Anti-Muslim figurehead and funder David Horowitz minimizes terrors of lynching
Long-time anti-Muslim figurehead David Horowitz recently stoked controversy on social media after offering a revisionist take of lynching in America and downplaying the horrors that African Americans have suffered in this country.
Horowitz, founder and president of the hate group聽David Horowitz Freedom Center, took to social media on April 8 to criticize a project of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), 鈥�,鈥� that has documented over 4,000 cases of African Americans being lynched in the country between 1877 and 1950. The project showcases how after the Civil War, lynching was used as a way to reinforce white supremacy while terrorizing and intimidating black communities. Horowitz offered his own racist revisionist account of lynching in the country, calling EJI鈥檚 work the 鈥渞eal racist project.鈥�
鈥淎 third of the victims of lynchings were white. How many of them do you think this memorial features鈥︹�� he聽.
Unsurprisingly, Horowitz鈥檚 comments sparked outrage over the next couple days and he soon began picking fights with other Twitter users. Some accused him of justifying the lynching of black Americans, which was often the result of mob rule with no due process.
鈥淲ho justified a lynching,鈥� Horowitz聽. 鈥淚'm merely exposing the anti-white racism of the lynching project. Lynchings were bad but they weren't mainly about whites yanking blacks off the streets and stringing them up.鈥�
But as mentioned in EJI鈥檚聽, 鈥淐harges of rape, while common, were 鈥榬outinely fabricated鈥� and often extrapolated from minor violations of the social code, such as 鈥榩aying a compliment鈥� to a white woman, expressing romantic interest in a white woman, or cohabitating interracially.鈥�
Horowitz鈥檚 tweets attracted the attention of Nikole Hannah-Jones, a civil rights investigative reporter with聽The New York Times Magazine.
鈥淒avid Horowitz鈥檚 assertion is demonstrably false,鈥� Hannah-Jones聽. 鈥淎lso, *every single* [sic] accusation of rape, even with confession, must be met with the highest level of skepticism because we know who made the claims, who investigated the claims and who wrote the stories about the claims.鈥�
厂丑别听: 鈥淏ut also, this is the amazing thing about white supremacists and white supremacy. Everything can be bent to their will.鈥�
Anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, and other racist sentiment is regularly聽published聽by Horowitz鈥檚 many projects. Regardless of this, public officials still attend large scale and lavish events organized by the Horowitz Freedom Center. In 2014, then-Senator Jeff Sessions聽聽an award from Horowitz at his Restoration Weekend. During his confirmation hearing for attorney general in 2017, when questioned about the award, Sessions defended the far-right demagogue,聽, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 believe David Horowitz is a racist or a person that would treat anyone improperly, at least to my knowledge.鈥�
Horowitz鈥檚 latest social media rantings fits right in with other incendiary and racially charged work he produced over the years. In a 1999 article聽聽on Salon titled 鈥淕uns Don鈥檛 Kill Black People, Other Blacks Do,鈥� Horowitz wrote, 鈥淯nfortunately, as a nation we have become so trapped in the melodrama of black victimization and white oppression that we are in danger of losing all sense of proportion. If blacks are oppressed in America, why isn't there a black exodus?鈥�
He has previously聽聽using the phrase 鈥減eople of color,鈥� claiming it is 鈥渁n ideological term to demonize white people.鈥� Horowitz has also聽聽the 鈥渞eal鈥� racism in America today is 鈥渂lack racism鈥� and 鈥渃ertainly not [from] white people.鈥�
Horowitz has been a longtime opponent of paying any kind of reparations for slavery. 鈥淚f not for the sacrifices of white soldiers and a white American president who gave his life to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, blacks in America would still be slaves,鈥� Horowitz聽in 2001. 鈥淲here is the gratitude of black America and its leaders for those gifts?鈥�
On April 26, a new聽聽dedicated to those who suffered, continue to suffer, and have died as a result of lynching and other racist policies in America, will open in Montgomery, Alabama.聽
Hannah-Jones cited Horowitz鈥檚 rhetoric to underscore the importance of this monument. 鈥淎nd this is why [EJI鈥檚] lynching museum is so very critical,鈥� she聽. 鈥淏y erasing the particular racial violence and terror black people experienced AFTER slavery, white Americans can claim innocence about why black people still uniquely suffer in this country.鈥�
