolic or strategic solidarity with African Americans. The hindsight belief in such performative solidarity and the de facto racial dynamics has contributed to ongoing tensions in Black-Jewish relations.
Black Jews and Sterilization in Israel
Reports of Ethiopian Jewish women being coerced into receiving long-term birth control injections under the guise of vaccinations in Israel have sparked international outrage. These incidents, occurring primarily in the 2000s, are cited as evidence of systemic racism within Jewish institutions, alienating African American Jews and others who see parallels with historical medical abuses against Black communities in the United States by Jews.
Strained Allyship: Perceptions of Jewish Behavior in Modern Civil Rights Movements
In contemporary civil rights movements, some African Americans perceive Jewish activists as domineering or overly authoritative, often characterized as "egotistical," "pushy," "loudmouths," "bullies," or "know-it-alls." This perception arises from disagreements over strategy, leadership, and priorities, with African American activists feeling their voices are often sidelined within coalitions that include Jewish participants who put their own self-interest as a priority over collective concerns.
Antisemitism and Racism: The Primary Tools of Manipulation
An increasing number of African Americans feel that Jewish organizations and individuals provoke, amplify, and then exploit antisemitism for sociopolitical manipulation, personal gain, and group or individual sympathy, akin to a form of ethnic "Munchausen syndrome." Moreover, there is a perception that Jews sometimes overstate the influence or impact of modern neo-Nazi movements, often inflating their otherwise scant adherent numbers. Additionally, some argue that Jewish communities and their leaders downplay, obfuscate, or omit historical instances where Jews supported groups like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) or participated in their activities. Critics also accuse Jews of hypocrisy, alleging they speak with "a forked tongue" by denouncing white supremacy to foster alliances with people of color through a narrative of shared victimhood;. yet, historical evidence suggests that Jews have largely benefited from white supremacy and, in some cases, even supported racist ideologies in a traditional and historical capacity.
For instance, African-American advocates contend by emphasizing that the 1915 KKK movie Birth of a Nation was screened at thousands of Jewish-owned Loews theaters nationwide and that Jews provided material and economic support for the Ku Klux Klan. Jews, based on manifest records and census data, disproportionately controlled the slave trade in the Americas to such a degree that related auctions were seldom ever held on significant Jewish holidays. Additionally, thousands of Jews fought for the Confederacy to maintain slavery. A prominent Jew, Judah P. Benjamin's face graced Confederate States of America (CSA) currency, and he was arguably in one of the most powerful positions of that secessionist movement's government. And If there was discrimination against Jews in the early 20th century, it was usually isolated at a few hotels and country clubs, or broadly meant to stop them from disproportionately occupying all the seats at elite colleges with quotas; it was not the systemic racial discrimination Black people endured as legalized second-class citizens.
This depiction suggests that, in the big-picture, such Black-Jewish solidarity networks primarily serve to elevate Jewish social mobility, power, wealth acquisition, and political influence, while African Americans continue to languish in systemic poverty and marginalization. The disparity in outcomes is that Jewish communities are interpreted as thriving economically per capita, while African American communities struggle in the balance, even to this day, fueling cynicism and skepticism of authentic solidarity. Objectively speaking, there is substantial empirical evidence of these disparate outcomes. Regardless of the underlying causes, economic indicators, government statistics, and demographic data consistently and conclusively demonstrate a clear financial disparity between Jewish and Black Americans.
Unequal Representation: Black Voices and the Supremacist Power of the Zionist Lobby
In the U.S., Blacks outnumber Jews 6 to 1, but feel their political and institutional power is vastly incomparable, as 14% of the population compared to 3%. It is widely recognized in mainstream culture that one does not need to be Jewish in order to identify as a Zionist or sympathize with Zionism (including 10s of millions of American Evangelical Christians). Many African-American activists believe the U.S. Congress and the chief executive office of the white house are captured by American Jewry, and Israel's radical expansionary ideology of Zionism. The significant presence of Jewish individuals in positions of power in the United States government and administering levers of power, coupled with the influence of pro-Israel lobbying groups like AIPAC, is another point of contention. Critics argue that Zionist priorities dominate U.S. politics, with politicians focusing on Israel’s interests and Jewish rights over the needs of Black Americans and on foreign policy for sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty is endemic at different levels. This perception portrays AIPAC, the ADL, AJC, B'nai B'rith, and numerous similar advocacy organizations as focusing more on Jewish interests and Israeli foreign policy than on domestic challenges such as persistent structural racial disparity and economic inequality impacting Black communities.
