Black America’s Anti-Semitism Problem

From Kanye West endorsing Hitler to Kyrie Irving inviting followers to watch a documentary about how blacks are the true Jews, anti-Semitism from prominent black figures has been in the news. A recent study explores the phenomenon of black anti-Semitism more broadly, ruling out popular explanations—and excuses—for its frequency.

Black anti-Semitism is nothing new. It has appeared in the works of black intellectuals since at least the early-20th-century black nationalist Marcus Garvey, as Elliot Kaufman observed in Commentary, and defined politics in New York City—the American metropolis where blacks and Jews most often rub shoulders—for generations.

But where does it come from? A new paper by sociologists Eitan Hersh of Tufts University and Laura Royden of Harvard explores this question. The pair reveal—using a survey of thousands of Americans—some shocking statistics, including that black and Hispanic young adults report anti-Semitic views at rates similar to white young adults who self-identify as “alt-right.”

The paper torpedoes popular explanations for black anti-Semitism, like the claim that anti-Semitism is just “anti-whiteness” or an expression of solidarity with the Palestinians. But it does not, despite its attempts to do so, pinpoint the source of this prejudice, so their findings suggest simply that views like Irving and West’s are more common than we’d like to believe, and aren’t going away any time soon.

Their finding is important nonetheless, particularly as anti-Semitic incidents reach record highs amid a surge in major cities. They clarify that these attacks are not, as some still maintain, exclusively the work of white supremacists like the shooter who targeted Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018. Rather, attacks like the stabbing and car assaults that left three men injured in Lakewood, N.J., in April exemplify the persistence of this black anti-Semitism.

To measure anti-Semitism, Hersh and Royden asked their survey respondents three questions: Are Jews more loyal to Israel than America, is it appropriate to boycott Jewish-owned businesses to oppose Israel’s policies, and do Jews in the United States have too much power?

The majority of respondents said no to these questions, but black respondents were much more likely than whites to say yes to at least one—13 percentage points more, after accounting for differences in age, sex, and education. Hispanic respondents were also slightly more likely to agree, though the difference was not statistically distinguishable from zero.

The effect was most pronounced among young blacks and Hispanics. Both groups were

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