On anti-Semitic acts and how Trump can send a strong message to bigots

It should have come as no surprise that Donald Trump was slow to publicly denounce anti-Semitism. Don’t we all know people like that?

Perhaps there have even been times when we were too quiet ourselves, when we should have spoken up but instead said nothing.

It’s tough to stand up to someone who makes a racist joke or to call a bigot a bigot to his face. Regardless of how uncomfortable the joke makes us feel, we’d rather avoid a confrontation.

It’s easier to just shrug it off, maybe even laugh along, than to put a damper on everyone else’s fun. It’s easier to remain part of the problem than to be part of the solution.

This week, the Anti-Defamation League reported a series of bomb threats directed against Jewish Community Centers across the nation. It is the fourth time it has happened this year.

The bomb threats came in the wake of increasing acts of violence against Jewish institutions, including the troubling desecration of a cemetery in University City, Mo.

According to the ADL, this is the latest in a recent upsurge in anti-Semitism. An ADL executive said last June that on average, there was one anti-Semitic assault reported every week and at least two anti-Jewish incidents occurring every day. In addition, the ADL documented 2.6 million tweets containing language commonly found in anti-Semitic speech between August 2015 and July 2016.

We are at a pivotal time in our country when no one can afford to sit back and say little or nothing, least of all our president.

Thank you, Hillary Clinton, for calling him out.

“JCC threats, cemetery desecration & online attacks are so troubling & they need to be stopped. Everyone must speak out, starting w/ @POTUS,” she tweeted.

Not to be outdone by the woman he apparently feels he’s still running against, Trump broke his silence on Tuesday.

While touring the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Trump finally said something about the anti-Semitic violence that has targeted Jewish institutions across the country.

He called it “horrible” and “painful” and a “very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil.”

He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. But more importantly, he didn’t say what he plans to do about it.

Brief remarks at a podium aren’t nearly enough to combat the wave of bigotry that has spread across America. It is fueled, at least in part, by Trump’s divisive leadership that has emboldened bigots to express themselves openly.

If Trump really wants to take a stand against anti-Semitism, he has to do more than tell us that he’s the “least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life” and “the least racist person,” which he did at a news conference last week. He has to show us that he means business.

The president needs to make sure his justice department investigates and prosecutes hate crimes to the fullest extent of the law. He also has to make it clear to Americans that bigotry is unacceptable.

Trump isn’t the first president to have to deal with bigotry. Barack Obama had to do it in 2008, before he was elected.

In responding to divisive sermons by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama went to Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, to speak to America about the need for unity, understanding and tolerance.

During the course of his presidency, he spoke about race again and again. His first speech may have saved his presidential campaign, but over time, his pleas never took hold with the public.

Trump has a unique opportunity to speak to those who need to hear it most. Those who would not listen to Obama might be inclined to hear it from Trump.

I don’t believe our president has the courage to stand up and look a bigot in the eye. My guess is that he’ll take the easy way out and do nothing.

dglanton@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @dahleeng