Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI) is amovement founded on thepseudoscientificbelief thatAfrican Americans are the "realdescendants" ofancient Israelites.[1] Some factions of the movement also seeNative and non-white Latino Americans as the descendants of ancient Israelites.[1]
A 1999FBIterrorismrisk assessmentreport found that "violent radical fringe members" of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement hold "beliefs bear[ing] a striking resemblance to the Christian Identity[2]theology practiced by manywhite supremacists".[3][4] The assessment concluded that "the overwhelmingmajority of [Black Hebrew Israelites] are unlikely to engage inviolence."[3]
In 2008, Americancivil rightsgroupSouthern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)published thefindings that "theextremist fringe of the Hebrew Israelite movement" has aBlack supremacist outlook.[5] Those classified as Black supremacist include but not limited to the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge,[6] the Nation of Yahweh[7] and the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ.[5][8]
As of December 2019, 144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations have been classifiedhate groups due to theirantisemitism and anti-white beliefs.[9]
Alberta Williams King, the mother ofMartin Luther King Jr., wasshot and killed on June 30, 1974 at the age 69 by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old Black man fromOhio subscribed to the theology of a BHIpreacher called Hananiah E. Israel ofCincinnati. The assassin had reportedly shown interest in a group called the "Hebrew Pentecostal Church of the Living God".[10][better source needed] Israel, Chenault'smentor,castigated Black civil rights activists andBlack church leaders as beingevil anddeceptive, but claimed ininterviews not to haveadvocated violence.[11][better source needed] Chenault did not draw any suchdistinction, and first decided toassassinateRev.Jesse Jackson in Chicago, but canceled the plan at the lastminute.[source?]
The BHI have also been involved in domestic terrorism towards American Jews since the 1970s, the most recent of which include but not limited to the 2019 Jersey Cityshooting (7 dead and 3 injured) and the MonseyHanukkah stabbing (1 dead and 4 injured).[12]
Experts believe that thoseattacks are motivated by their belief in antisemiticconspiracy theories,[12][13] such as "Jews ran the Atlantic slave trade" and "European Jews descended from the Khazars",[13] which are shared by theNation of Islam (NOI),[13] a prominentBlack nationalistgroup led byLouis Farrakhan.[13]
In an article,historianDr. Eunice G. Pollack outlined their common beliefs about Jews held by the BHI and NOI:
| Name | Beliefs |
|---|---|
| Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI) | |
| Nation of Islam (NOI) |
|
Both the BHI and NOI have a considerable level of popularity among Black Americans,[16][17] which contributed to themainstreaming of those antisemitic conspiracy theories, or antisemitic tropes, among the broader community andacademics.[16][17] InAmerican society, such antisemitic tropes werenormalized over thedecades and engendered a form of new antisemitism,[16][17] where Jews are accused of being the "beneficiaries" of "White privilege"[16][17] that"controlled" Western governments to "support Israel at the expense of Palestinians" and "colonise oppressed peoples".[16][18] As per a 2016 ADLsurvey, 23% Black Americans heldnegative beliefs about Jews,[19] while a 2023 survey reportedly showed that one-eighth of Black Americansdoubted whetherthe Holocaust really happened.[20]
Fran Markowitz, a professor ofcultural anthropology at theBen-Gurion University of the Negev, wrote that the BHI's view on theAfrican slave trade conflicts with historical accounts, as does the BHI'sbelief thatSocrates andWilliam Shakespeare were black.[21] Most BHI factions were classified ashate groups by at least two civil rights groups, including but not limited to the SPLC andAnti-Defamation League (ADL).[1] The ADL noted,[22]
Some, but not all, [Black Hebrew Israelites] are outspoken anti-Semites andracists.
On the other hand, political observer Ralph Lenoard further analyzed the BHI,[23]
Black Hebrew Israelism is anideology [...] that 'black people are the real Jews' has permeated [...]African-American consciousness, given thatbig-timecelebrities likeWest,Irving, and DeSean Jackson andNick Cannon [...]amplified some of theseviews.
Antisemitic BHI factions include the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK), House of Israel (HOI), Nation of Yahweh (NOY), Israelites Saints of Christ, True Nation Israelite Congregation and The Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ (ICGJC).[24]
TheADL documented some antisemitic slurs used by the BHI:[24]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Antisemitism runs deeper in the black radical tradition than many realize
A "documentary" thatdemonizesJews and delegitimizesJudaism and theJewish state helped Kyrie Irving "know who" he is.
When Jews insisted on highlighting antisemitism [...] they wereaccused ofreactionary particularism [. ...] much of theleft resisted attempts to present theNazi genocide as a Jewish cataclysm [. ...] It did not see theoppression of Soviet Jewry, or the desperateflight of Ethiopian Jews, as issues [. ...] Stalinist purges [...] Jews [...] as cosmopolitans and Zionist agents. In 1968-69 thePolish Communist Party conducted an anti-Zionist attack on [...] its Jewish population of 35,000, resulting in the forcedemigration ofapproximately 25,000 of them.
Jews and Zionism have been cast as the ultimate oppressors of black Americans.