When I was a kid, we were not considered white, but there was no box on the federal forms to indicate what we were, so we always checked "Other".
I don't come from a line of Jews that assimilated. We lived in shtetls. Which means that whatever attributes I have that look white came from rapes. Centuries of rapes.
We might ask an American black, whose ancestors also endured centuries of rapes: Are you white?
The fact that we're considered white is just another double standard; we're white when it can be used against us and we're brown when it can be used against us.
Anyone who bases our worth on our race is perpetuating the worst of racism.
Skin color is irrelevant. If one's biological mother is/was Jewish or if one has had an Orthodox conversion to Judaism, they are part of our tribe. Who cares how the left or the right views skin color? Their ideology is irrelevant, too.
Jews being white is simply part of the leftist narrative that Israel is bad and the Palestinians are good. It's a ridiculousness born out of stupidity and a lack of historical knowledge. Case in point, the latest idiocy coming out of Coates. I find it interesting though, how those who decry colonization and imperialism, seem to colonize every internecine fight around the world with America's obsession with race, well at least some American's obsession with race.
The problem for the modern world is that Jews are an ancient people and do not fit easily into any category that modern academic elites decided to create. Truth is, no one actually fits into these categories if you look at history. Trying to create a binary when it comes to humanity is nonsensical. It is also really boring.
Yes, the Mufti of Jerusalem under British rule was a friend / ally of Hitler's. The deal was to get rid of the Jews in Europe first, and then they'd focus on the Middle East.
Because of Oct 7th and its aftermath I have made some changes in my life. One of the changes I made is that I will answer any form questionnaire or verbal question asking for my race with "Jewish". If it has the choice of other, I will circle it and write in the words "Jewish".
Why the change? Cuz ultimately that is how the world sees me for bad or for good and that is how I perceive me.
Going a step further, I wish our organizations would tell every Jew to do the same thing and would push for the government to put that in as an option.
Am I a white oppressor? .... No I am a Jew who has been victimized throughout history and whose home indigenous country is Israel.
But on average you do so well financially ..... Yes the Jewish people, like the Asians, have a deep regard for education and for family and that has enabled us to overcome the obstacles and the prejudices we encounter so often.
Bottom LIne ..... we should all be calling ourselves not white, not black, not anything but Jewish.
I got racist abuse from Far-Right Elements in the State when I ticked the White British Box. This is how we proved the British Census sends all Jewish ID's on the census DIRECTLY to Nazi Departments inside The State. I have saved the ***** the trouble this time round: The 'Other' Box is now proudly declared Russian Jewish (Ashkenazim) by me.
Excellent post! I will share! I’m so tired of silly leftists whining that Jews deserve to die because they’re white oppressors while the leftists speaking are actually of European descent. I live in a neighborhood where “Hamas” is carved into a sidewalk and the Palestinian flag flies everywhere. It’s all actually white people doing this. While insisting that Jews are white. I gotta move - anyone got a lead on a one bedroom apartment outside Philadelphia in a neighborhood friendly to friends of the Jewish community? Living with rampant antisemitism has made me very aware of the idiocy of their ideology.
Jews can be white or Non-white. We are of many races and of One Faith. Also one can convert to Judaism from any ethnicity, hence the White Ashkenazim. There are Blue-eyed Blond-Haired Jews of Siberia (who survived The Holocaust BTW). Hence Jews are Multi-Racial and of One Faith. Hope this helps.
This obsession with race is idiotic. And increasingly meaningless and stupid. Yes blacks were singled out by the non black majority because of their skin color. They developed a culture of which they can take a good deal of pride and which has had a great influence on the U.S. But the idea of identifying as "white" makes no sense. Unless we are going back to the 19th century. Today we recognize or should that race is a foolish way to distinguish oneself or identify as. I have never in my entire life thought of myself as either white or not white. I identify as a Jewish American of Azhkenazic ethnicity and descent. I look "white". But I dont care. Nor should anyone. At least that is what we should be striving towards. Jewish Westerners should be taught that they are Jews and they are inheritors of a Civilization that at its best is built on liberal ideas that all people are inherently equal.
