U.S. bookseller Barnes & Noble has removed the antisemitic book “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” from its platform.
Barnes & Noble also does not sell the film of the same name, which is based on the book.
However, both the book and the film remain available on Amazon.
More than 200 members of the entertainment industry–including celebrities such as actresses Mila Kunis and Mayim Bialik and top executives such as Sherry Lansing and Haim Saban–signed an open letter calling on Amazon and Barnes & Noble to remove the antisemitic documentary and book from their respective platforms.
Creative Community for Peace, a Los Angeles-based non-profit entertainment industry organization, made the letter public over the weekend. The group’s goal is to promote the arts as a means for peace while fighting antisemitism in the entertainment industry and on prominent media platforms.
The book and the film include Holocaust denial and quotes attributed to Adolf Hitler and Henry Ford and claims that Jews worship Satan and controlled the Atlantic slave trade and currently control the media.
Both Amazon and Barnes & Noble had refused to remove the documentary and book, and in the days since New York Nets basketball player Kyrie Irving posted a tweet with a link to both, they become bestsellers.
“At a time in America where there are more per capita hate crimes against Jews than any other minority, overwhelmingly more religious-based hate crimes against the Jewish people than any other religion, and more hate crimes against the Jewish people in New York than any other minority, where a majority of American Jews live, it is unacceptable to allow this type of hate to foment on your platforms,” the letter states.
“Respected platforms and companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble have a choice,” said Ari Ingel, director of Creative Community for Peace. “They can either continue to profit off of hatred and antisemitism, while turning a blind eye to the fears of the Jewish community, or they can choose to be an ally, and stand on the right side of history. We implore them to take the prudent, responsible steps needed to remove this content.”
