This is a sad story. Recently, when South Carolina finally took down its racist rebel flag after the massacre of the Charleston 9, the conspicuous thing was the absence of the establishment at the flag lowering. The hypocrisy comes from this sort of thing in a state that now seems certain to nominate Donald Trump. South Carolina has never fessed up to its record of extreme racism and modern bigotry. As one personal example, the Jewish Community there brags about its liberalism, somehow erasing the record where the same reform synagogue was fully involved in Jim Crow and before that the home to a racist masonic chapter whose rules became the charter of the KKK.
Charleston is called the Holy City. Here’s part of why.
Stephanie Alexander Rabbi at Charleston’s premier reform synagogue
Friends in Charleston and at KKBE, I want to make sure you know about a wonderful opportunity this weekend… It will take place on Shabbat, so I recognize
from FB: You are a hateful bigot.
Bill Quick
Stephen Schwartz How is that? Who am I bogted against?
Bill Quick
Bill Quick You are “bogted” against South Carolina and Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) Reform Jewish Congregation of Charleston only because your sister and brother-in-law belong there. You are also “bogted” against anyone who doesn’t share your perverted sense of history.
Steve Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz Really?
Not quite true. Yes I do pay attention to SC but much of its shame is shared by other irredentist states in the South that have never given up their racist heritage.
The fact that Alabama, Texas, Mississippi are as bad as South Carolina does not make South Carolina any better.
But, there is the matter of your claim that my view of history is perverted. That claim would bother me if it means I have perverted the truth. Is it not true that slave owners in SC, including Jews, intentionally bred humans to create a better slave? Is it not true that the University of Charleston is TODAY headed by a proud Confederate who celebrates the era of slavery?
Is it not true that the Jews of South Carolina supported Jim Crow and Segregation? Is it not true that Jews of Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) Reform Jewish Congregation of Charleston authored the founding documents for the Scottish Right of Masonry and that those documents later were used to found the KKK?
So, OK …. past evils ought not to be inherited by the descendants of the Jews of the South or their successors in the modern Jewish community. But, isn’t there a lot to be gained from understanding our heritage and accepting responsibility for it?
So tell me, how is Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim (KKBE) Reform Jewish Congregation working TODAY to deal with the reality of Trump?
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