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RaceFail II: The Wrath Of Cohen
Let me speak only for myself to start with.
Over the Recent Race Kerfluffle, where it became abundantly clear that, among other things, things are messy, people have been living with pain unrecognized outside of their communities for their whole lives, and people often don't understand each other, one thing that was brought up was the idea of white people trying to claim non-white status, for whatever reason, and in whatever way.
Speaking for myself: I sat on my hands for that. And now am not.
Because it's totally true that I have White Privilege. And I don't want to diminish the challenges that people who don't have that, who ARE visible minorities, face, challenges that I don't face. I don't want to make it all about MEMEMEMEME!, because it's not. And the things I deal with are very different than people whose skin colors, face shapes, or speech patterns are different than the majority in the area that they live.
I have White Privilege, I consciously USE it, even. But I don't feel "white". I feel like "The Other". I just feel like I hide it.
Other Jews have been posting about things that RaceFail made them consider -- I don't think any of these people are saying, "We have the SAME experience as black people, or Asians, or whatever." In the United States, we're not legally discriminated against. Being Jewish doesn't block us from marrying whom we choose, unlike some other "invisible", or semi-visible, minorities. We're not generally blocked from education, or jobs, or public life.
Here are three of the posts of people poking around at how being Jewish interacts with the topics brought up during RaceFail:
http://rosefox.livejournal.com/1452657.html
http://abyssinia4077.livejournal.com/274444.html
http://fjm.livejournal.com/728228.html
And yet . . . we don't take our lack-of-significant-oppressedness for granted.
These past fifty years or so, in the United States, have been good. Like under Alexander, some of the times under the Roman Empire, a fair portion of the Caliphate.
But I think many of us consider this to be just part of the way the world goes. Right now is good. That doesn't mean that things will always be good. Hamas or other anti-Zionist organizations will, eventually, get enough friends that people will decide that the Jews don't have any right to Israel -- after all, the Jews killed the Canaanites to get the land, the Canaanites are the Phoenicians, and the Phoenicians are the Palestinians, so they get the right to the land, and the Jews should be kicked out. And, when that happens, the worldwide backlash will include more violence against Jews, and that may well happen within my lifetime, which is one of the reasons my wife and I can shoot, do everything we can to maintain friendly relationships with our neighbors, and think about having skills that are portable in case we have to run.
Because we have White Privilege. But privileges can be granted, and can be revoked. And history is NOT a smooth march toward equality. There are better times, and worse times. Worse times will come, and those who have ANY mark of difference must be prepared for them, even if "worse times" are not NOW.
Who is white? In the United States, right now, Jews, Irish, Italians, and Poles are all white.
But Italians are not white in North Linconshire in England right now. Their "whiteness" was revoked. "British jobs for British workers".
I've got people on my friendslist who can testify to just how tenuous the Irish hold on "whiteness" is in England.
I'm white. Right now. But I'm deeply aware that that could change with really no more than a few months' warning. And that affects how I look at the world.
Over the Recent Race Kerfluffle, where it became abundantly clear that, among other things, things are messy, people have been living with pain unrecognized outside of their communities for their whole lives, and people often don't understand each other, one thing that was brought up was the idea of white people trying to claim non-white status, for whatever reason, and in whatever way.
Speaking for myself: I sat on my hands for that. And now am not.
Because it's totally true that I have White Privilege. And I don't want to diminish the challenges that people who don't have that, who ARE visible minorities, face, challenges that I don't face. I don't want to make it all about MEMEMEMEME!, because it's not. And the things I deal with are very different than people whose skin colors, face shapes, or speech patterns are different than the majority in the area that they live.
I have White Privilege, I consciously USE it, even. But I don't feel "white". I feel like "The Other". I just feel like I hide it.
Other Jews have been posting about things that RaceFail made them consider -- I don't think any of these people are saying, "We have the SAME experience as black people, or Asians, or whatever." In the United States, we're not legally discriminated against. Being Jewish doesn't block us from marrying whom we choose, unlike some other "invisible", or semi-visible, minorities. We're not generally blocked from education, or jobs, or public life.
Here are three of the posts of people poking around at how being Jewish interacts with the topics brought up during RaceFail:
http://rosefox.livejournal.com/1452657.html
http://abyssinia4077.livejournal.com/274444.html
http://fjm.livejournal.com/728228.html
And yet . . . we don't take our lack-of-significant-oppressedness for granted.
These past fifty years or so, in the United States, have been good. Like under Alexander, some of the times under the Roman Empire, a fair portion of the Caliphate.
But I think many of us consider this to be just part of the way the world goes. Right now is good. That doesn't mean that things will always be good. Hamas or other anti-Zionist organizations will, eventually, get enough friends that people will decide that the Jews don't have any right to Israel -- after all, the Jews killed the Canaanites to get the land, the Canaanites are the Phoenicians, and the Phoenicians are the Palestinians, so they get the right to the land, and the Jews should be kicked out. And, when that happens, the worldwide backlash will include more violence against Jews, and that may well happen within my lifetime, which is one of the reasons my wife and I can shoot, do everything we can to maintain friendly relationships with our neighbors, and think about having skills that are portable in case we have to run.
