Alana Alpert

Detroit isn’t falling for it.

Over the last few weeks, President Donald Trump and his allies have engaged in a racist smear campaign against progressive women members of U.S. Congress, including our own Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit. Shamefully, Michigan Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have almost uniformly defended or ignored these horrific statements, and instead further escalated their attacks against Tlaib. As proud Michiganders, we will not allow Trump and his party to use racism to divide us from building the future we need.

At their heart, the smears against Tlaib and the other members of Congress are an attempt at distraction. Trump and Republicans recognize that their agenda only benefits the rich and powerful, and that they need to use these divisive strategies to appeal to a wider base of voters.

Americans strongly oppose their tax and budget cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the rich and harm middle and working class families, their assault on regulations designed to protect our environment and our workers, and the sharp decline in enforcement against white-collar crime, letting the rich and powerful off the hook for crimes they commit against working people.

More:Rep. Rashida Tlaib slams North Carolina gun billboard for 'inciting violence'

More:Rashida Tlaib: Tax dollars for Detroit stadiums could have been better spent

The people of Detroit and of Michigan have experienced the damage of these policies firsthand; our communities are suffering, our infrastructure is crumbling, and too many families across our state are struggling just to make ends meet.

The Trump administration is failing us, and they know it. They also know that, to get away with their radical schemes and avoid paying the political consequences for their failed agenda, they have to keep us divided. And that’s what they’re trying to do: pit Jews, people of color and other groups against one another, to try to convince us that the greatest threat we face is each other, rather than the cheating policies and the widespread corruption that harm us all.

Indeed, as a Jew, I am especially outraged that Trump and his allies have tried to justify their racism against Tlaib by leveling false accusations of anti-Semitism against her.

More:Rep. Rashida Tlaib: Migrants 'treated like cattle' in detention centers

More:Michigan Republicans largely silent on specific gun control changes after El Paso, Dayton shootings

These absurd accusations are a signature example of the ancient wisdom of our Talmudic Sages: "One who taints others taints with their own blemish" (Babylonian Talmud 70b). The loudest voices trumpeting these claims — like Trump himself and Rep. Liz Cheney — are often ones who have been eager to deploy anti-Semitic rhetoric and tropes when they see a political benefit.

I join progressive Jewish leaders in Detroit and throughout Michigan to say loudly and clearly that our community is united with Tlaib and against those targeting her with these divisive attacks.

Unfortunately for Trump and his allies, these efforts to muddy the waters and distract our focus are failing. In 2018, voters from across the country came together to elect the most diverse Congress in American history on a bold progressive agenda. In Michigan, Democrats who forcefully reject the failed policies of the Trump administration swept our statewide races — including our governor. We made Trump’s biggest fear — a coalition of Americans united by a shared progressive vision — into a reality. And when Trump tweeted his divisive, racist comments, Congress formally condemned him, with the backing of the Jewish community.

We are not going to fall for Trump’s distractions. Instead, we’re going to keep up our momentum. Detroit Jews and our allies — Muslim communities, communities of color, immigrants, the LGBTQ community — will always come together to support those, like Tlaib, who are dedicated to defeating Trump’s agenda and building a country in which all of us can have what we need. a country moving ever closer, through its legal structures, to the Torah's vision of a body politic supported by just laws: "Indeed, there shall be no one impoverished among you" (Deut. 15:4).

I am a resident of Tlaib’s district, and we are proud of the way she advocates for the needs of our communities, and resists Trump’s division on Capitol Hill and at home. We will have her back, and be at her side as she continues to fight for us, like she's always done.

Rabbi Alana Alpert is the director of Detroit Jews for Justice.