The historic alliance between Black and Jewish Americans — forged on HBCU campuses and in the Civil Rights Movement, and embodied by leaders and institutions from Howard University to activists on the Freedom Rides — is under attack today by a new strain of radical progressive politics. This piece looks at how remarks from Rep. Summer Lee and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, pressure on organizations like AIPAC, and shifting stances from figures such as Sen. Cory Booker and Governor Gavin Newsom are fraying that partnership, while recent government efforts led by figures like Leo Terrell try to push back. It names the threats, traces the history, and argues why ordinary citizens should resist a return to the toxic identity narratives that empower hate.
For nearly a century, Jewish and Black cooperation was a moral anchor in American life, a “covenant” born out of shared struggle and sacrifice. That alliance grew in classrooms, courts and on buses as activists and scholars teamed up to confront Jim Crow and Nazism’s refugee fallout. Today, some on the radical left trade that record for social media points and tribal politics.
Rep. Summer Lee’s private post after October 7, 2023, that described AIPAC as “textbook anti-blackness.” set off alarm bells beyond a mere policy disagreement. By calling the group an “existential threat to the Black community and its right to self-determination.” she moved from critique to a sweeping accusation that treats Jewish civic participation as hostile to Black interests. That framing maps directly onto old antisemitic tropes that once painted Jewish involvement as foreign or corrupting.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s public support for efforts to remove AIPAC from American political life adds fuel to this fire. The campaign’s description, which denounced AIPAC for saying, “AIPAC threatens free speech, devastates workers’ economic interests, advocates for endless wars and sabotages international diplomacy — all at the cost, and against the will, of the American people.” repackages fear as reform and tries to turn legitimate debate into delegitimization. When well-known politicians adopt that rhetoric, it does real damage.
This isn’t abstract. When the “Squad” and their allies target pro-Israel civic engagement they revive the oldest smears, describing Jewish political action as some covert foreign intrusion. That language pits communities against one another and erases the actual history of cooperation. It is precisely this kind of zero-sum, identity-driven framing that drives wedges between allies instead of building coalitions.
The real story of the alliance is rooted in simple decency and practical solidarity: during the 1930s HBCUs welcomed Jewish scholars fleeing persecution when elite institutions closed their doors. Those professors and students worked side by side at Howard University and elsewhere, not out of charity but out of shared belief in equal rights. What modern critics call “colonizers” were in fact partners in the fight against segregation and bigotry.
When established leaders like Sen. Cory Booker and Governor Gavin Newsom begin to distance themselves from longstanding supporters, it signals a broader chill. Fear of being tarred by this new “dark money” smear has consequences for bipartisanship and for the kind of coalition politics that won the Civil Rights Act. If support for Israel or Jewish civic life is branded a liability, it undercuts the very fabric of American pluralism.
We also need to be clear-eyed about the escalation of raw antisemitism in a digital age. Daniel Goldhagen’s work reminded readers that ordinary people can become complicit in evil when conditioned by hate, and modern echo chambers make that conditioning faster and broader. Violent attacks in Hebron, Gaza, Pittsburgh and Australia are grim proof that rhetoric has consequences and that dehumanization can lead to massacre.
There have been concrete responses. The Trump Administration expanded enforcement efforts against campus antisemitism and Leo Terrell, chairing the DOJ Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, pushed for action that reached into elementary and high schools. Those moves demonstrate that government can act to protect vulnerable communities and push back on hate. But government is part of the answer, not the whole answer.
Citizens have a role. We can reject the woke wedge being driven between Blacks and Jews and refuse to let cynical narratives rewrite a century of shared progress. Ordinary people must speak up, as the silent majority, to insist that civic engagement is not a threat to American identity but a core part of it. The battle over language and loyalty matters, and the direction we choose will shape whether solidarity or division wins.