Once upon a time, a wise man said that he dreamt of a day when all people would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. He is gone, killed by someone who did not like the color of his skin, and we are still dreaming. Until that elusive day comes, prepare to defend yourself regardless of your self-identification.
So spot on. I recently went to a new doctor's office and the receptionist was filling out paperwork on me. She asked me my race. I said something like, "well it depends: if you're a white supremacist I'm not caucasian and if you're a woke leftist, I am." She laughed.
This article is a prime example of the problems undermining our social stability today — thank you CRT.
The author identifies several areas of concern: Race, Religion, Ethnicity, Identity, and Dermachrome, which, dermatologically, refers only to melanin load,which have nothing to do with morals, history, or politics. Note, though, how closely these categories track the Genocide Convention protected groups of Race, Religion, Ethnicity, and Nationality.
“Or maybe it’s all about oppression and privilege. Maybe groups that are privileged are white and those that are marginalized or oppressed are people of colour? This makes some sense . . .”
To clarify what is meant by White, before the age before PC, it used to be that White was defined as a Christian Caucasian European of European descent, More familiarly called WASP or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Over time it was broadened to include any Christian Caucasion European or European descendant.
It may make sense politically but certainly not sociologically, unless, of course, this discipline has been revised to conform to the politically correct principles of CRT and DEI.
“Jews in North America are not marginalized and hold places of privilege throughout society, hence whiteness.”
Jews hold places of privilege? What about social places attained through dint of hard work, struggle, persistence, and achievement. In a word, places in society won through Merit? For those who think this statement is an appeal to the dismissed idea of a meritocracy, whom would you want performing delicate neurosurgery on you or your loved one, someone who became a surgeon on the basis of the community they affiliate with, that community's claim to poverty, the surgeon's skin colour, degree attained through subject promotion, configuration of what was between their legs, or high calibre training augmented by years of experience with 85%+ success rate in the type of surgery to be performed?
So, I ask again: Why are Jews considered white? . . .Many Jews themselves identify as white.“
Many? Based on what statistical analysis? Some “Messianic Jews (an oxymoron if ever there was one) also identify as Jews. Reminds one of the joke about an old Jew hit by a car. People rush over. He says,”Send for a priest, a rabbi an imam and a guru.” "Why do you want all four?” someone asks. He gasps, “I'm hedging my debts.”
“The people who seem to be the guardians of whiteness don’t seem to think Jews are white at all.”
The author correctly cites the many attacks on Jews, All from the AltR, which would give the misleading impression that antisemitism is uniquely a right wing phenomenon. However, the news presented on TV, Radio, and Print reveal that the AltL is as vicious and virulent and open as the AltR in their hatred of Jews.
Could it be that framing public antisemitic acts as largely a Right phenomenon permits the Left's actions to be glossed over as mere righteous expression of free speech? After all, isn't the Left the party of Social Justice intent in protecting minorities from the oppression perpetrated by all Whites, especially the whitest of the Whites, the Jews?
“Maybe we should not be thinking about race as much when discussing oppression and privilege”
A word about race. It has morphed from a discredited 19C psuedo-science that produced deadly 20C consequences and returned in the 21C to mean any non-White minority (WASP) persecuted, abused, and exploited just because they were not White.
A word about privilege: Privilege and oppression are false dichotomies? People achieve social success through other than privilege. They may win it through Entitlement (inherited, earned, conferred), through Effort, Luck, Social Contacts, Achievements, Recognition of Worthiness or Rights.
And a necessary word about Identity. Identity can be expressed as “I am [Fill in the blank]. In other words, it is an image of self based on one or, at most, several more attributes. Contrast this partial understanding of self with that of Whole Being, which includes all the attributes of the individual: the physical, emotional, sexual, social, psychological, and noetic. Is there any wonder at the distortion of Reality our times suffer on the streets, in Academia, in the media, and in the Halls of Power?
In conclusion, today's social critics should not be drawn into accepting the explanations of society emanating either from the left or from the right. They should not adopt the politically motivated vocabularies used today to demonize segments of our society. More accurate terms already exist. They should know that by adopting the contemporary slogans, they grant these ideologies a certain level of validity they manifestly do not deserve but which could cause irreparable to social cohesion.
