Black Hebrew Israelites, an obscure religious movement, has become a focus of the controversy related to the face off at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., that has sparked a national debate about politics, race, religion, social media and civility.

"The Black Hebrew Israelites are really a movement," Heidi Beirich, with the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., said Tuesday. "They have a particular interpretation of the Bible in which they believe that blacks are the true tribes of Israel, essentially, the true Jews."

Outrage exploded on social media during the holiday weekend as the video encounter between Native American leader, Nathan Phillips of Ypsilanti and the students from Covington Catholic High School went viral.

Phillips said he waded into the group of students to defuse tension between the students and the Black Hebrew Israelites.

News reports over the holiday weekend raised questions about the role of the Israelites — who can be found proselytizing on street corners in cities nationally, including Detroit.

Beirich, the director of the civil-rights organization's project to track domestic extremists, described Black Hebrew Israelites as a fringe movement with possibly thousands of followers who promote hate against Jewish, gay and white people.

In many ways, she said, they are a "mirror image" of white groups that hate blacks.

The Southern Poverty Law Center — founded by civil rights attorneys in the 1970s to fight racism, white supremacist groups and protect people from discrimination — lists organizations ascribing to the movement as hate groups.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/01/23/black-hebrew-israelites-catholic/2645464002/