I am not an Anti-Semite. My parents are Jewish, I married a Jewish girl. My children are all Jewish. I studied in Jewish schools. I even LOOK Jewish!!! Not the usual biography of an Anti-Semite.
But I assert that the Jewish community has problems and must rectify them. Sweeping them under the carpet and laying all the blame on others will do us no good. We have to "own" our problems and do all we can to fix them.
I am also not a racist. I have always treated black people with the dignity and respect they deserve. חביב אדם שנברא בצלם. I have had thousands of interactions with black people and they are almost always pleasant. Yet I honestly believe that all of this feeling victimized that blacks are experiencing is doing them little good. It goes without saying that there is no room in our society for any discrimination or racism or causing any undo pain to people because of the color of their skin. When we find it - we must uproot it with zero tolerance. But there is no denying that the black community has their share of problems and by shifting the blame to others those will not be solved but perpetuated. The ones who will suffer the most will be the black people themselves. That is a tragedy.
The police department has their problems. Of course there are bad apples. They also have to own their problems and fix them. But that doesn't mean that they are all bad or that even a meaningful percentage of them are. It is heartbreaking to see heroes turned into villains. It is an act of gross ingratitude on the part of society to portray them that way.
On a personal level: Own your own problems. YOU are the only one who can solve them. Blaming others will be self defeating!
