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By Charles Jacobs
October 29, 2006
She stood out in the midst of an anti-Israel rally. She stood out even more as she joined the pro-Israel Jewish students to sing "The Star Spangled Banner." She really, really stood out when she glared at an "Israel is a Racist State" sign and then sang "Ha-Tikvah." Cornetta Lane is a young black woman.
Cornetta is a member of The Fellowship for Israel and Black America. This summer, Cornetta participated in a training session along with 111 college and college-bound students in understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict and in leadership skills. The goal of these sessions is to build the pro-Israel forces on campus, teaching students to make Israel's case -- from the left or from the right. Christians participated in all three of the summer's week-long programs. In one of the programs, four of the Christians were African Americans.
At registration, Jewish students were baffled. Why would American blacks want to stand up for Israel and Jewish students on campus? The African Americans explained that their pastor, Glen Plummer, who heads FIBA, teaches that it was the Jews who helped African Americans during the civil rights era. They contributed significantly -- with funding and advice -- to the founding of both the NAACP and the Urban League. They were key advisors to Martin Luther King. They stuck their necks out and advocated for equal rights for blacks long before it was comfortable.
When Cornetta got an alert from an Israel campus advocacy team about a rally against Israel at Wayne State University on Oct. 12, she decided to go. The Anti-Racist Action (ARA) -- an off-campus group in Detroit sought to press Wayne State to divest from Israel. Cornetta wanted to express what she believes: Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and it deserves to exist in peace as a Jewish state.
Cornetta's presence and defiance completely undermined the basis for the ARA's divestment campaign -- the calumny that "Israel = White Supremacy." Outnumbered and flummoxed by Cornetta and the 30 Jewish students with her, the anti-Zionists walked off. Irvin D. Reid, president of Wayne State, witnessed all this and the next day condemned "divestment" in the Detroit Free Press. Cornetta said that she was proud to stand up for Jewish people and would "do this again" at a moment's notice.
The morning of the rally -- before we knew of Cornetta's actions, Boston Pastor Gerald Bell and I had flown to Detroit to meet FIBA Director, Glenn Plummer. He spoke about the benefit of teaching FIBA students how to defend Jews and Israel. He spoke at length about black-Jewish relations. He said that black Christians believe that the Bible is the literal word of G-d, and this certainly includes the promise in Genesis that "those who bless the Jews will be blessed." Now may we be blessed with a thousand Cornetta Lanes.
Views expressed by the author do not
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