Not my community, not my problem. That’s the sentiment running through a lot of what’s been said online since our local Jewish organizations raised concerns about the upcoming Kan(Ye) West show at the Superdome. Messages and comments telling us nobody cares, or that the outright hatred of Jews is reasonable, warranted. Comments telling us to mind our own business and to “stay home, lock and board [your] windows.”
Here’s why we think it’s everyone’s business.
We are your neighbors. We have been for a long time. The first documented Jewish resident of New Orleans, Isaac Monsanto, arrived in 1724, and Jewish New Orleanians have been part of this city’s life ever since. Jewish philanthropy helped found Touro Infirmary in 1852, still one of the oldest continuously operating hospitals in the country. The Stern family helped get Dillard University off the ground, now the oldest historically Black university in Louisiana. In 1949, Rabbi Julian Feibelman brought United Nations Ambassador Ralph Bunche to speak at Temple Sinai, the city’s first major integrated public meeting. And in the 1990s, Holocaust survivor Anne Levy stood on the steps of the Louisiana Capitol and confronted David Duke to his face…