‘Stamp Out Racist Graffiti’, John Brown Anti-Klan Committee, Chicago, 1985.
“Join us to paint over racist graffiti around the city. And if you know of any racist graffiti, please contact us”
Good action, worth repeating in lots of cities.
Super cool, but Neo-Nazis are inherently anti-Semitic and the poster fails to acknowledge that.
That neonazi’s are anti-semitic is probably the most well-known part of their ideology. I don’t really think that needs to be repeated whenever the word neo-nazi is used? Neo-nazi’s are also inherently antiziganistic, homophobic, transphobic, ableist and more, but this is a poster for a painting-over-graffitti event by an anti-Klan Committee, not a dictionary definition.
Don’t get me wrong: fighting anti-semitism is hugely important and should be an inherent part of anti-racist action. I just don’t see a failure to acknowledge that here, I see the word neo-Nazi being used as shorthand for a genocidal ideology that we know includes fanatical anti-semitism.
All I want is for poster to change tagline at the bottom to say “support the Jewish community and Black people’s struggle for liberation.” Not mentioning them in the tagline is Jewish erasure. We continue to have conversations about neo-Nazis and ignore Jewish people. Anti-Semitism is alive and thriving in the United States, but is largely ignored as an issue.
(The KKK is also really anti-Semitic so any anti-KKK movement should also focus on explicitly helping Jewish people and not just assume its implied.)
It’s not that I would oppose this at all, it’s just that
A. This is a poster from 1985 with zero context as to which communities were actually involved in this particular action.
B. There is just as much to be said for including the Roma and Sinti community, the gay community, the trans community, the disabled community etc. All are targetted by neonazis and the KKK. Arguing for the inclusion of the Jewish community and not the inclusion of other groups is as much ‘erasure’ as what you’re criticizing.
C. I kinda feel like Black organizers should be allowed to make posters about neonazis and the KKK that prioritize the Black community without the duty to include anyone else. If that’s ‘erasure’ than the word loses all meaning.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the suggestion to mention anti-semitism is a bad one, I just think it is not obligatory to include it in this context and I don’t think it amounts to erasure.
QueerAnarchism 