Jews have reason to be inspired by the mandate  in Missouri for Holocaust Education.  Thirty other states have mandates or policies that encourages the inclusion of the Holocaust in classrooms.

By contrast Jews should be  worried about Donald Trump’s  efforts to sanitize history in the Smithsonian network of museums. The most shocking statement by Trump was his belief that the negative part of slavery is getting too much  attention.

Imagine the reaction of the Jewish community if  Trump had said  that Holocaust Museums spends too much time on the negative aspects of the  Holocaust.

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While the relationship between Jews and African Americans is not without its tensions, especially over Israel, the relationship has  also contributed to important turning  points that have made our country more democratic and inclusive.  These include the founding  of the NAACP in 1909  and Urban League in 1910, as well  as the participation of many Jews in the civil rights movement. Our multicultural democracy is dependent  on this alliance,  

Who can forget the iconic picture of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching with Martin Luther King or the   murder in 1964 of  James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi.  Young Jews and an African American died for advocating for the right to vote.

Returning to our current moment, the  most visible Jewish spokespersons against antisemitism are Deb Lipstadt, a leading scholar, and Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League.

Both have praised the  Trump Administration for addressing antisemitism on elite college campuses. Lipstadt had been very critical of Trump for  weaponizing  the Holocaust for partisan politics  by punishing universities by taking away funding for medical and scientific research, 

As we know, the universities provided the template for weakening all institutions, including the media, the arts, museums, law firms and  governmental agencies.  These institutions happen to be places where many Jews have thrived

Many leading Jews have criticized the weakening of these institutions and the myriad other threats to democratic norms.  We need to extend this criticism to efforts to sanitize American history to endure and  that slavery, Jim Crow and the Civil Rights movement are taught honestly.

Many Holocaust museums have already lost federal grants, including the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. It is naive to believe that Trump and allies from Project 2025 and the Heritage Foundation will continue to be concerned about antisemitism when this is no longer politically useful.

Returning American democracy to a condition where democratic norms are respected will depend on the alliance of African Americans and Jews