| To Be or Not to Be White What happens if a certain group of people, after 2000 plus years of persecution, slaughter, exploitation and harassment, finally has the chance to belong, to be part of the dominate society? Would this certain group disregard such opportunity and accept eternal second class status? This sounds like a simple question to answer. However, the American Jews of the fifties (1950’s) and the sixties (1960’s), in embracing this opportunity, faced the paradoxical challenge of asserting their whiteness whilst maintaining their distinctiveness. By the end of the fifties and the sixties Jews were accepted as white; however the racial identity of American Jews was still work in progress. It is not only important to understand the various challenges Jews faced during that period, it is also crucial to acknowledge that they still live in a flawed and fragile haven, of sort. The significance of this is that the notion of “a perfect world” just does not exist anywhere, nor at anytime, in the world for Jews, not even in America where still today Jews are facing the threat of extinction through assimilation and intermarriage, challenging their very existence and the ever increasing power of anti-Semitism, even from within the Jewish community. Professor Eric Goldstein argues in his article “ World War II and the Transformation of Jewish Racial Identity ,” that in the 30’s it seemed hopeless for Jews to participate in the white mainstream. During World War II, FDR accepted Jews into his own group of advisers, and the road to pallor appeared. Notwithstanding their distinctness they were safe within the context of their classification and acceptance as white, which provided an atmosphere conducive to helping other minorities such as the African Americans in their fight for civil rights. Doing so also changed their way of defining themselves; they were more overt about being Jewish and displayed their comfort proudly as if the colorful ‘kippot’ were afro hairstyles. The thesis of Goldstein essay is pointed and articulate and summarizes the Jews’ dilemma over those few decades. Goldstein writes “Jews ultimately found the new ethnic definition of Jewishness unviable. Unable to satisfy either the emotional needs of Jews, who often continued to think of themselves in racial terms, or meet the expectations of non-Jews, who assumed that postwar Jewishness would fade into a denominational identity; Jew’s long-awaited entry into the white mainstream often left them vacillating between forms of self-expression acceptable to the larger white society and more particularistic communities that could not be comfortably expressed in public” There are basic problems with living as white American and being a Jew. There is the notion that being white really means being Protestant and this goes along with other particular factors such as social ethics, religious beliefs, education, and family definitions. Jews do not fit the concept of white Americans in any of these respects, because if they did, the assimilation process would have been complete and the seven million American citizens who identify as Jews would not exist. By definition Jews are Semites and Semites are not white. In perceiving one as being white, Americans look to a combination of aspects, including a light skin tone, one’s land of origin, one’s education and cultural behavior. Being white was a more powerful designation than any other form of racial classification. The reason that Jews were recognized as white, by American white society, was because many Jews especially those who originated from Europe, could identify geographically, culturally and their education was similar. Most Jews who came to America could be part of the influential white society of the 40’s and the 50‘s and perceived as white they could help others like the African American minority with their fight for equality and all civil rights, which the Jews had accomplished through their recognition as white. The question why the Jews participated in the African American fight for civil rights is of great interest. One might suggest that many of the Jews had acquired their social skills from the European milieu. Perhaps it can be said that the social consciousness and values espoused by Judaism, as a religion, played a role in Jewish participation in the fight for civil rights. Others may believe it had something to do with their own experience of hate and discrimination. Perhaps the most significant reason why many Jewish people felt the need to join the civil rights movement was the fact that that their own identity was the subject of debate; some believed that participating in the struggle would help them find their own voice in declaring their racial category; there were those who felt that they were not fully in synchronization with their own definition of their whiteness and that by fighting for minorities rights they would get closer to their true self definition and racial identity. Jewish women fell into two minority groups, and hence used the chance to be heard and by participating in this civil rights movement they would find their own definition as well as their voice as women. We learnt in class that there were examples of women who left very bright futures at universities to join the fight for civil rights. So it is clear there was self interest for many of the Jews who joined this fight. Jews were labeled as white by army in the 40’s, and this established a boundary between African Americans and Jews. Feeling comfortable as white, Jews expressed that being racists against African Americans was un-American, especially post World War II; they believed discrimination had no place as all were soldiers under the same flag. Goldstein in his article states, “despite the great strides of social acceptance Jews made in the postwar years, they often remained unable to square their own self-image with the slot American society had provided for them.” This brings out many issues with regard to what slots persist to this day in American society? Is there room for religions other than Christianity to be accepted totally as equals? It is a question I am sure still debated in synagogues around America. More interesting though is the question of how one integrates one’s Jewish religion into this predominantly Christian society when the Jews form only 2.5% of the population. How can one be “in fact” equal when the only recognized religious public holidays are Christian holidays? Iin many work places in America, Jews have to take a sick day to observe Passover. Children have school on Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and have to miss school days to celebrate their holy days. Jews recognized the importance and wanted to integrate with society at large, to belong, to be relevant in the larger context of America, yet they also wanted to remain distinct, to preserve their unique tradition, practice their faith and religion and maintain there Jewish identity. There was indeed a constant challenge to balance the two. By the end of the civil rights movement in the sixties, Jews began to feel uneasy, says Goldstein, in their whiteness status, they also began to feel the need to redefine their own distinctiveness even more. Their desire to become accepted and assimilated changed their ability to remove themselves easily from the society that accepted them. It was not so easy anymore to call for minorities rights or to find how to deal with the uneasiness and unbearable existence of being merely Americans. Jews coming to America dreamt of a better future for themselves and their families. They wanted to be like everyone else. To assimilate sounded like the best idea; to be full citizens and to be accepted as equals. Getting to that position was not easy and also being there, accepted as white, at the possible expense of one’s Jewishness, was and still is, not easy, especially as one’s roots are as Jews and your first identity is as a Jew and that feeling burns inside of you. How can a Jew be still in peace with himself facing so many challenges living in a Christian country? We had the law of Torah and now we have statutory secular law. In the year 2007 there are approximately 9,000,000 Jews looking for a way to embrace this dichotomy in their lives. Being white brings with it a notion of power and privilege, which also the subject of change in his century. Whites are no longer the majority in California and it been said that by the year 2025 African American, Hispanic, and Asian would be the majority in America leading to different power structure and with it new definitions for Jews to hold in order to still belong. Perhaps the question of whiteness and the significance of the power and privilege that goes with this designation will change yet again, in order for Jews to fit in in the America of the future. |