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Addenda to Racefail II: Electric BoogaJew
Here's a bunch of other disconnected thoughts about Judaism and minority. These are mostly random things thrown out there. These do not form any sort of coherent narrative or argument; they're just . . . things floating around my head. These are somewhat more likely to be accidentally offensive, because they're not well-thought through, and VASTLY more likely to be useless.
I tend to try to pay careful attention to what things will have effects on the global and local perception of Jews as a group. Because of that, I'm deeply worried about the effect that the Bernie Madoff scandal had, and will have long-term, as well as the whole military mess attacking Hamas in Gaza.
That said, "Bernie Madoff and the Gaza Incursion" sounds like an early-seventies experimental electronica concept album.
Other people have been talking about "visible Jewishness". For me, that's a weird concept. I mean, my name is Ian Osmond. My mother is Matia Angelou. I'm in a Jewish community where last names like "O'Sullivan" and "Murphy" aren't uncommon. My shul attracts a lot of intermarried families, converts, and families with adopted kids, so, year to year, my classroom tends to be about 50% white, with the rest being a mix of Asian, mainly Chinese, Latino/a, and Black. Or mixed-race of any of the above.
Now, obviously, those students can't pass as "not Asian/Hispanic/Black", but they COULD pass as "not-Jewish." They're on TWO axes of minority. And "Jewish" is the less blatant one.
As BenG Jackson, may her memory be a blessing, pointed out -- she rarely got shit for being Jewish. Mostly, she was too busy getting shit for being, poor, black, and female. People would have to get through all of those to start oppressing her for her religion, and who has time? They just settled for the easier three.
Being Jewish and NOT any of the other things allows one to pass as white whenever one wishes, at least, until society decides to crack down on being Jewish.
Is "being able to pass for the majority whenever one wishes" the same thing as "being in the majority?"
In general, would being "a minority who can pretend not to be" get one shit from other minorities folks without that superpower?
What ABOUT the disconnect between internal and external minority identification? "Oreo", "banana/Twinkie", "high yellow". The first two are people who have the EXTERNAL markers without the INTERNAL identification. The last? Someone who lacks the EXTERNAL markers.
And NONE of the three are nice things to say about someone.
Are Jews inherently "high yellow"?
I tend to try to pay careful attention to what things will have effects on the global and local perception of Jews as a group. Because of that, I'm deeply worried about the effect that the Bernie Madoff scandal had, and will have long-term, as well as the whole military mess attacking Hamas in Gaza.
That said, "Bernie Madoff and the Gaza Incursion" sounds like an early-seventies experimental electronica concept album.
Other people have been talking about "visible Jewishness". For me, that's a weird concept. I mean, my name is Ian Osmond. My mother is Matia Angelou. I'm in a Jewish community where last names like "O'Sullivan" and "Murphy" aren't uncommon. My shul attracts a lot of intermarried families, converts, and families with adopted kids, so, year to year, my classroom tends to be about 50% white, with the rest being a mix of Asian, mainly Chinese, Latino/a, and Black. Or mixed-race of any of the above.
Now, obviously, those students can't pass as "not Asian/Hispanic/Black", but they COULD pass as "not-Jewish." They're on TWO axes of minority. And "Jewish" is the less blatant one.
As BenG Jackson, may her memory be a blessing, pointed out -- she rarely got shit for being Jewish. Mostly, she was too busy getting shit for being, poor, black, and female. People would have to get through all of those to start oppressing her for her religion, and who has time? They just settled for the easier three.
Being Jewish and NOT any of the other things allows one to pass as white whenever one wishes, at least, until society decides to crack down on being Jewish.
Is "being able to pass for the majority whenever one wishes" the same thing as "being in the majority?"
In general, would being "a minority who can pretend not to be" get one shit from other minorities folks without that superpower?
What ABOUT the disconnect between internal and external minority identification? "Oreo", "banana/Twinkie", "high yellow". The first two are people who have the EXTERNAL markers without the INTERNAL identification. The last? Someone who lacks the EXTERNAL markers.
And NONE of the three are nice things to say about someone.
Are Jews inherently "high yellow"?
no subject
I am not saying that there was no antisemitism in these areas. I don't know that either way. I'm saying that there were no Jews, so far as I know, to bring out any antisemitic attitudes there may have been, and that what prejudices there were were not strong enough to be expressed without direct prompting, unlike some of the racial prejudices -- which were a minority attitude, but were clearly present. Had there been anyone asking for Jewish holidays off, I do not know if they would have encountered problems. I'd like to think not, but I don't know, But the myths and stereotypes I only encountered in fiction, not from people I knew.