Jews do not only live in Jewish neighbourhoods, right? So only counting those neighborhoods will give you a skewed view. As an aside, I too assumed Jews would have titled rightward, but the exit polls suggest otherwise...
Interesting discussion, we live in Hawai’i, my wife is Okinawan , my son is considered hapa-haole
Which means half white and is generally more accepted than I am ( an ashkanazi Jew) whites make up about 26% of the population. The governor and one US senator are Jewish although anti Semitic incidents on campus have ticked up ( mostly by the usual leftist suspects) in Hawai’i their is discrimination against anyone perceived as white, some beaches, neighborhoods , & surfing areas are frankly dangerous if you are perceived as white. Some professions are difficult to break into if you are white and not “ local” Filipinos are now the largest ethnic group in Hawai’i. Japanese are also about 25% of the population and dominate in the state govt. This is the most non white state ethnically diverse state in the US. The black population is about 1-2% of the population mainly in the military. Jews are simply catagorized as “white haoles.”
I've been asked before why the majority of Jews look white and not middle eastern if they're from the Levant. I couldn't help but think, "because Jews were hunted in every Arab country they resided in... The European ones <less so>"
I wish that you had mentioned that Ashkenazi DNA clearly originated in the Levant. No need to mention the genetic illnesses that plague some of our members. Our closest relatives are Arabs.
When I was a kid, we were not considered white, but there was no box on the federal forms to indicate what we were, so we always checked "Other".
I don't come from a line of Jews that assimilated. We lived in shtetls. Which means that whatever attributes I have that look white came from rapes. Centuries of rapes.
We might ask an American black, whose ancestors also endured centuries of rapes: Are you white?
The fact that we're considered white is just another double standard; we're white when it can be used against us and we're brown when it can be used against us.
Anyone who bases our worth on our race is perpetuating the worst of racism.
You just wrote something I've often thought about but never articulated: the rapes. Centuries of rapes.
@Shelah - 100%!
Skin color is irrelevant. If one's biological mother is/was Jewish or if one has had an Orthodox conversion to Judaism, they are part of our tribe. Who cares how the left or the right views skin color? Their ideology is irrelevant, too.
Jews being white is simply part of the leftist narrative that Israel is bad and the Palestinians are good. It's a ridiculousness born out of stupidity and a lack of historical knowledge. Case in point, the latest idiocy coming out of Coates. I find it interesting though, how those who decry colonization and imperialism, seem to colonize every internecine fight around the world with America's obsession with race, well at least some American's obsession with race.
The problem for the modern world is that Jews are an ancient people and do not fit easily into any category that modern academic elites decided to create. Truth is, no one actually fits into these categories if you look at history. Trying to create a binary when it comes to humanity is nonsensical. It is also really boring.
First sentence nails it.
Which leads me to wonder what did those Arabs think Hitler was going to do with them after the Jews were eliminated? Not the smartest.
That's a great point. Did Hitler have much interaction with the Arab world? I need to look this up.
Yes, the Mufti of Jerusalem under British rule was a friend / ally of Hitler's. The deal was to get rid of the Jews in Europe first, and then they'd focus on the Middle East.
Because of Oct 7th and its aftermath I have made some changes in my life. One of the changes I made is that I will answer any form questionnaire or verbal question asking for my race with "Jewish". If it has the choice of other, I will circle it and write in the words "Jewish".
Why the change? Cuz ultimately that is how the world sees me for bad or for good and that is how I perceive me.
Going a step further, I wish our organizations would tell every Jew to do the same thing and would push for the government to put that in as an option.
Am I a white oppressor? .... No I am a Jew who has been victimized throughout history and whose home indigenous country is Israel.
But on average you do so well financially ..... Yes the Jewish people, like the Asians, have a deep regard for education and for family and that has enabled us to overcome the obstacles and the prejudices we encounter so often.
Bottom LIne ..... we should all be calling ourselves not white, not black, not anything but Jewish.
papa j
Agree!
I will do the "Other - Jewish" thing from now on.
