Two days ago, American footballer DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles posted on Instagram various messages, including a false quote of Adolf Hitler, explaining that the “Jews blackmail America. They will extort America, their plan for world domination will not work if black people know who they are. “
Obviously, this anti-Semitic post caused an uproar, but Stephen Jackson decided to come to the rescue of the American footballer, who nevertheless issued an apology while his team condemned his remarks.
Victim competition and anti-Semitic clichés?
The basketball player, very invested in social movements following the death of George Floyd, thus assured in a video that “DeSean Jackson was trying to educate himself, educate people, and he’s telling the truth. No ? He tells the truth. You know he doesn’t hate anyone, but he tells the truth about the facts he knows and tries to educate others. But you don’t want us to educate ourselves. If it’s to talk about the black race, you don’t say anything about it. They kill us, the police kill us and treat us like shit, racism is at its peak, but none of the owners of the NFL have spoken on this subject, none of your teams have spoken on this subject. But the same team had a receiver [Riley Cooper] who said negro publicly! They extended it! I play for the Big3. We have a Jewish owner. He understands our position and some of the things we say, but it is not for him. This is how we were treated. “
This “defense” only added fuel to the fire, with most reactions on Instagram asking how DeSean Jackson could “tell the truth” using false quotes from Adolf Hitler…
Stephen Jackson quickly erased the video of his comments to post a short message, addressed to “Those it may concern” and who was not going to calm things down any more. “Your racial suffering is no stronger than the next racial suffering. Do not act as if your difficulties are greater than ours. And you wonder why we are fighting for equality? “
For someone whose message is “love for all who have love for all” since the beginning of the social movement, this “Victim competition” facing the Jewish community can only be counterproductive, especially since Stephen Jackson was putting on a layer on a new Instagram video, where he tried to explain his point of view … before wondering if the Jews were not trying to divide the black community. “Do you know who the Rothschilds are?” They own all the banks … I haven’t said anything wrong so far. “
Wrong choice of words?
Faced with all the criticism, especially from the Showtime channel, which produces its podcast with Matt Barnes, Stephen Jackson was invited on CNN to clarify his statements, where he pleaded awkwardness.
“I could have used other words”, he said to apologize. “But there is nothing that says I support all of this. Nothing in what I said means that I hate someone. I might have been able to be more clear about where I thought DeSean was right, but I didn’t feel the need to get into a conversation that he and I had about the way they were treating him and Riley Cooper. I could have used other words, but people who know me – my Jewish friends I spoke to today – they know that the last thing I wanted was to defend Hitler or any other message. That’s why I didn’t mention Hitler or even this quote. I talked about exactly what I approved, about the fact that they (les Eagles) treated him differently from Cooper. That’s all. They can rotate it however they want, but that’s exactly it. I don’t hate anyone. “
“I fought for justice and equality”, tries to conclude Stephen Jackson, refuting any anti-Semitism. “And I was talking about equality – because they (les Eagles) didn’t treat Cooper and DeSean Jackson the same. Like I said, they can rotate it any way they want. You haven’t heard me say, “I hate the Jews.” You didn’t hear me say, “I support Hitler.” They can rotate it however they want. I don’t hate anyone. I defended everyone. I will continue to do so. Period. “
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