Read on Twitter
Sigh. And as long as I'm at it:
White Jews need to separate our angry bitterness at activists generally not giving a FUCK about antisemitism unless they can use it for one of their pet causes as added legitimacy from Black Jews' needs & right to call out racism in Jewish spaces.
White Jews need to separate our angry bitterness at activists generally not giving a FUCK about antisemitism unless they can use it for one of their pet causes as added legitimacy from Black Jews' needs & right to call out racism in Jewish spaces.
There's this frantic defensiveness among white folks in general and, I suspect, fed even more among neurotic white Jews terrified of being abandoned that to acknowledge there is racism in your space or even your behavior is an admission of public damnation.
It is not so.
It is not so.
Admitting that racism exists in white Jewish spaces, as you must, is not painting a target on yourself or them - ok, maybe it is, but that target already existed anyways, so suck it up.
It's not even - venomous Twitter dynamics aside - a permanent admission of taint.
It's not even - venomous Twitter dynamics aside - a permanent admission of taint.
And believe me I get being terrified of public mockery and lashing out on Twitter. There are large sections of Twitter I very pointedly avoid, & people whom I can never have any positive interactions with, due to prior spats.
But that's my issue.
But that's my issue.
I have committed racist microaggressions in my life. Resentments have fed them, but most weren't even active malice. All I can try to do is be better.
This shouldn't be a *hard* admission. It's just...you know, a likely reality for white & conditionally white folks.
This shouldn't be a *hard* admission. It's just...you know, a likely reality for white & conditionally white folks.
Anyways, yeah, white Jews, we almost certainly DO get dunked on from both sides; people ARE willing to cancel us, and YES, non-hegemonic antisemitism is a real and hurtful problem that nobody else really seems to give a shit about.
This does not mean Black Jews are a threat.
This does not mean Black Jews are a threat.
(I'm still recalling when I was told once by a prominent person that Holocaust denial & blood libel was not harmful because of the Occupation, that was Real Fun.)
The shit we deal with is the shit Black Jews also deal with, even if Gentile activists value them as an accessory to their own causes - Black Jews are not valued by Christian society for being BLACK JEWS.
We can - & should - talk about how CW Jewish vulnerability is dismissed & mocked bc of our being framed as ur-White monsters w/o negating Black Jewish concerns and criticism of racism in Jewish spaces.
Even if you think that others argue in bad faith, Black Jews don't.
Even if you think that others argue in bad faith, Black Jews don't.
Idk, I'm speaking abt something I don't experience, complications I'm not addressing well, & an angry needy part of me feels it threatens my fury at unique Gentile bigotry towards CW Jews (which does exist!)
Which is why I, and we, must listen to voices like @temasmith.
Which is why I, and we, must listen to voices like @temasmith.
Even if it hurts.
Even if it's *scary* and part of us feels like all we're doing is painted with a target.
Even if bad-faith Gentile anti-Semites will use it as ammo.
Truth does sometimes.
"You ask me to seek the truth, oh God, but who would choose to be lashed with fire?"
Even if it's *scary* and part of us feels like all we're doing is painted with a target.
Even if bad-faith Gentile anti-Semites will use it as ammo.
Truth does sometimes.
"You ask me to seek the truth, oh God, but who would choose to be lashed with fire?"
Big bold words in the Yom Kippur services; time to put them into practice in real life, too.
Doesn't mean you need to hear nothing else.
Doesn't mean you aren't allowed to speak in your own defense elsewhere.
Doesn't mean you need to be silent - god knows I react badly to that.
Doesn't mean you need to hear nothing else.
Doesn't mean you aren't allowed to speak in your own defense elsewhere.
Doesn't mean you need to be silent - god knows I react badly to that.
Besides, if you just...accept that racism exists, despite best intentions, in Jewish spaces, instead of railing and arguing it doesn't, maybe you'll actually have some time to address the ugly elephant in the room that is the unique mess of bigotry aimed at CW Jews.