I got racist abuse from Far-Right Elements in the State when I ticked the White British Box. This is how we proved the British Census sends all Jewish ID's on the census DIRECTLY to Nazi Departments inside The State. I have saved the ***** the trouble this time round: The 'Other' Box is now proudly declared Russian Jewish (Ashkenazim) by me.
Yet I am white by phenotype so I don’t feel bad checking the white box. Someone else’s new fad philosophy has made that a shame. Hatred.
I like that. ‘They’ label us anyway…so make our own.
Excellent post! I will share! I’m so tired of silly leftists whining that Jews deserve to die because they’re white oppressors while the leftists speaking are actually of European descent. I live in a neighborhood where “Hamas” is carved into a sidewalk and the Palestinian flag flies everywhere. It’s all actually white people doing this. While insisting that Jews are white. I gotta move - anyone got a lead on a one bedroom apartment outside Philadelphia in a neighborhood friendly to friends of the Jewish community? Living with rampant antisemitism has made me very aware of the idiocy of their ideology.
Move to the Ozarks, girl.
Jews can be white or Non-white. We are of many races and of One Faith. Also one can convert to Judaism from any ethnicity, hence the White Ashkenazim. There are Blue-eyed Blond-Haired Jews of Siberia (who survived The Holocaust BTW). Hence Jews are Multi-Racial and of One Faith. Hope this helps.
This obsession with race is idiotic. And increasingly meaningless and stupid. Yes blacks were singled out by the non black majority because of their skin color. They developed a culture of which they can take a good deal of pride and which has had a great influence on the U.S. But the idea of identifying as "white" makes no sense. Unless we are going back to the 19th century. Today we recognize or should that race is a foolish way to distinguish oneself or identify as. I have never in my entire life thought of myself as either white or not white. I identify as a Jewish American of Azhkenazic ethnicity and descent. I look "white". But I dont care. Nor should anyone. At least that is what we should be striving towards. Jewish Westerners should be taught that they are Jews and they are inheritors of a Civilization that at its best is built on liberal ideas that all people are inherently equal.
Once upon a time, a wise man said that he dreamt of a day when all people would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. He is gone, killed by someone who did not like the color of his skin, and we are still dreaming. Until that elusive day comes, prepare to defend yourself regardless of your self-identification.
So spot on. I recently went to a new doctor's office and the receptionist was filling out paperwork on me. She asked me my race. I said something like, "well it depends: if you're a white supremacist I'm not caucasian and if you're a woke leftist, I am." She laughed.
This article is a prime example of the problems undermining our social stability today — thank you CRT.
The author identifies several areas of concern: Race, Religion, Ethnicity, Identity, and Dermachrome, which, dermatologically, refers only to melanin load,which have nothing to do with morals, history, or politics. Note, though, how closely these categories track the Genocide Convention protected groups of Race, Religion, Ethnicity, and Nationality.
“Or maybe it’s all about oppression and privilege. Maybe groups that are privileged are white and those that are marginalized or oppressed are people of colour? This makes some sense . . .”
To clarify what is meant by White, before the age before PC, it used to be that White was defined as a Christian Caucasian European of European descent, More familiarly called WASP or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Over time it was broadened to include any Christian Caucasion European or European descendant.
It may make sense politically but certainly not sociologically, unless, of course, this discipline has been revised to conform to the politically correct principles of CRT and DEI.
“Jews in North America are not marginalized and hold places of privilege throughout society, hence whiteness.”
Jews hold places of privilege? What about social places attained through dint of hard work, struggle, persistence, and achievement. In a word, places in society won through Merit? For those who think this statement is an appeal to the dismissed idea of a meritocracy, whom would you want performing delicate neurosurgery on you or your loved one, someone who became a surgeon on the basis of the community they affiliate with, that community's claim to poverty, the surgeon's skin colour, degree attained through subject promotion, configuration of what was between their legs, or high calibre training augmented by years of experience with 85%+ success rate in the type of surgery to be performed?
