Jews and Racism
It is International Blog Against Racism Week.
I had a bad dream last night, and now feel I must blog about something close to me and difficult to discuss. What does it mean to be Jewish in America? What does it mean to be sometimes the victim of, and sometimes the perpetrator of, racism? Many Jews (not all, because there are Jews who are People of Color) are from Eastern Europe (ashkenazi) and so have all the benefits of white privilege in American society. Until people find out about our religion (maybe from the clothes we wear, or maybe because we choose to tell people what religion we practice) it tends to be assumed that we are members of the majority, namely white Christians. If we reveal ourselves as Jews, it becomes a coin toss. Will the person we are talking to be prejudiced against us?
Looking at it statistically, Jews are a minority. Adherents.com puts us at 14 million, or approx 0.22% of the world's population. (I think the world population has gone up, so that percentage might be smaller now). This, however, doesn't mean that a statistical minority equates to an oppressed minority. Jews still have white privilege. It does make me think, though, that for such a tiny religion, it is amazing how relevant our story is to discussions of racism in the U.S. In my opinion, this is because most Jews can choose or not choose to assimilate into the dominant culture. If you are a Person of Color in the U.S., you don't generally get to choose.
I could point up the tension this has created between People of Color and Jews in the U.S. People like Louis Farrakhan have used prejudice against Jews and belief in a Zionist conspiracy in order to bolster their own power. People in the Jewish community have participated in upholding segregation and have often been just as bigoted and prejudiced as any other members of the mainstream white community.
Then there are those who have fought for equality for all people in the U.S. Of the three murders of civil rights workers in Mississippi, one was African American, two were Jews. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said his "feet were praying" as he marched arm-in-arm with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma. Currently Tim Wise speaks out as an anti-racist activist in schools across the nation. Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns gave his life defending the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a place where people go to remember that Nazi fanaticism killed both Jews and People of Color indiscriminately.
Intersectionality is a hard thing for people to wrap their minds around, especially when it is easier to cling to one identity, the identity that will allow you to "pass" with the least amount of conflict. It takes brave people to come out of hiding and speak out, especially with fresh memories of genocide. It bears remembering that the German Jews also thought they were assimilating, they also thought they were, at least limitedly, accepted by the white mainstream.
I have only touched the tip of the iceberg, I'm afraid. There is a great deal of personal sadness and pain for me in bringing this all up (perhaps the personal stuff is for another post), but I hope it is somehow helpful.
I had a bad dream last night, and now feel I must blog about something close to me and difficult to discuss. What does it mean to be Jewish in America? What does it mean to be sometimes the victim of, and sometimes the perpetrator of, racism? Many Jews (not all, because there are Jews who are People of Color) are from Eastern Europe (ashkenazi) and so have all the benefits of white privilege in American society. Until people find out about our religion (maybe from the clothes we wear, or maybe because we choose to tell people what religion we practice) it tends to be assumed that we are members of the majority, namely white Christians. If we reveal ourselves as Jews, it becomes a coin toss. Will the person we are talking to be prejudiced against us?
Looking at it statistically, Jews are a minority. Adherents.com puts us at 14 million, or approx 0.22% of the world's population. (I think the world population has gone up, so that percentage might be smaller now). This, however, doesn't mean that a statistical minority equates to an oppressed minority. Jews still have white privilege. It does make me think, though, that for such a tiny religion, it is amazing how relevant our story is to discussions of racism in the U.S. In my opinion, this is because most Jews can choose or not choose to assimilate into the dominant culture. If you are a Person of Color in the U.S., you don't generally get to choose.
I could point up the tension this has created between People of Color and Jews in the U.S. People like Louis Farrakhan have used prejudice against Jews and belief in a Zionist conspiracy in order to bolster their own power. People in the Jewish community have participated in upholding segregation and have often been just as bigoted and prejudiced as any other members of the mainstream white community.
Then there are those who have fought for equality for all people in the U.S. Of the three murders of civil rights workers in Mississippi, one was African American, two were Jews. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said his "feet were praying" as he marched arm-in-arm with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma. Currently Tim Wise speaks out as an anti-racist activist in schools across the nation. Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns gave his life defending the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a place where people go to remember that Nazi fanaticism killed both Jews and People of Color indiscriminately.
Intersectionality is a hard thing for people to wrap their minds around, especially when it is easier to cling to one identity, the identity that will allow you to "pass" with the least amount of conflict. It takes brave people to come out of hiding and speak out, especially with fresh memories of genocide. It bears remembering that the German Jews also thought they were assimilating, they also thought they were, at least limitedly, accepted by the white mainstream.
I have only touched the tip of the iceberg, I'm afraid. There is a great deal of personal sadness and pain for me in bringing this all up (perhaps the personal stuff is for another post), but I hope it is somehow helpful.