Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Rabbi Meir Kahane a ‘Racist’?!

Rabbi Meir Kahane: His Life and Thought by Libby Kahane (Volume One, p. 66):

“Meir was not a racist,” insisted Horowitz, noting that several times Meir brought a black man to synogogue. This man was Chakwal M. Cragg, editor and publisher of the African Israelite and head of the Union of Ethiopian Hebrew Congregations, who had contacted Meir at the Jewish Press regarding the Ethiopian Jews in New York City. Whenever Cragg was our Shabbat guest, Meir made every effort to put him at ease. Once I served watermelon for dessert. Because of the stereotype that blacks are especially fond of watermelon, Meir was sensitive to the possibility that Cragg might be insulted that I’d chosen that dessert. So he made a point of thanking me profusely for serving his favorite dessert.

[Interview with Elliot Horowitz, February 13, 1997, Jerusalem]