Conclusion
The once-powerful Black-Jewish alliance, a catalyst for social change, has been increasingly strained due to a history marked by both historical and contemporary grievances. These range from the Crown Heights riots and disputes over Israel's policies to the enduring impact and legacy of the Mary Phagan case, differing views on upward mobility and affirmative action, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, coerced sterilizations, academic employment controversies, ethnic cleansing, slavery, and concerns about Zionist influence in U.S. politics. These issues have fostered growing distrust in the Black community. Overcoming this divide requires open, honest dialogue, acknowledgment of past injustices, correcting historical inaccuracies, publicly apologizing for erroneous accusations of antisemitism or racism (on all sides), and a collective effort to forge an equitable, just partnership.
This partial set of recommendations is offered to the Southern Poverty Law Center as a starting point for developing a framework to embark on the challenging yet necessary work of reviving a relationship between Jews and their estranged constituency that, by many measures, is in critical condition. Without meaningful and far-reaching action, the Jewish community risks further isolation.
The positive and hopeful news is that, according to a 2020 Pew study, a majority of Black American citizens—more than 53%—view Jews favorably, while only a small minority of this demographic, roughly 25%, hold unfavorable opinions. However, this isn't the full picture, but only one racial demographic; in the aggregate, perceptions vary significantly across age, political affiliation, and race, with 2 out of 3 Americans on average having a favorable view of Jews. In contrast, attitudes toward Israel, the self-described Jewish and democratic state, are shifting. Opinion polls show that favorability ratings for Israel are declining among most groups, with the exception of Republican baby boomers, who continue to express strong support.
-End of Curator Commentary, April 18, 2025-
The SPLC’s Deceitful Portrayal of the Leo Frank Case
By Mark Weber
Institute for Historical Review
April 12, 2025
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) – an influential organization known for “fighting racism” – recently issued a strangely deceitful and evasive statement, “Black. Jewish. Divided by Hate. Stronger Together” about the Leo Frank murder case, an important episode of American history that has been in the news in recent weeks.
Mary Phagan, a 13-year-old White employee at a pencil factory in Atlanta was brutally murdered in April 1913. Police investigators first suspected Newt Lee, a Black employee at the factory who discovered the body, but soon concluded that Leo Frank, the factory manager, had committed the crime. During the trial, which generated intense press attention, both locally and nationally, Frank’s lawyers appealed to and tried to inflame anti-Black sentiment among the twelve White men of the jury in an effort to pin the murder on Jim Conley, a Black man who also worked at the factory. Frank’s attorneys told the court that Conley was “a beastly, drunken, filthy, lying nigger,” “a cannibal, a man-eater,” a “stinking black brute,” and much more in that spirit
Remarkably, the White jurors set aside the anti-Black attitudes that prevailed at the time, and instead concluded that the plain evidence, including the testimony of Black witnesses, was more credible and convincing than the testimony of Frank or the arguments made by his legal team. Frank was the first White man in the “Jim Crow” South to be convicted of a capital crime in a trial that prominently featured the testimony of Black witnesses.
Frank was convicted and sentenced to death. But shortly before his execution, the Georgia state Governor commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Eight weeks later, a group of enraged citizens took Frank from prison, drove him to the murdered girl’s home town, and hanged him from a tree.
For more than century, the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish organizations have promoted the view that Leo Frank – a prominent member of the Atlanta Jewish community – was unjustly accused and convicted. This view, which has been supported by Hollywood and the mainstream media, is widely accepted.
