Robert Kraft / Credit Chris Graythen / Getty Images
Robert Kraft, the owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots, spoke about antisemitism and racism at an NAACP panel on the subject titled “Hate Has No Home: Racism, Anti-Semitism and Building Bridges to Fight All Hate,” where he was joined by rapper Meek Mill. At the same time, Kraft is helping Adidas unload $1.3 billion in unwanted Yeezy methanides connected to nutty anti-Semitic rapper Kanye West.
Where Jews and African Americans once marched hand in hand 60 years ago in the Civil Rights Movement, today there is a gap as wide as the Grand Canyon between the groups. Jews see anti-Semitic groups like the Nation of Islam spew hatred against them and Black American politicians and celebrities alike condemn Israel as an Apartheid state. They mistakenly view the Palestinians as a minority oppressed because of the color of their skin and identify with them.
But for his part, Robert Kraft sees this as not only unfortunate but also unnecessary.
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
“People are trying to put boulders between the Black community and the Jewish community,” Robert Kraft said about the seeming conflict that exists in America between Blacks and Jews. “And we’ve always been uniquely tied together. And I want us to continue that, and anyway, we can build those ties, I want to be part of that.”
Historian Henry Louis Gates, Jr. who teaches at Harvard also spoke at the conference and explained how he sees white supremacy as connected to both racism and anti-Semitism.
“I tell my students at Harvard that under the floorboards of Western culture run two streams: one is anti-Black racism and one is antisemitism,” Gates said. “And any time a demagogue wants to stir up people they just lift up the floorboards and dipper out all that hatred against our people and against our Jewish brothers and sisters.”
As for the Yeezy shoes, Adidas said that Robert Kraft’s Foundation to Combat Antisemitism (FCAS) is one of five non-profits that the company will donate all of its leftover shoes to. And all of the donated shoes will have sky-blue pins on that represent the campaign placed on them.
According to his official bio, Robert Kraft, founder, chairman and CEO of the Kraft Group, is an American entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist whose portfolio of businesses and brands range across many verticals, including paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate and venture investing. His holdings include the New England Patriots, New England Revolution, Gillette Stadium, International Forest Products, Rand-Whitney Group, Rand-Whitney Containerboard and a portfolio of more than 100 venture and private-equity investments.
When he was awarded the Genesis Prize in June 2019, Kraft announced the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. Through his own $20 million investment and the generous donations of others, Kraft’s vision is to stand up against racist and violent rhetoric aimed at the Jewish people through the most easily accessible and most powerful avenue of information in the world today: social media.