So, I ask again: Why are Jews considered white? . . .Many Jews themselves identify as white.“
Many? Based on what statistical analysis? Some “Messianic Jews (an oxymoron if ever there was one) also identify as Jews. Reminds one of the joke about an old Jew hit by a car. People rush over. He says,”Send for a priest, a rabbi an imam and a guru.” "Why do you want all four?” someone asks. He gasps, “I'm hedging my debts.”
“The people who seem to be the guardians of whiteness don’t seem to think Jews are white at all.”
The author correctly cites the many attacks on Jews, All from the AltR, which would give the misleading impression that antisemitism is uniquely a right wing phenomenon. However, the news presented on TV, Radio, and Print reveal that the AltL is as vicious and virulent and open as the AltR in their hatred of Jews.
Could it be that framing public antisemitic acts as largely a Right phenomenon permits the Left's actions to be glossed over as mere righteous expression of free speech? After all, isn't the Left the party of Social Justice intent in protecting minorities from the oppression perpetrated by all Whites, especially the whitest of the Whites, the Jews?
“Maybe we should not be thinking about race as much when discussing oppression and privilege”
A word about race. It has morphed from a discredited 19C psuedo-science that produced deadly 20C consequences and returned in the 21C to mean any non-White minority (WASP) persecuted, abused, and exploited just because they were not White.
A word about privilege: Privilege and oppression are false dichotomies? People achieve social success through other than privilege. They may win it through Entitlement (inherited, earned, conferred), through Effort, Luck, Social Contacts, Achievements, Recognition of Worthiness or Rights.
And a necessary word about Identity. Identity can be expressed as “I am [Fill in the blank]. In other words, it is an image of self based on one or, at most, several more attributes. Contrast this partial understanding of self with that of Whole Being, which includes all the attributes of the individual: the physical, emotional, sexual, social, psychological, and noetic. Is there any wonder at the distortion of Reality our times suffer on the streets, in Academia, in the media, and in the Halls of Power?
In conclusion, today's social critics should not be drawn into accepting the explanations of society emanating either from the left or from the right. They should not adopt the politically motivated vocabularies used today to demonize segments of our society. More accurate terms already exist. They should know that by adopting the contemporary slogans, they grant these ideologies a certain level of validity they manifestly do not deserve but which could cause irreparable to social cohesion.
You've been highly mislead about the Jewish vote in the last election.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................
"Given that Jews are overwhelmingly liberal, voting Democrat in the U.S. by huge margins (even in the last presidential election)",
Incorrect. Jews still voted for Dems at a very high rate, somewhere between 67% and 79%. https://www.thejc.com/news/usa/gloom-for-us-jews-as-79-per-cent-voted-for-harris-exit-polls-indicate-jp4mj6j0
https://www.danielgreenfield.org/2024/11/trump-won-jewish-neighborhoods-across.html
Jews do not only live in Jewish neighbourhoods, right? So only counting those neighborhoods will give you a skewed view. As an aside, I too assumed Jews would have titled rightward, but the exit polls suggest otherwise...
The exit poll of Jewish voters was a skewed poll conducted by J Street.
Interesting discussion, we live in Hawai’i, my wife is Okinawan , my son is considered hapa-haole
Which means half white and is generally more accepted than I am ( an ashkanazi Jew) whites make up about 26% of the population. The governor and one US senator are Jewish although anti Semitic incidents on campus have ticked up ( mostly by the usual leftist suspects) in Hawai’i their is discrimination against anyone perceived as white, some beaches, neighborhoods , & surfing areas are frankly dangerous if you are perceived as white. Some professions are difficult to break into if you are white and not “ local” Filipinos are now the largest ethnic group in Hawai’i. Japanese are also about 25% of the population and dominate in the state govt. This is the most non white state ethnically diverse state in the US. The black population is about 1-2% of the population mainly in the military. Jews are simply catagorized as “white haoles.”
Shaloha, ( shalom & aloha)
I've been asked before why the majority of Jews look white and not middle eastern if they're from the Levant. I couldn't help but think, "because Jews were hunted in every Arab country they resided in... The European ones <less so>"
Habesha!
I wish that you had mentioned that Ashkenazi DNA clearly originated in the Levant. No need to mention the genetic illnesses that plague some of our members. Our closest relatives are Arabs.
Does it matter ?