The two authors of the SPLC statement contend that both Frank and Conley were “scapegoat” victims of a “racist system” of “white supremacy.” The SPLC writers make no mention of Mary Phagan, the actual murder victim. If both Frank and Conley were innocent, as the SPLC suggests, readers might wonder just what the trial was all about. The authors of this SPLC polemic don’t even try to explain.
Probably the most detailed and illuminating study of this subject and its enduring importance is The Leo Frank Case: The Lynching of a Guilty Man, an impressively researched analysis published by the Nation of Islam. The California-based Institute for Historical Review recently mailed a copy of this book to each member of the Georgia state legislature. This 536-page work – available from the IHR – is illustrated with photographs, diagrams, and maps, and is referenced with more than a thousand footnotes.
Sources
Weber, Mark. (April 12, 2025). The SPLC’s Deceitful Portrayal of the Leo Frank Case. Retrieved from ihr.org/other/the-splcs-deceitful-portrayal-of-the-leo-fr...
Referenced Articles and Books
Ward, E. K., & Levi, S. (2025, March 25). Black. Jewish. Divided by hate. Stronger together. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved from www.splcenter.org/resources/hopewatch/black-jewish-divide...
Historical Research Department. (2016). Video Promo for the book, Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, Volume 3: The Leo Frank case—The Lynching of a Guilty Man. Nation of Islam. Retrieved from archive.org/details/secret-relationship-between-blacks-an...
Historical Research Department. (2016). Book: The secret relationship between Blacks and Jews, Volume 3: The Leo Frank case—The lynching of a guilty man. Nation of Islam. archive.org/details/secret-relationship-between-blacks-an...
Wilson, Kingsley. (August 17, 2024; March 12, 2023). "Leo Frank". x.com/search?q=from%3AKingsleyCortes%20%22leo%20frank%22&...
Further Reading
Nation of Islam Research Group www.NOIRG.org
Simmons, W. J. (1923). The Klan unmasked. Atlanta, GA: Wm. E. Thompson Publishing Co. Retrieved from archive.org/details/TheKlanUnmasked/page/n33/mode/2up
Appendix
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SPLC | Hopewatch
Black. Jewish. Divided by Hate. Stronger Together
Eric K. Ward, Seth Levi | March 25, 2025
In 1915, an armed mob abducted and lynched Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager in Georgia, in one of the most infamous acts of antisemitic violence. His murder followed a trial marred by antisemitism, fueled by conspiracy theories and exploited by a rising Ku Klux Klan. But Frank’s lynching wasn’t just about antisemitism — it was part of a broader white supremacist strategy to instill fear and reinforce racial hierarchies.
[Curator Commentary: Nuance matters in the intricate and protracted ordeal of Frank’s midnight ride and sunrise execution.
First, let's address the usage of the term "mob." A mob typically refers to a large, disorderly group of people, often acting spontaneously and emotionally, especially in the context of a flash of anger, violence, or unrest. The term carries specific connotations depending on the context—here are a few precise definitions and how they’re generally understood:
General Definition (Social Context):
1. Without Planning: A mob is an unruly crowd of people who may engage in violence, protest, or vigilantism, often without planning or leadership.
2. Immediacy and Lack of Structure: Mobs usually form rapidly, driven by strong emotions like anger, fear, or outrage, and can dissolve just as quickly. Example: A mob may storm a courthouse in a riotous moment of fury after a controversial verdict.
The term "mob" is inaccurate with regard to the extrajudicial hanging of Leo Frank. The group responsible for the lynching of Leo Frank on August 17, 1915, was not a spontaneous mob driven by imminent rage, as is often associated with such acts historically. Instead, his assassination was carried out with seven weeks of careful planning in a calculated, calm, and methodical manner by a group of influential men from Georgia—individuals who held positions of power and prominence in society. Usually, lynchings happen locally.
The lynching mission was executed after thorough premeditated practice and preparation, a meticulously orchestrated raid that required the coordination of multiple motor vehicles, detailed road maps, an electrician scaling a telephone pole to cut telegraph wires, and architectural knowledge of the Milledgeville State Penitentiary. Plans had to be adjusted weeks before the military style operation. Frank unexpectedly had his throat slashed on July 17, 1915, by William Creen, a fellow inmate also convicted of homicide. Frank miraculously survived and was completing his recovering in the infirmary from the recent knife attack, making the timing of the abduction well considered. This was not an improvised or impulsive act characteristic of typical mob violence—it was a deliberate mission carried out by individuals with access, resources, and a shared intent.
