Political Rewind: As antisemitism goes mainstream, a look at the Jewish history of Georgia

Caption

On Oct. 15, 1958, the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple was bombed with dynamite. It's a part of Georgia's grim history of violence against Jewish communities.

Credit: New Georgia Encyclopedia

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.