Arthur Solomon

One of the major, but short-lived stories that came out of the Beijing Winter Olympics is one that also applies to none Olympians -- the loyalty of certain hyphenated-American citizens to the United States. That’s not unusual. Olympic stories traditionally have a short shelf life. But occasionally a story emanating from the Olympics also resonates with American citizens who couldn’t care if the Olympic Flame was never lit.

That story is about citizens of various countries who have performed during the Olympics for nations other than where they were born or live because of an Olympic rule that has more holes in it than does Swiss Cheese. And the recent Beijing Olympics provided such an example.  

San Francisco-born Eileen Gu’s decision to compete for China has cast a spotlight on her loyalty to the U.S. and on some Chinese-Americans because of the support she has received from many of them for performing for a country whose policies are at odds with the U.S.

Even though there is no proof that she is disloyal to the U.S. the charges against her of being disloyal are far from an uncommon occurrence for hyphenated -Americans.

Almost every day there are news reports of physical attacks against two segments of Americans society – Jewish-Americans and Asian-Americans. 

What I find disturbingly interesting is that while government officials and human rights organizations condemn the attacks, is how little condemnation of them are voiced by other segments of American society.

The attacks against Jewish-Americans for religious reasons go back many centuries, but since Israel was founded in 1948 another facet has been added to the anti-Semitic zealots – that many Jewish-Americans have more loyalty to Israel than to the United States.

The attacks against Chinese-American dates back to the Manifest Destiny days, when the U.S. expanded from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the West Coast. But now many people, without proof, blame U.S. citizens of Chinese heritage for the Covid-19 problems in the U.S. Chinese-Americans are not the only hyphenated-citizens to be labeled disloyal.

The history of Japanese-Americans being rounded-up and sent to detention camps during World War II, despite there being no evidence of their disloyalty to the U.S., has been revisited many times in books and films.  Charges of disloyalty to the U.S. against Japanese-Americans have disappeared since Japan has become an ally, but the round-up of innocent Japanese-Americans still is a stain on American history.

Likewise, during World War I, German-Americans were perceived to be a security threat. To prove their loyalty to the U.S. many enlisted in the U.S. Army. Anti German feelings arose again during World War II, but they were not taken as seriously as during the preceding war because some Americans of German descent led America’s Army, including Dwight Eisenhower, who after the war was elected President, Chester Nimitz, a high-ranking Navy officer, and General Carl Spaatz of the Army Air Corps. 

Also, during the early days of World War 2, some Italian-Americans were considered security threats and were rounded-up by the FBI. As with German-Americans, many young Italians enlisted in the U.S. Army to prove their loyalty.

The stigma of disloyalty of German and Italian-Americans has long vanished. But for one group of loyal hyphenated-Americans citizens –Jewish Americans – questioning their loyalty to the U.S., despite the many who have died while serving in the U.S. Army in all of America’s wars dating back to the founding of our country, the charges of disloyalty is an on-going occurrence whenever violence breaks out between Israel and Palestinians because most American Jews vocally support Israel. 

The questioning and attacks on the loyalty of Jewish-Americans is orchestrated by two groups that normally would disagree with each other – the far right and the far left. (Prejudice makes for strange bed fellows.)

Yet, despite American citizens of Ukrainian descent daily vocalizing their support of Ukraine, which is their right to do so since Russia’s criminal attack on Ukraine, no one has accused Ukrainians of having dual loyalty. 

What has been particularly disturbing to me is the minimal of public condemnation of the attacks on Jewish-Americans by other groups of hyphenated-Americans, despite the history of Jewish-Americans fighting and dying along side of Blacks during their struggle against Jim Crowism, which promoted the legitimization of anti-Black racism.  

Today people speak out against discrimination against Black-Americans, which they should; people speak out against discrimination against Moslem-Americans, which they should; people speak out against discrimination against Asian-Americans, which they should, but unlike the charges that Jewish-Americans have dual loyalty, none of these groups of hyphenated-Americans are consistently said to be disloyal to the U.S. Interestingly, even during the “Mississippi Burning” days of the 1960’s with all of the carnage against Blacks and Jews who fought for civil rights no one called the segregationists disloyal Americans. Even when several Klansmen were found guilty of violating civil rights laws, they were hailed by many as being persecuted for trying to protect America.

“A 2019 FBI Hate Crime Statistic report found that although Jews compromise approximately 2.4% of the American population, they are the victims of 60.2% of anti-religious hate crimes.” And a 2021 report by “The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Expresses Concern Over Spike in Anti Semitism in the United States Surrounding the Outbreak of Violence Between Israel and Hamas in May 2021.”

The report stated, “There was also an increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric online across multiple social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram. Between May 7 and May 14, there were more than 17,000 tweets that used variations of the phrase “Hitler was right.” Other hashtags such as Covid1948, an attempt to conflate the birth of the state of Israel in 1948 to the Covid-19 virus, and Zionazi were also trending during the conflict. Many social media posts have misled the public, as users take videos out of context or deliberately spread of misinformation.”

And a recent Pew Research Center survey said, “ Amid widespread reports of discrimination and violence against Asian Americans during the coronavirus outbreak, 32% of Asian adults say they have feared someone might threaten or physically attack them – a greater share than other racial or ethnic groups. The vast majority of Asian adults (81%) also say violence against them is increasing, far surpassing the share of all U.S. adults (56%) who say the same.”

Given the history of anti-Semitism, it’s only natural that Jewish-Americans should have a strong empathy and kinship toward the state of Israel. But that doesn’t mean that they are disloyal to the U.S. Members of my family, include myself, have served in the military – the United States military. None fled to Canada to avoid serving.

Jewish-Americans have always been at the forefront defending other hypanated-Americans against vile verbal attacks as well as physical ones. But they have not always received the support they gave others. 

Ever since the Nazi Berlin Olympics in 1936, the games have always been a fountain of controversy. Charges of being indifference to the human rights abuses of totalitarian China has been leveled against NBC Universal,  the International Olympic Committee, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, the American sponsors and now on the young woman who has become the face of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – Eileen Gu. 

And you can be assured of one thing: If Ms. Gu becomes a victim of overt discrimination because of her competing for China, her staunchest defenders will be Jewish-American civil rights organizations. They are outspoken defending the rights of others, even though Jewish-Americans have not been defended against charges of being disloyal to the U.S. by other hyphenated-Americans.

Almost every day on TV discrimination against “people of color,” meaning nonwhites, is brought up among commentators. But every day on college campuses, on the streets and in the workplace there is also discrimination against individuals who are not “people of color.”  It’s way past time that they must also be part of the discussions and networks and major dailies like the New York Times are reporting only half a story when they don’t give equal attention to the “other.”

About the Author: Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in some of the most significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He also traveled internationally as a media adviser to high-ranking government officials. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and was on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He has been a key player on Olympic marketing programs and also has worked at high-level positions directly for Olympic organizations. He can be reached at arthursolomon4pr (at) juno.com.