They traveled from Marietta to Milledgeville, a one-way distance of approximately 125 miles, to abduct Frank from the state prison. In 1915, such a journey by early 20th-century motor vehicles would have taken 7 to 8 hours each way, given the unimproved roads and limited speed capabilities of the time. After successfully kidnapping Frank, they made the return trip—completing a 250+ mile round trip—to Marietta, where they carried out the lynching the following morning at a former Sheriff's estate. The logistical coordination required for such an operation further underscores the precise, disciplined, and volitional nature of the act, distinguishing it sharply from the image of a frenzied mob of hotheaded yokels. Steve Oney once characterized the event as an act of terrorism endorsed and sponsored by the state.
These distinguished men included a former governor, a state senator, a sitting judge, law enforcement officers, including a former Sheriff, and other respected members from the communities of Marietta and Atlanta. None had criminal records, and all were regarded as upstanding citizens. Operating under the name "the vigilance committee," the group never referred to itself as the "Knights of Mary Phagan." Moreover, none of its members were affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which would not be reestablished until several months later in a separate and unrelated development.
Was Leo Frank Lynched Because of Antisemitism? Not exactly.
The lynching of Leo Frank cannot be solely attributed to antisemitism—he was not executed because of his religion of reform Judaism, or Hebraic race/ethnicity (in the early 20th century, Jews referred to themselves as Hebrews). If the lynchers' goal had been to target a Jew specifically, they would not have needed to make a 250-mile round trip to a far-off farming community. Atlanta, in 1915, was the heart of Georgia's Jewish community, and they could have easily located someone of Jewish descent within the capital, particularly with a 1915 city directory in hand.
Luther Rosser's Law Partner was Georgia Governor John Slaton
The true motivation behind Leo Frank’s lynching stemmed from the widespread belief that he had been justly convicted based on the evidence, with his verdict upheld through appellate tribunals at both the state and federal judicial strata. Yet, he ultimately escaped the noose of capital punishment through what many saw as a crony act of executive intervention. Governor John Slaton, who commuted Frank’s death sentence to life imprisonment, was a partner in the law firm that had defended Frank during his 1913 trial for the murder of Mary Phagan (the law group was called Rosser, Brandon, Slaton, and Phillips). To many Georgians, it was an egregious conflict of interest that Slaton was the law partner of Luther Rosser, who was employed as Frank’s lead defense attorney at both trial and state appeals. Frank had been convicted by a jury of his peers and sentenced to hang by the presiding judge, but Slaton's commutation provoked widespread indignation and deep resentment in the populace. -end of curator commentary. ]
That strategy never ended. It simply evolved.
More than a century later, the same forces that sought to divide and terrorize communities of color are at it again. This time, the attack on Frank’s legacy isn’t coming from the fringes of the internet — it’s coming from inside the U.S. government.
Kingsley Wilson, a deputy press secretary at the Department of Defense, has publicly revived the false claim that Frank was guilty of the crime for which most historians agree he was wrongly convicted. In doing so, she aligns herself with a long-standing white nationalist strategy: distorting history to drive a wedge between Black and Jewish communities—not as a mere political maneuver, but as part of an asymmetrical campaign to undermine democracy itself.
(Image of Leo Frank: Portrait of a man in a hat and a suit.)
Leo Frank was abducted and lynched by an armed mob after his death sentence was commuted to life in prison for the murder of a 13-year-old factory worker. Most historians agree that Frank was wrongly convicted. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress)
Georgia has always been central. It’s where Frank was lynched, where the Klan found new life after his murder, and where modern extremists are once again trying to rewrite history.
Wilson’s statements — like those of many white nationalists before her — serve a dual purpose. First, they reinforce antisemitic conspiracy theories that paint Jewish people as deceitful. Second, they exploit painful historical realities about racism in the legal system to convince Black Americans that Jewish allies can’t be trusted.