Because we have White Privilege. But privileges can be granted, and can be revoked. And history is NOT a smooth march toward equality. There are better times, and worse times. Worse times will come, and those who have ANY mark of difference must be prepared for them, even if "worse times" are not NOW.
Who is white? In the United States, right now, Jews, Irish, Italians, and Poles are all white.
But Italians are not white in North Linconshire in England right now. Their "whiteness" was revoked. "British jobs for British workers".
I've got people on my friendslist who can testify to just how tenuous the Irish hold on "whiteness" is in England.
I'm white. Right now. But I'm deeply aware that that could change with really no more than a few months' warning. And that affects how I look at the world.
(So of course I had to edit a bit.)
*nod* This reminds me of something
We often talk of "White" as if it's a monolithic and immutable classification of people, but it's no more so than "Black" is. That's why I scoffed when I read this by one of the participants in Racefail January '09: "Maybe I'll write something safer, something where all the characters are white... and I don't have to deal with issues of race and culture." I keep being reminded of how real and important and yet how imaginary the concept of 'race' is, and how different countries and societies and time periods define these classifications differently.
Anyway. Enough rambling from me, but I wanted you to know I hear you. (Also, I don't think I'll be reading comments to this post, because if the trends among the posts in the Big January Discussion are anything to go by, eventually someone will say something I'll want to answer with more heat than light, so let me keep from inflicting my temper on your comments section.)
Re: (So of course I had to edit a bit.)
We have entire holidays, and lots of other stories, to remind us of those things. But of course, there are always people who aren't listening (and we have stories about that too!) or who take the holidays purely as "They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat", or worst of all, as "They hated us so now it's our turn to hate."
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And, as I am sure you know, were all Other not so long ago. The KKK persecuted Catholic immigrants vigorously.
I "pass as white" -- am white -- by my skin-tone 100%. With my mouth shut, I share in all of the unfair advantages and privileges afforded the pink-skinned. But I will never be rid of my Eastern-European accent, and words and meanings of words and conversational strategies are suspect. I cannot parse other people speaking to me in anything but the most standard English. I hate my accent and I am made uncomfortable by comments about it being "interesting" or "exotic" or "sexy". I am dysfluent in my mother tongue and I forgot much of my second language. As a result, I don't feel I fit in any place, and I feel my markedness in any verbal interactions (which is why so much of my life is online). Rootless cosmopolitan, безродный космополит, c'est moi aussi. So yes, "being white" isn't monolithic, and "apparently white" folk aren't all sole beneficiaries of our systemic prejudices, whether it's because they talk funny or they're boys who wear skirts or they pray to the wrong deities. The norm isn't.
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Was there a "home" before emigration that you weren't "Other" in?
I'm contrasting this to my own "it doesn't matter if I *sound* right, if I understand most of the common forms of American vernacular, I'm always *other* because of how I look..." My husband, OTOH, is one of those linguistically gifted emigres who gets a startled "you're not an American?!" because he sounds right and has blue eyes.
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And this is certainly a much more Othering experience (unless you somehow managed to negotiate the world purely by phone ;)). There's no arguing that someone who is set apart because of how they look is at a greater and more continuous disadvantage than one who merely sounds different. I don't mean to equate my position with that of a PoC, just to note that the "White Bloc" has its own divisions and inequalities, and... well, I don't know if my comment really had a goal. Just a vague feeling that these internal divisions can somehow be used to chip away at it, to identify and recruit allies. The experience of prejudice is not the same, but has commonalities which can bring differently-oppressed groups together.
You suggest a very good point with your question re: the emigrant having at least once had a home in which they weren't "Other". Yes, I lived an average, unremarkable life in the country of my birth until I was 12-13, so at least I had this foundation of belonging and stability to build on, which right away makes my experience incomparable to someone who grew up being judged by the colour of the skin.
And as for your other question, I am currently in Toronto, Canada (which is great for my blending in because it's extremely diverse; having an accent here is unremarkable, unlike the rural area where I lived before). There were a couple of other countries and languages before here, I am sure I'd be much more well-adjusted if I'd come straight to Toronto at 13 :).
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I have a great deal of envy about people who have a foundation of belonging to start with - maybe I'm wrong, and it just makes the sense of alienation sharper, but from my side I imagine it's worse not to ever have a sense of belonging anywhere, including at home (because the parents are immigrants and can't understand why the children are so angry about being Othered.)
I have historically had trouble getting emigres to understand why I find such anger and pain in being Othered as a non-white (and non-black) American - they tend to either compare me to their own "from someplace else" experience, or are baffled by my insistence that I'm not seen as an American.
I hope, like you, that sharing experiences of Othering leads to understanding across the divides.
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I haven't taken up shooting as a consequence, but my hidden other-ness definitely keeps me living in the bigger cities with my fellow rootless cosmopolitans. For what that's worth.
