| This year marks 109 years since Leo Frank was lynched in Marrietta, Georgia by a hate-filled mob after being falsely accused and unjustly convicted of the murder of Mary Phagan in an unfair trial marred by antisemitism. The day before this somber anniversary, the ADL issued a similar statement, ending with the words “May his memory be a blessing.” This short and simple statement sparked a firestorm of criticism in the days following its release. Several social media pundits with followers in the millions vehemently maintained Frank’s guilt in response to the ADL’s statement. One, after noting that Leo Frank was president of the local B’nai B’rith chapter, asked Christians to make the circumstances of Mary Phagan’s murder “go viral” and another opened with “let’s stop them from rewriting history and lying as they always do.”
This antisemitic vitriol in response to a short statement from the ADL about a more than 100-year-old case, took many people by surprise. In 1986, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles pardoned Frank posthumously in light of the state’s failure to protect Frank from the mob and its inability or refusal to prosecute those who had lynched him. Although it did not take a position on Frank’s guilt or innocence, part of the evidence it considered was a statement of an eyewitness who later came forward saying that he had seen another man with Phagan’s body. The Georgia Historical Society has even erected a plaque near where he was lynched in Marietta, noting that the trial was “fueled by societal tensions and anti-semitism.”
When I was a student rabbi at Kol Emeth in Marietta, I visited that spot with Rabbi Stevan Lebow, one of the community leaders spearheading the continuing efforts to gain a final acknowledgement of Frank’s innocence. I follow Rabbi Lebow in retirement on Facebook and this revival of antisemitic tropes in association with Leo Frank has only strengthened his resolve to see Frank receive a true pardon. Yet, for most people, even people within our own community, this hardly seems like a priority. With everything happening in Israel, with the rising tide of antisemitism in this country, some will ask if pushing back against those who maintain Frank’s guilt is really a proper use of our time and resources. The revival of antisemitic tropes in association with the Frank case in the past few days, however, only confirms the importance of this effort.
One of my favorite historians, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, taught that we do not inherent an immutable past, we are its contemporaries. In other words, each generation molds its understanding of the past to fit its own conception of events that it neither lived through nor witnessed. The recent social media battle over Frank’s guilt or innocence, accordingly, is very much part of the present. When one social media influencer focuses on Frank’s Jewishness as an indication of his guilt and another refers to a “they” who always lie and rewrite history, they are making statements about sinister character traits that they implicitly or explicitly claim all Jews share. It is no coincidence that both shortly tied their false and vitriolic statement about Frank to their views of Zionism and Israel.
For that reason, thousands of people called out the antisemitism of the initial posters and one of them, I am happy to say, was just suspended from X (formerly known as Twitter) and has apparently deleted his account. The other has been mass reported for antisemitism on a variety of social media platforms and we can only hope she will soon be suspended as well. Even more encouraging, Georgia reopened the case in 2019 as part of its conviction integrity unit and, although the wheels of justice turn exceedingly slowly, the consensus of historians who have actually studied the case [as opposed to social media warriors whose investigation stops when they learn Frank was Jewish] is that Frank will be finally exonerated. This recent eruption of antisemitism in Frank’s name may even spur the investigation to its long-awaited conclusion.
Finally, on a hopeful note, let me also share that Robin and I were present at Kol Emeth in Marietta when two of the descendants of the men who had lynched Frank spoke and denounced the murderous actions of their ancestors. It was an amazing night that continues to give me hope even as the need to call out antisemitism remains as vital as ever. That thousands of the people who called out these two social media influencers for antisemitism were not Jewish also encourages me. May Leo Frank finally receive justice and may those who seek to use his name and case to fuel their own hatred be suspended and forgotten.
Cein Yehi Ratzon
Rabbi Michael Howald
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