Robin Di'Angelo and the Jews

#Jewishidentity #racialjustice

Ok, Robin. We need to talk. Look, I get it. Whiteness is powerful. It is all encompassing, and oppressive. It is the framework through which the American dynamics of culture, politics, and power, are best understood if we are to build a racially equitable future.

But here’s the thing – whiteness isn’t one thing. I’d like to introduce you to the Jews. Perhaps you have met a few of us. I wonder what they shared with you?

Jews have always been, not white, nor Black, but gray. I’ll tell you what I mean. There’s no doubt about it, a lot of us look white in the United States. You see, round about the mid to late 1800s, a whole bunch of Jews in Eastern Europe decided it was time to see if we could do better than eke out a life in the ghetto in the hopes that gentiles wouldn’t notice us, and thus forget to kill us. My grandparents were among them. They came to America, as so many immigrants did, thinking ‘maybe this will be better.’

Jews have been immigrants and refugees for 2000 years. We are, to the best of my knowledge, the oldest surviving displaced minority in human history. We were once a Mediterranean people, living in our indigenous land, before we were among the many victims of European colonialism. We were murdered and dispossessed of our land by a giant army of Romans, and to survive, we scattered. In countries around the world where we sought refuge, we experienced oppression, forced conversion, and rape. Two thousand years later, we come in every color. But regardless of our color, our peoplehood is Jewish. More to the point, regardless of our color, we are categorized by others, frequently racially and in whatever way will be most detrimental. Sometimes we are categorized simply as Jews, in the belief that Jews constitute a unique racial group (as opposed to an ethnoreligious nation or tribe). Sometimes we are categorized aversively by societal ingroups, as whatever racial group is most villainous, again regardless of our skin color.

Now what do we do? In 2021 America, whiteness is largely externally conferred. That is to say, you are white, not because of your subjective identity and history, but because you experience white privilege. That’s true, as far as it goes. Jews who look white experience a large degree of white privilege. But…not always. Ask a white supremacist who is public enemy number one for the white ethnostate they’re planning, and they’ll tell you; Jews. Jews are not simply non-white, but anti-white. Our existence is a threat to whiteness. I think we can all agree those people suck, and we don’t have to listen to them. But…it goes deeper than that.

For the low hanging fruit, I’ll mention that if you try wearing a kippa and peyes for a week and walk around, you’ll find out quickly that your whiteness is conditional. ‘No, no, that is religious hate’ you say, as distinct from racial hate. Hmm, maybe. But I have never encountered a Jew-hater who likes Jews any better when we stop praying, or eat bacon. This is a hate inhering in the self, not in behavior or belief. But let’s go deeper.

There are many white presenting people who are non-white. For example, folks with mixed heritage that is Black, native, or from the myriad of non-white groups historically persecuted for their racial outgroup status. Due to many factors, some intertwined with the history of white supremacist sexual assault, and some simply due to the families of combined heritage that make up our diverse citizenry, these non-white folks are white presenting. They are not, however, categorized as white when they make their personal identity known. Despite a presumptive externally conferred whiteness and consequent experience of white privilege, the fact of their experience of harm – rather than benefit – from whiteness, allows them to be accepted in racial justice spaces as non-white. So we’re not just talking about appearances, are we? I wonder why Jews are treated differently from these groups? Hmmm…

When I say Jews are gray, I mean Jews are in the middle. From the white supremacist perspective, we’re non-white agents of anti-whiteness who must be eradicated at all costs. From the ideological perspective on the far left, which prize non-whiteness as an inherent virtue, conferring moral authority, we’re seen as uber-white. When we tell our own stories of identity and oppression, we are viewed as denying our own privilege, which is itself characterized as a form of whiteness. In these circles, you’ll hear the anti-Jewish ideas that underlie books, like “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews,” by Louis Farrakhan. Many people who have never read this book, and may not even know about it, still believe the ideas it contains. Farrakhan contends that Jews were secretly in control of the transatlantic trade of enslaved people, and constituted a large group of Americans who owned enslaved people. The fact that this is supported by no evidence doesn’t trouble this narrative, because we Jews are good at keeping our global conspiracy secret. So there wouldn’t be any evidence, would there? Living in the middle, as an outgroup from both sides, kinda sucks, but more to the point, it means that when the chips are down, we are an obvious target. A recession, a war, a…pandemic. All of these events trigger enhanced Jewish vulnerability. Jewish distinctiveness is what has kept us alive, while simultaneously maintaining us as a target of hatred. Communists, capitalists, rich, poor, whatever ideology or state of being was considered dominant, Jews are Other.

So here we find ourselves, in America in 2021. Many young Jews grew up white presenting in the United States, in a historically unusual time of Jewish safety. Many Jewish families began to slowly trade Jewish distinctiveness for the perceived safety of American-ness, with whiteness as its cultural default. American Jews skew left, politically, and these young Jews have spent their short lives in a culture grappling with anti-Black racism. These kids want to help. They care about racial justice, don’t want to perpetuate white supremacy, and like their ancestors before them, carry the mandate to welcome the Other and stand against oppression. They turn to thought leaders like you to learn how best to do this. When you tell them 1) that their white presentation makes them white, and they must adopt this identity in order to participate in racial justice work, and 2) that mentioning any other experience or perspective makes them agents of white supremacy who are ‘centering whiteness,’ they listen. Maybe this is the right way to best fight anti-Black racism – I don’t pretend to know. But it boils down to this; you are telling a generation of young Jews to erase their Jewish identity. Moreover, you are telling a generation of young Jews that if they mention anti-Jewish hate, especially leftist anti-Jewish hate, they are perpetrating anti-Black racism. This may be worth it to you if it is better for Black Americans, I don’t know. After all, Black Americans are 13% of the United States population, while we Jews are a mere 2% or so. As a pure numbers game, maybe this is more important, and Jewish identity and safety is collateral damage we can file under ‘acceptable losses.’

I on the other hand must speak up. Not because I disagree with the math, but because I have to fight for my people. A fatal disease that affects a small part of the population becomes tremendously important when you find out you have it. So I conclude; please stop. You are teaching young Jews to erase their identity, and apologize for any semblance of power. Since this hard fought Jewish power is literally what will keep the Jewish people alive, teaching Jews to reject it is deadly. Further, what will these Jews do when confronted with anti-Jewish hate that is not white supremacy? If they encounter Black anti-Jewish rhetoric such as that contained in the manifesto found in the van of the two terrorists who shot up a kosher grocery store at the entrance to a Jewish school in 2019? When they hear voices like Recho Omondi summarize the threat of anti-Jewish hate with “At the end of the day you guys are going to get your nose jobs and your keratin treatments and change your last name from Ralph Lifshitz to Ralph Lauren and you will be fine.” Will they speak up? Or quietly decide that Jewishness simply isn’t important compared with anti-Blackness so it is best to be quiet? In promulgating rhetoric that silences Jews, this is the future you are building. If that is a bug and not a feature, please say so. There’s a special word in German for a society that contains no Jews, judenrein, or Jew-pure. I hope I never find out what the American phrase for a Jew-less society is. I hope you share that wish.