But this isn’t just an academic distortion of history — it has real consequences. That same racist system didn’t just railroad Frank. It also ensnared Jim Conley, the Black janitor Frank’s defense accused.
The truth is that Conley, the Black man accused by Frank’s defense, was a victim of the same racist system that sought to scapegoat him as much as it sought to railroad Frank. The state of Georgia acknowledged as much when it posthumously pardoned Frank in 1986 — not because it found Conley guilty, but because the entire case was a travesty of justice fueled by racial and religious prejudice.
Frank’s conviction and lynching weren’t just about antisemitism. They were about how white supremacists wield racism and bigotry to maintain control. The same forces that targeted Frank later targeted Black activists, immigrants and anyone else who threatened their vision of a white, Christian America.
And they’ve done it the same way for generations — by setting communities against each other.
This tactic has deep roots. White supremacists have long worked to break multiracial coalitions by fostering resentment, inflaming real or perceived tensions. The goal is always the same: divide and conquer.
In the early 20th century, segregationists pitted Black and immigrant communities against each other to maintain their grip on power. During the Civil Rights Movement, antisemitic conspiracy theories were weaponized to undermine Jewish allies who stood alongside Black leaders. Today, Wilson’s revisionism exploits the pain of racial injustice to weaken Black-Jewish solidarity.
History makes it clear: White supremacists fear unity. They attack Black and Jewish Americans because we are strongest when we stand together. From the founding of the NAACP — where Jewish leaders played key roles — to the Freedom Rides and the shared fight against hate groups, solidarity has always been the greatest threat to their authoritarian ambitions.
The real wedge isn’t between Black and Jewish Americans. It’s between those fighting for a multiracial democracy and those trying to tear it down. White nationalists need us to see each other as enemies because they know they can’t win against all of us united. Their entire strategy depends on convincing us that our allies are our adversaries while they consolidate power behind the scenes.
Wilson and her allies want us fractured, distracted, and fighting each other — instead of them.
But we won’t take the bait.
The real lesson of Leo Frank’s story is not one of Jewish betrayal or Black victimization. It is a lesson about how racism and antisemitism work together to uphold white supremacy — and about what happens when we let division win.
The only way to win is to stand together. No amount of historical distortion, no social media smear campaign, and no white nationalist propaganda can change that.
Eric K. Ward is executive vice president at Race Forward, and Seth Levi is senior chief strategy officer at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Image at top: In a photo from July 28, 1913, Leo Frank, seated in the center with his arms crossed, looks on during testimony at his trial. (Credit: Walter Frank Winn/Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Transcript source:
Eric K. Ward, Seth Levi. (March 25, 2025). Hopewatch: Black. Jewish. Divided by Hate. Stronger Together. www.splcenter.org/resources/hopewatch/black-jewish-divide...
-end of SPLC article transcript-
Onions in Zehrs.
My Jamie Oliver cookbook has some wicked pictures in it. So, when I went to Zehrs today I decided to snap some pictures of produce. Of course, there is a deeper meaning to the photo. Do you see it? Actually, there isn't, I'm just talking out of my ass.
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Sealed Tunnel. Underpass connects Nationalist and Unionist-populated neighbourhoods. Park Road, Portadown, Northern Ireland.
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The Double Space–Liner is an outdoor robust litter collection orderly barrow which allows for the collection and segregation of two different waste streams. Ideal for Local Authorities.
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Happy First Day of Spring!
Jazz Dinner dance was last night, and I went and stayed at a friends house, so that's why this upload is a day late.
I would call this "Segregation" if I titled these.
I hope everyone's weekend was excellent :)
Beyond Planetary Apartheid - Planetary Gentrification- institutionalised segregation with Loretta Lees at ISCTE-IUL on may 10th 2018.
A CEI-IUL Organization.
Fotografia de Hugo Alexandre Cruz.
Before the 1950's everything was segregated. African Americans were not allowed to drink from water fountains or use public bathrooms that were designated for Whites only.