DeSean Jackson’s anti-Semitic messages are a critical teaching moment – for everyone

Editor’s note: The original version of this column contained an editing error that unintentionally misinterpreted the author’s original message. We regret the error.

The Philadelphia Eagles were mostly successful this week when they called DeSean Jackson’s anti-Semitic messages on social media “shocking, harmful and absolutely appalling”. The Eagles, however, left out an important thought, one that offers an educational moment at a time when athletes at all levels are talking about social justice like never before.

The posts were dangerously ill-informed. They demonstrated not only a lack of understanding of what it means to be anti-Semitic, but also a high level of naivety about the dark areas of the Internet from which he and other social media users sometimes draw their content. In trying to amplify what he interpreted as an example of black subjugation, as he later suggested, Jackson instead elevated a fabricated quote attributed to Adolf Hitler and thus promoted a group linked to an outburst of mortal fire in a kosher market last year in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Jackson later hinted that he hadn’t absorbed the whole sense of the passage. Eric K. Ward, executive director of the Western States Center, a national civil rights organization, called this result a “system failure” of the social justice response in sport.

“It’s clear to me that the real problem right now is that people like DeSean Jackson are exposed to and influenced by this type of rhetoric,” said Ward, “and no one has invested in player education. and their managers in the context of in many ways it is certainly important to talk about his statement and his post and his rhetoric, but the truth is that we have a system failure here. “

You may remember that on Monday evening Jackson published two images on his Instagram story quoting Hitler as saying that white Jews “would blackmail America”. [They] will extort America, their plan for world domination will not work if black people know who they are. The white citizens of America will be terrified to know that during this time they have mistreated, discriminated against and lynched the children of Israel. “

According to Snopes, there is no record of Hitler using this quote. Slnething by Shane Ryan, on his blog Apocalypse Sports, reveals that he appeared in a book published in 2018 and written by Jeremy Shorter, an author whose biography links him to the movement of the Hebrew Black Israelites. The ideology of the movement is that African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans – not white Jews – are the true children of God. Some factions are peaceful, but the Southern Poverty Law Center – one of the main advocates of justice – designates 144 of them as hate groups because of their “anti-white and anti-Semitic beliefs”.

Ward said Jackson’s messages “looked like direct talking points” from the most virulent elements of black Hebrew Israelite rhetoric.

Did Jackson really intend to spread centuries-old insults against the Jews? In the first of two Instagram apologies, Jackson said he didn’t do it.

“I post a lot of things sent to me,” wrote Jackson. “I don’t hate anyone. I really didn’t know what this passage said.”

What led him to publish the quote in the first place? In a second excuse, Jackson added that his intention was to “uplift, unite and encourage our culture with positivity and light”.

It’s easy to deduce Jackson’s explanation: he received and republished content without understanding or absorbing all the implications. Ward, an expert on the intersection of race and anti-Semitism, said he was not prepared to completely absolve Jackson. But he recognized that celebrities of all types can be manipulated “in all kinds of unprincipled ways” and said that sports have failed athletes by failing to educate them about the complexities of race, social justice and anti-Semitism.

Indeed, Jackson fell into a far more dangerous space than a simple offensive remark.

“These are ideological statements,” said Ward. “Whether he believes them or not, he emits an ideological worldview on a group of people. Whether intentional or not should certainly be taken into account, but we must also take into account that the result of the action is still And it happens six months after the [Jersey City shooting] by individuals who claim to be at least black Hebrew Israelites. “

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Julian Edelman, who is Jewish, offers to take DeSean Jackson to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in DC to help him better understand Jewish culture.

Jackson has promised that his apology will be “more than just words.” He is committed to learning, learning more and “making a difference in our community”.

By the end of the week, he had started the process. The receiver of the New England Patriots, Julian Edelman, who is Jewish, offered to take him to visit the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington. The two men spoke by phone Thursday evening. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Jackson met a Jewish group and a Holocaust survivor on Friday. The Eagles, on the other hand, fined him for prejudicial team conduct and insisted that he take “strong and deliberate action” and make “a commitment to grow.”

Certainly, Jackson has sometimes provided a powerful voice for social justice. Last month, his thoughts on the death of George Floyd prompted Eagles center Jason Kelce to publish his own thoughts on systemic racism.

But as athletes embarked on public advocacy, Jackson showed that the way forward was not as obvious as it might have seemed. His attempt this week injured many people and introduced a hate group to at least some of his appreciable audiences. He now has a huge opportunity not only to reverse the damage but also to do something meaningful – once he knows what he is talking about.