Do Not Excuse DeSean Jackson
If there is anything you take from this article, let it be this: the recent words and actions of DeSean Jackson are deplorable by any measure, and ought to be condemned wholesale.
The question at hand is not, “can one justify his behavior?” Instead, we ask the question, is it possible to be anti-Semitic without being a hateful person? Can a mistake that manifests in bigotry stem from sincerely unintended ignorance, and if so, how do we reevaluate a person’s character?
Early this week DeSean Jackson, as we all know, posted a fake quote attributed to Adolf Hitler on his Instagram story, highlighting the following:
“because the white Jews knows that the Negroes are the real Children of Israel and to keep Americas secret the Jews will blackmail America…The will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were…The white citizens of America will be terrified to know that all this time they’ve been mistreating and discriminating and lynching the Children of Israel.”
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The quote’s actual origin is up to speculation, though Philly Voice suggests it could be from Robert Edwin Herzstein’s “The Nazis World War II” or Dennine Barnett’s “Jerusalem”. Regardless of the actual source, Jackson appears to attribute the quote to Adolf Hitler. At the very least, he has not disputed that origin.
Importantly, Jackson also spent the Fourth of July weekend consuming content from Minister Louis Farrakhan, an outwardly anti-Semitic and homophobic leader of the Nation of Islam occasionally dubbed “Black Hitler.” Farrakhan has called Jewish people “termites” and praised the leader of the Nazi party.
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Jackson immediately faced backlash on social media as the story spread across sports media.
Within just a few days, the wide receiver had shared a video apology and a Notes app screenshot further cementing his remorse.
The Eagles issued an official statement stating the following:
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Responses from teammates have ranged from accepting his apology (per Will Parks) to defending Louis Farrakhan (Malik Jackson). Reactions around the sports world have gone as far as to demand he be cut from the team to defending him as simply uninformed.
Jackson’s comments have been compared to Riley Cooper’s 2013 incident wherein the then-Eagles wide receiver shouted “I will jump that fence and fight every n***** here, bro” on video at a Kevin Chesney concert. His behavior, while not address by Roger Goodell and the NFL, resulted in a fine and sensitivity training issued by the team itself.
For the fans reading this article, it is worth discussing the polling PHL Sports Nation conducted on Twitter. While certainly not the most reliable data, Twitter polls this week found the following:
When asked “How should DeSean Jackson be disciplined for sharing anti-Semitic rhetoric and praising Louis Farrakhan?” 53.6% of fans responded “None.” Meanwhile, 34.6% of fans responded “Suspension.” without any specific number of games listed, while 11.8% of fans answered he should face a “Release from team.”
Interestingly, when asked “Do you think there has been a double standard in reaction to DeSean Jackson’s comments as opposed to Riley Cooper’s?”, 60.6% of fans answered “Yes.”
Initially, there appears to be a disjunct between those pieces of data; while a majority of fans believe there has been a double standard, a majority of fans also believe DeSean should not be disciplined. In fairness to those polled on whether or not to discipline Jackson, there was no option to simply fine him.
Returning to the initial question, can DeSean’s anti-Semitism stem from ignorance not based in hatred? Is it possible to be so block-headed as to read a blatantly anti-Semitic text as a purely pro-Black sentiment?
2020 has ignited intense discussions of bigotry and hate in America, something that is not new but certainly more openly addressed than it has been in my short lifetime. As such, ignorance has been met with vitriol with an unparalleled readiness. To be clear, cancel culture is a farce, as evident by the still-successful careers of Louis CK and Ben Roethlisberger, two known sexual abusers. Even the mourning of Kobe Bryant often overlooked his own sexual misconduct.
It would not be surprising, and it is certainly my personal hope, that DeSean Jackson is not an anti-Semite. In an ideal world, Jackson was sincerely misguided, not by a disregard for Jewish people, but by monumental, profound ignorance and idiocy. That explanation is difficult to swallow for one big reason: age.
DeSean is 33 years old. Ignorance does not justify quoting a man many consider the most notoriously evil human conceivable.
I cannot bring myself as an Eagles fan or as a student of history dismiss his screenshot as sincerely ignorant – everyone but the KKK itself (and perhaps our President) knows better than to cite Adolf Hitler as a source of anything but pure, unbridled evil.
Jackson has accepted an offer from David Adelman, Chair of the Philadelphia Holocaust Memorial, who will host Jackson for an education session. Julian Edelman of the New England Patriots has also reached out to the fellow receiver with an invitation to tour the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Many people around him appear to be turning this moment into one of learning, and I applaud them for that.
But for the Philadelphia Eagles to issue a formal statement that falls short of even demanding formal sensitivity training is an embarrassment to the entire city. Athletes, particularly Pro-Bowl NFL Wide Receivers, have immense social capital in today’s America, and such a disgraceful message must be met with a heavier hand if the team’s mission is to be taken seriously.
I sincerely hope DeSean Jackson learns better, but the team must do more than simply denounce his words.
Similarly, we as fans cannot excuse him as ignorant or stupid.
Anything shy of wholesale condemnation falls short of our responsibility in combating anti-Semitism wherever it manifests.
Featured Image: NBC Sports
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