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I get the same thing being bi and in a different-sex marriage. I hate my "het privilege". I hate it far more than my white privilege, in fact. And even when I try to come out, people don't hear me because it's so much easier to think a woman married to a man must be straight. At the same time, I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I can safely hold my girlfriend's hand--and that's girlfriend as in the woman I'm in love with, dammit, and a thousand curses on the popularization of "girlfriend" as "friend who is a girl" and the way it forces me to talk about my sex life in order to de-closet myself--and it feels absolutely dishonorable to not take advantage of that safety when so many people are brave enough to be out in places where it is not at all safe. Visibility makes for safer spaces. As long as we are invisible, it's too easy to say "Well, all of them should be rounded up and shot", because you never imagine that "them" could include someone you care about.
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That's probably true of a LOT of your friends. The ones who might make the "racial purity" test will probably all fail on the political tests. . . .
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Humans tend to behave as if things will always be as they are now, as if there's no such thing as blowback or what-goes-around-comes-around or getting bitten on the ass by what you thought was a friendly dog. The Republicans certainly acted during the past 8 years as if they thought that they would always be in power, and none of what they implemented could ever be used against them. But they aren't the only example. (This is the basis for my frequent quoting of the words Robert Bolt gives Thomas More: "Yes, I'd give the Devil the benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.")
I think the concept of "privilege" is a valuable one, but I dislike seeing it applied to things that should be considered either rights or matters of common decency, such as not being refused housing (right) or not being followed around by security in a store (matter of common decency) just because of one's skin color. Privileges are changeable and negotiable in a way that rights and common decency aren't.
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I know being in a 'visible' minority (one who can be detected by skin color, face shape or accent) is different from being an 'invisible' minority (one that can only be detected by behavior patterns - although even that is really impossible to hide completely)...
... and I don't want to deny the pain or hardship that visible minorities face;
I also know, from what you've said, that there is a difference between being in a current minority and a historical one, and that if the historical minority status is long lived and violent enough it continues to affect people of that sub-group, even if the current cultural paradigm doesn't categorize that sub group as a minority...
... as long as people think of Jews as a seperate group (as long as the Jews think of themselves as a separate group) there exists the possibility that they will be reclassified as a minority, people who the domant group in a culture considers it 'OK' to treat as less than human...
... and I don't want to deny the pain and uncertainty that historical minorities face;
but for me the distinction in different kinds of minority that is most relevant is between the known and the unknown. Some minorities belong to groups that are recognized as minorities; but some people (or so I believe) suffer discrimination and marginalization - the effects of being a minority - without belonging to a group that has been classified as one, and without the protection of belonging to such a group as well. These people are 'unknown' minorities.
... I've run out of time... more later (I hope).
Kiralee
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Some examples of unknown (or semi-unknown) minorities are: short people, poor white people, homosexuals before the 1950's, navy wives (according to an acquaintance who was one), possibly polyamorous people, and outliers.
Short people:
I'd categorize this as semi-unknown. If someone brings it up, no one disagrees that short people are discriminated against; and there are organizations that exist to fight against discrimination based on stature; but when people talk about 'visible' minorities, they talk about skin color, accent, and facial features; they don't include body type (they don't include visible disabilities, like being in a wheelchair, either).
The state of Massachusetts, which tends to be on the forefront of these things, is just beginning to consider anti-discrimination employment regulations regarding height and weight. I haven't read all the articles about it, but in what I read, the focus was clearly on the problem of obesity. Stature was barely mentioned, except to the extent that it is included in the phrase "height and weight."
To some extent, this is part of the process by which minorities are (or aren't) recognized. One of the things that happens to minorities is that they are made silent and invisible. When one is silent and invisible, one has to scream very loudly, and jump up and down a lot, before the outside world hears and recognizes that you are a minority; once you have that recognition it gets a little better - people who want to think of themselves as tolerant will make an effort to listen to you.
The behavior pattern I've most often observed that denies short people a voice is this: someone brings up the fact that short people are discriminated against; the rest of the people listening immediately agree with them, and then drop the topic and start talking about something else.
I've run out of time again... more later.
Kiralee
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Of course, come to think of it -- that's true of all discrimination against minorities, isn't it?
Me, I'm short, and I've never felt discriminated against because of it -- but I don't KNOW that that's the case. But, then -- I live in a short part of the country, and went to Brandeis, and never THINK of myself as short. I'm under five and a half feet tall, which is short for an American male, but never internalized the idea that I am short, nor accepted any of the stereotypes of short people.
So I MAY be getting some of the external stuff from other people, but I don't FEEL like I am, and I don't INTERNALIZE it.
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I'm 5': there are certainly lots of places it's a bit tedious (shelves are *never* at a height where I can reach the upper one). I'm good at standing on tiptoe, and have stepstools when that won't work.
But there are also places it's a benefit: the only time in 20+ years I've actually had to duck my head when told "low ceiling" was a staircase in a 14th century Italian villa (and even there, I could probably have gotten away with it...) Compared to my taller friends who have a tendency to bang their head or hands on lower hanging lights/doorframes/etc. if not careful, I tend to think I've got the better of the two deals.
On the other hand, my mother's my height, and my father was an actor and theatre professor: I grew up naturally incorporating the tricks of "Look, take me seriously" into body language and voice projection. I don't think I've ever had people ignore me due to height - I have had people try to do it because I'm female. (Rare, but happens.)
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