Labor leader defends Ellison from anti-Semitism accusations
The president of the American Federation of Teachers defended Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) on Saturday against those accusing the Democratic National Committee candidate of anti-Semitism.
“I can feel and smell anti Semitism. Keith Ellison is no anti-Semite and it is maddening when anyone who doesn't know him or his record makes that ugly accusation,” Randi Weingarten wrote in a Facebook post.
Ellison said in a 2006 letter to Jewish groups reported by CNN that he had "long distanced myself from and rejected the Nation of Islam due to its propagation of bigoted and anti-Semitic ideas and statements, as well as other issues."
But Ellison has been under fire over other Labor leader defends Ellison from anti-Semitism accusations | TheHill:
Randi Weingarten - https://www.facebook.com/randi.weingarten.9?fref=nf
Ellison has now been officially swiftboated..Tapes cut and pasted; renounciations of the Nation of Islam and Farrakhan ignored. JJ Goldberg in the Forward goes thru every charge-- not because he is a Keith supporter, but because he understands the longterm implications of this particular swift-boating. He concludes " if the image of Ellison that’s been laid out for us in the past few days were remotely true, any effort to stop him would be justified. But it isn’t."
I am a proud American Jew and a progressive Zionist who practices my religion; tries to be in shul every Friday for Shabbat, and who believes in a 2 state solution. I taught in Crown Heights in the 1990s during the black-Jewish tensions. I grew up going to Camp Ramah, the camp sponsored by the Conservative Jewish movement, and read everything i could about the Holocaust. My best friend and my brother in law's parents are (were) survivors and etched in my brain is the fact my home being pelted with eggs- because we were Jewish- when I was a youngster in New City,NY-long before Rockland County became as Jewish as it is now.
And btw, my partner is a Rabbi.
Now that my Jewish and Israel demographics out of the way...
Oops. One more factoid. I am a DNC member and I support Keith Ellison for DNC chair
I can feel and smell anti Semitism. Keith Ellison is no anti-Semite and it is maddening when anyone who doesn't know him or his record makes that ugly accusation.
Keith is an agent of change-a fierce fighter for working folk and someone who understands that one has to both fight against bigotry and hate and fight for the economic and educational opportunities America's working families need. That this is a both/and struggle for justice and opportunity- not an either/or.He gets the anxiety and frustration borne out of globalization and deindustrialization and that the Democratic Party must organize ground up.
Keith called me after DeVos was nominated- he got immediately what an existential threat she represents to educational opportunity in America.
That is just who he is..He walks his walk for working families..
So let's have a fair discussion about DNC chair-but don't dismiss Keith on ugly and specious charges that are easily refuted simply by looking at his record.
There's a lot of anti Semitism-and Islamaphobia in the world. Dont pretend it exists in Keith Ellison's heart or soul.
