Diversity, equity, inclusion but not for Jews?

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03/21/2021 13:09

Subject: Diversity, equity, inclusion but not for Jews?

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:Despite how offsetting this troll poster may be, I'm trying to keep a level head about this.

The way that I see it US Jews are both the beneficiaries and victims of their own success in this country (and worldwide). At only 2% of the population, they are overrepresented in nearly every sphere and had made themselves a political, professional and economic force to be reckoned with. That same success has made them very visible scapegoats for certain groups and only added fuel to antisemetic tropes regarding Jews that we hear so much.

While Jews are largely white and may seemingly rub shoulder to shoulder with the privileged sect they still do not enjoy the same levels of security that Anglo whites do. Jewish Americans worry about their safety and security at their places of worship. They are scared to send their kids to schools. And they live in constant fear that their history will repeat itself. All valid fears.

If history has taught us anything, though, it is that the masses do not rally behind those who are perceived as wealthy and privileged.

So Jewish Americans are in a difficult spot. They are not economically or educationally disadvantaged like other ethnic groups but do fear persecution. The "ask" for Jews is much harder in that there are no concrete educational funds to donate to, groups to create scholarships or hiring programs, jobs training, etc. For Jews, the request is only that people don't terrorize them. While a simple one, it's a difficult conversation because they're not asking for donations or volunteers - just education.

All that said, for other minorities it is hard to swallow the line about being the "most persecuted minority" - particularly when your group is suffering so much now. I mean, when your family members are unemployed, shot, lacking education, or in need of health care, you don't care about what happened to another group 100 or more years ago. You care about today.

I don't know what the answer is. I do know that Jews are the most philanthropic group in America today. I think I saw that 67% of Jews donate actively to non-profits. What that tells me is that most US Jews are quite aware of the suffering of others and do actively contribute to other causes. Just putting that out there in case anything on this board would lead anyone to believe otherwise.

I think that one answer is that it has to go beyond the philanthropic to embrace and build more personal interactions and connections. Those connections would, I hope, not only solidify our common humanity, but do so while building mutual understanding.

I’m not sure how to put this, so I apologize if I inadvertently say anything offensive. I grew up in a segregated city. While I was exposed to “Jews” in the Bible, and occasionally to “white” people in the wider world and on tv, my personal, lived experience did not include any actual interactions that would make people in either or both of those categories feel real and meaningful in my life. I was lucky enough to have a genuinely diverse HS experience, and had close friends from a variety of backgrounds. It was only much later that I realized that many of my white friends were also Jewish.

When I lived in NYC, I had Jewish classmates and teachers and supervisors and neighbors, and many, many conversations about religion and psychology and philosophy and social issues. I attended a Sedar, I had roommates who were Israeli and roommates who were Jews who described themselves as non-religious. So my knowledge and my understanding began to grow. But with that growth also came confusions. How should I understand “Jewish-ness” that included both the supervisors that mentored me with great personal warmth, and the Ultra-Orthodox men who visibly flinched from me, avoiding even the possibility of minimal contact, and the classmate who refused to eat with me — without ever saying why? And what, if anything, did any of this have to do with those books by Chaim Potok that I read when I was 12?

This is a long way of saying that in order for me to even want to be an ally I, personally, needed relationships, and relationships with people who were able to be open, to listen, and to teach. I also think that most of the people that I know have never had these inter-racial, inter-faith, multi-cultural interactions that lead to the kinds of real life understandings that make ally-ship a meaningful priority.

I recently saw a picture from the 1960s. The then minister of the church that I grew up in was attending a Sedar. It was an optimistic, inter-racial, inter-faith effort to begin to break down barriers and build meaningful bonds. I have no idea if these efforts were successful or even what “successful “ might have meant to them, but that feels like a great place to begin. As communities and as individuals, we need to talk, we need to share, we need to communicate. Breaking bread together would be a good place to start, and a way to grow beyond the much-welcomed philanthropic efforts to mutually beneficial relationships and connections.

I don’t think this would be without it’s hazards, and people would need to be committed to explaining the “obvious” to each other in good faith.
It would be great if a DCUM thread could become one of many small steps forward.