Joseph Gerth|Louisville Courier Journal
Mayoral candidate Craig Greenberg with horns. Greenberg surrounded with dollar bills. Greenberg along with Republic Bank President Steve Trager — both of them Jewish — in the pockets of poor people, trying to take their money.
These are the images that wereposted by the Historically Black Neighborhood Assembly on its Facebook page as part of its effort to do away with the West End Opportunity Partnership, the board that will distribute money generated by the West End’s new tax increment financing district.
They’re worried the TIF will result in people losing their homes —both the elderly who they believe won’t be able to pay property taxes if the area is gentrified and the renters who could see the cost to lease homes explode.
But there’s a problem.
You just can’t publish those sorts of images. Or at least you shouldn’t.
Not about a Jewish candidate.
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Not when you considerthe history of the propaganda used by Nazis and others to attack Jews. Not when the memes reinforce the stereotypes thatJews are greedy, that Jews are controlling things behind the scenes, that Jews are, well, evil.
And that’s exactly what the memes on the Facebook page of the Historically Black Neighborhood Assembly suggested. The group describes itself as atenants movement "aimed at protecting and stabilizing Black communities against gentrification."
Many of the memes were up for months and remained online even after a reporter talked to a member of the group about themin early March. Several of them were removed from the group's Facebook page last week, after I began pushing for answers.
At a recent event, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, who is Jewish, was asked if the online attacks on Greenberg showcase antisemitism.
“I think they do. I don’t think there’s any question about that,” Yarmuth said. “And that’s sad. But that’s reality. That’s where we are in the world. I mean, there’s racism, there’s antisemitism. We’re seeing it every day.”
Rabbi Ben Freed, of the Keneseth Israel synagogue, stopped short of saying the memes posted on the page were antisemitic, but said they certainly rely on age-old, anti-Jewish tropes that have been used to demonize Jews in the past and are still used today.
And that, he said, is a problem.
Greenberg didn't speak directly to the memesbut condemned all forms of hatred.
"As the grandson of two people who fled the hate of Nazi German, I was instilled with the conviction that discrimination against anyone has no place in our world," he said in a statement.
"I have always worked to bring people together and to learn from others who have different experience thanmine. I will continue to stand against hatred, bigotry and racism of all kinds and to work together with everyone to unify our city."
One of the memes showed Greenberg on fire, a terribly disturbing image, considering Nazis burned the bodies of Jews after killing them in gas chambers.
I’ve been trying to contact Jessica Bellamy, a memberof the Historically Black Neighborhood Assembly and a leading voice in the effort to stop gentrification, since the middle of last week to talk about it.
I sent her messages on social media on her own account and on the organization’s account.I’ve called her and left multiple messages on her cellphone, and I’ve emailed her, which is her preferred form of communication, according to her voicemail message.
She hasn’t responded.
But earlier this year, Martina Kunnecke, who is also a member of the group, told a Courier Journal reporterthe organization has no antisemitic intent, but that it just wants to bring attention to the partnership and the financing plan the organization believes will be used to gentrify Louisville’s West End.
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She noted that the group is also opposed to African American and non-Jewish white people who have been involved in the TIF, including Kentucky Sen. Gerald Neal, developer Steve Poe and Mayor Greg Fischer. And she accused those in the Jewish community who are concerned about the images of crying “wolf.”
“It’s sort of similar to when African Americans, not all African Americans but some African Americans, view everything througha racial lens. Racism exists and so does antisemitism,” she said.
The memes alsoattack non-Jewish people involved with the TIF in the same way. For instance, the meme that includes Greenberg with horns also shows Poewearing horns.
“But we have to as a public grow up and be able to discern between what is reality and what is a device to stop people from speaking the truth to the public,” Kunnecke said.
Freed agrees that when it comes to politics, people must be able to discuss money and actions by politicians— Jewish ones included — but he also saysthere are better ways to discuss those issues without relying on antisemitic tropes.
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Members of the Historically Black Neighborhood Association would likely be up in arms if a Jewish group were to post images that relied on hateful old stereotypes that have been used to belittle and demonize African Americans over the years.
And they’d be right to be upset.
Freed, who isn’t endorsing anyone in the mayor’s race, said the memes that have Greenberg surrounded by cartoonish dollar bills are problematic, but the one depicting him with devil’s horns is particularly bad and crosses a line.
One antisemitic theme contends theserpent in the creation story is Satan and that Jews were born of a sexual relationship between the serpent and Eve. That's why Jews are pictured with horns in some anti-Jewish propaganda.
What is also troublesome is why is Greenberg such a focus of the neighborhood group.
Neal said Greenberg played only a minimal role in creation of the TIF after state legislators working on the enabling legislation asked him to testify about the West End Opportunity Partnership and how the TIF could be structured. Neal said legislators needed a tutorial in TIFs and Greenberg had been involved in them around the country.
He’s not a member of the partnership board and Neal said he didn’t write the legislation.
Part of the problem, according to Freed, is that memeslike the ones on HBNA’s Facebook pagedon’t allow for a nuanced discussion of legitimate issues.
“I think memes are not the best way to discuss politics,” Freed said. “There is not the ability to say this is a contentious topic, and it has nothing to do with Craig Greenberg’s Jewishness.”
Joseph Gerthcan be reached at 502-582-4702 or by email atjgerth@courierjournal.com.
