Credit: New Georgia Encyclopedia
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Political Rewind: As antisemitism goes mainstream, a look at the Jewish history of Georgia
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The panel
Allison Padilla-Goodman, @apadillagoodman, VP, Southern Division, Anti-Defamation League
State Rep. Esther Panitch (D), @epanitch, District 51
Greg Bluestein, @bluestein, political reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sandra Berman, William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum
The breakdown
1. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, our special panel discusses contemporary antisemitism in politics.
- According to a new survey from the Anti-Discrimination League, 1 in 5 Americans say they believe in certain harmful tropes and stereotypes about Jewish people. In 2019, only 1 in 9 Americans held the same beliefs.
- Those stereotypes include "Jews stick together more than other Americans;" "Jews in business go out of their way to hire other Jews;" "Jews do not share my values" and "Jews have too much power in the business world."
- Politicians including former President Donald Trump and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have associated with figures like Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist and Christian nationalist, and rapper Ye, who went on a slew of antisemitic rants on multiple far-right broadcasts.
2. Georgia has a long history of Jewish residents who have experienced both violence and hope.
- The first synagogue in Atlanta, the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation, was founded in 1860 by German Jews. Colloquially known as "The Temple," the building was bombed in 1958 by white supremacists.
- In 1915, Leo Frank was lynched by a 28-man mob in Marietta. He was convicted of the murder of a young girl with little evidence of his involvement. His murder sparked the second iteration of the Ku Klux Klan and caused a movement of Jewish residents out of the state.
- Despite facing discrimination and violence, Jewish Georgians are active in their communities and are working towards fair representation in the Legislature.
Monday on Political Rewind: The AJC's Patricia Murphy joins the panel.