Racists, antisemites and other bigots simply hate the other. Missouri, stand together | Opinion

As I prepare to celebrate the 94th birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., I have recently been reflecting on a story I swiped from the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth — one of many profound leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who influenced my life.

As the story goes, one day a hare was strolling through the forest, minding his own business, when the sound of a gunshot sent him into flight. As the hare retreated, a hunter continued to fire his shotgun indiscriminately in the critter’s direction.

Just as the hare thought it was all over, he spotted a rabbit hole and dove inside. The resident rabbit welcomed the frightened hare and told him that there must be some misunderstanding on the part of the hunter. The hunting of hares had been outlawed in this forest long ago, and the rabbit offered to go out and explain how things work in this neck of the woods.

When the host rabbit stepped out of his hole, he was met with an immediate shotgun blast. A pellet hit his hind leg and he quickly limped back into his hole. His guest explained, “Sir, that hunter wasn’t after me — he was after anything he could catch.”

As America witnesses a cringeworthy surge in hate and bigotry, it is important, for African Americans in particular, to understand that the bigots are not after Black rabbits or Jewish hares. They are after the other. Any other.

This is why King noted so brilliantly in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail”: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

On the precipice of Martin Luther King Jr. Day — a day to recognize one of the greatest civil rights leaders in human history — I encourage the American people not only to celebrate the life, legacy and movement he helped lead, but also to reflect on the perils that persist, and the teachings that made King so successful.

In recent months and years, we have tragically watched a horrifying rise in antisemitism, racism and white nationalism. These illogical illnesses feed on ignorance and division, and, sadly, are increasingly being expressed openly with despicable rhetoric and violent outbursts.

When white supremacists marched on Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 to protest the successful African American-led effort to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, they shouted: “Jews will not replace us!” — not because the Jewish community was responsible for removing the statue, but because their bigotry had no limit.

As someone who came of age during the civil rights movement, the bizarreness of bigotry does not surprise me. However, I find it strange and troubling that some persecuted people would rather redirect hate or bigotry toward other groups than recognize the power of alliances.

It is true and distressing that some well-known African Americans have, in fact, made maliciously offensive statements about Jewish people in recent months, and I found these hate-filled diatribes against Jews to be particularly surprising and painful. Surprising because bigotry has no borders, and painful because of our shared history.

During the civil rights era, the Jewish community responded to the repeated racism of Jim Crow laws by locking arms with the Black community and calling out hate and injustice in all forms.

It may be illuminative to know that Rabbi Israel Dresner was an integral participant in the Freedom Riders campaign of 1961, and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched side by side with activists in the dangerous 1965 march on Selma.

It is also certainly worth noting that in the midst of the racial strife of 1968, Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol invited King to Israel to signal his support for the civil rights movement and equality of all people.

I remind my fellow Americans of this historic alliance because, in this critical moment in American history, we all must stand united if we are to prevent the wave of hate and division from washing away the progress we all have fought so hard to achieve.

And to be clear, I paraphrase my homeboy Mark Twain when I say that any reported fracture in the relationship between African Americans and Jews has been greatly exaggerated — but we must not let minor splinters fester.

When facing annihilation, Winston Churchill was absolutely right when he said: “There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.”

While some may split hairs when it comes to discrimination, we all must recommit to rejecting robustly the notion of bifurcated bigotry and stand as one against the far right’s attempts to roll back voting rights, civil rights, reproductive rights and more.

Because the hunters and haters are after the others. And we are they.