Pro basketball star Amar’e Stoudemire is both Black and Jewish — and says he’s uniquely positioned to help “bridge the gap” between the two groups.
Stoudemire has been living and playing ball in Israel since 2016 — but he’s been paying attention to the recent wave of anti-Semitic comments from high profile people like DeSean Jackson, Stephen Jackson and Nick Cannon.
All 3 of the above-mentioned stars have apologized — but Amar’e says moving forward, there should be a focus on educating young people about the SIMILARITIES between Black people and Jews.
“There’s more similarities with the African Americans and Jewish people than there are differences. I went over a few of them — the Holocaust and transatlantic slave trade. There’s post traumatic stress between both from those events. You think about all the persecution, its always the Jews or the blacks,” Stoudemire says.
Stoudemire suggests a “lack of leadership” in the Black community has led to many Black people turning to Louis Farrakhan for leadership, which is problematic because of his long history of anti-Semitic comments.
“Amongst the African American community, there’s not a lot of leadership,” Amar’e says … “So they gravitate to a leadership factor that help keep people off the streets right? So Farrakhan is seen as one of their leaders in their African American community.”
“But I do think, I know with me being in the position where I am where being an African American Jew who’s learning at a high level, I think there’s a narrative shift that’s happening.”
“We have to figure out a way to now teach the next generation on positivety.”
There’s more … Amar’e explains why he’s down to have conversations with both DeSean Jackson and Stephen Jackson.
