Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority’s mission is to “promote and operate conventions, fairs, expositions and meetings.” During a recent event, it did so at the expense of Jews and members of the LGBTQ+ community. To the 10,000 in attendance and hundreds of thousands more attending virtually and on social media, the Nation of Islam took the stage at the Wintrust Arena for its annual Saviours’ Day. Sadly, instead of using the opportunity to elevate through love, Louis Farrakhan chose to espouse many of the same hateful tropes that seethed from the pages of the Nazi rag, Der Stürmer, and the Russian propaganda tool, The Protocol of the Elders of Zion.
Jews were labeled as members of a hateful and dangerous cabal: a “synagogue of Satan,” “demons, at every door that leads to power,” responsible for destroying the country. Same-sex marriage was called the “most horrible behavior” which, under the influence of the “synagogue of Satan,” was turning the country into a “cesspool.” Celebrities who made blatant anti-semitic remarks were lauded and Hitler rationalized. It was insinuated Jews would “burn in ovens” for their “wickedness.” All this was rounded out with what sounded like a call to action: “Somebody has to take on the synagogue of Satan […]. They’re gathering their forces,” [...] “We cannot let them take the country [...] They got a stranglehold on America.”
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That these things were said to no comment, or condemnation, from any of the organizations poised to financially benefit from such an event, including Ticketmaster, is telling. The MPEA justified its silence to a coalition of Jewish and LGBTQ+ organizations, including the ADL Midwest, Equality Illinois and the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Chicago by stating that it could not deny a group the opportunity to rent an MPEA facility based on the context or viewpoint of the group’s speech.
When someone is being harassed, denigrated and threatened, others have a responsibility to say something. Where are the voices jumping from the pages supporting our codified ideals? It’s not the L drowning them out.
Sonat Birnecker Hart, member of the executive committee of the World Jewish Congress,
co-founder KOVAL, MPEA, board member
Jorge Ramirez, GCM Grosvenor, MPEA secretary/treasurer
