Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 15 replies, 16 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 9 months ago by
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I know I’ll probably get shot down for this, but why do Jews have such a bad rapport with black people? My grandmother lives on Eastern Parkway in New York, which is predominantly West Indian and Jewish. There is a strict division between the Jews and West Indians when you get to a certain street. Whenever I have come in contact with a Jewish person, he or she always seems hostile or doesn’t want to look at me or be in the same space with me. Maybe it’s just me, but I never see a Hasidic Jew and a black person walking down the street together having a normal conversation. Is it against their faith to even be seen with a black person? I’m just asking so I can learn about a group of people I really don’t know a lot about, so I hope I haven’t offended anyone.
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Name : BJ23080, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 18, City : Brooklyn, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Never having been to New York, I can’t verify why the neighborhoods would be segregated, although it does sound like it is self-imposed. My friend is a very devout Jew from Brooklyn, and this being my only experience with New York Jews, I can say he has absolutely no problem with those of African descent. What you see might be some sort of cultural miscommunication. I’m not sure.
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Name : Kerry, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Lesbian, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Wiccan, Age : 31, City : Ventura, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Stagehand, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I think it is a matter of de facto segregation, imposed by the very groups being segregated. Jews choose to hang out with other Jews. Blacks choose to hang out with other blacks. I think this is because both groups think they will relate more to people of their same ethnicity.
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Name : Rahul M., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Bengali Indian, Religion : Hindu, Age : 19, City : Champaign, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : Student/Blazer, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I don’t know anything about the history of that particular neighborhood or why there is that division. But I can tell you that my observation is that not only do most Jews not hate black people, we tend to identify with them to some extent. It was not very long before the civil rights movement in the ’60s that there was still rampant state-supported discrimination against Jews in this country (e.g. quotas for the maximum number of Jews admitted into colleges, clubs barring Jews from membership, etc.). And I have no doubt that there would always have been more obvious ugliness toward Jews if it were always as readily apparent that a person is Jewish as it is that a black person is black. I think that’s probably the reason so many Jewish people came out in support of the black civil rights movement.
I can tell you that as a young child, probably around 1960 or so, I had an exchange with my Jewish mother that made a strong and lasting impression on me. At the time, the preferred term among African Americans was still Negro. I was probably four or five years old, living in an ethnically mixed but all-white neighborhood, out playing with some non-Jewish friends. A black man drove past, and one of my friends said something about him being a ‘nigger.’ I corrected her and said the word was ‘Negro’ – my innocent mind thinking that we were merely disagreeing on pronunciation. They insisted I was wrong. When I got home, I said to my mother, ‘Mom, Mary said the word is ‘nigger,’ not ‘Negro.’ My mother stopped dead in her tracks in absolute horror, stooped down to my eye level, took me by the shoulders and explained very emphatically that I was NEVER to use that word, and she somehow explained in a way my young mind could understand that it was a word people used to hurt black people’s feelings, and that I must never, ever use it. I understood that she was telling me something really important, and I’ve always been grateful to her for that early lesson.
Anyway, my point is that many Jewish people not only have nothing against black people, but feel a certain bond with them based on similar backgrounds of oppression. You’ve raised an interesting question, though, because I’ve often gotten the impression that a lot of black people hate Jewish people. I hope I’m wrong, too. Black people and Jewish people hating one another would be sort of a dream come true for the KKK, don’t you think?
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Name : Barb, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 46, City : Reading, State : PA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I’m a conservative Jew and don’t have anything against any other culture or people. I believe it is hypocritical to be racist, simply because Jewish people have been discriminated against, too.
However, Hasidic Jews have a very distinct culture. I think you will find that while they might avoid black people, they also will probably have nothing to do with ANYONE who is not Jewish. I’m not saying they hate or are discriminatory toward them, but they don’t relate much. Hasidic Jews are extremely devout and generally only associate with other Jews on a regular basis. There are exceptions, of course, but they probably don’t associate so much with other people because they don’t have anything to say to them. To Hasidic and Orthodox Jews, their religion is their way of life, not simply what they believe in. This can be said for any religion or culture, but Jews are very recognizable because of the curls and hats and beards and kipas, etc.
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Name : Lindsay22712, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 16, City : Warwick, State : RI, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Upper class,If I were going to pose a question on this site, it would probably be a very similar one. I’m a Jew, and for the life of me, I can’t understand the Black/Jewish animosity thing. The majority of American Jews were still in Europe, being slaughtered in the Pogroms, when the United States was involved in the enslavement of Africans. Today, both groups are still marginalized in the United States. I once heard a black stand-up comic talking about the same question. His comment was that he couldn’t understand why we didn’t get along, especially because we’re the two ethnic groups whose hair ‘fros naturally. I liked that a lot.
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Name : Hope, Gender : Female, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Religion : Jewish, Age : 38, City : Pittsburgh, State : PA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College,Several answers:
1) Like other whites in America, Jews fear blacks because of the violent crime statistics. I live in St. Louis, which has lots of black crime in the city.
2) I think there’s also the feeling that while both groups have been oppressed, the Jews have managed to make incredible accomplishments, especially in medicine, science & literature and the arts – way out of proportion to their percentages in the population. In other words, the Jewish response to oppression is overachievement. By contrast, some blacks seem to use their history of oppression as an excuse for lack of accomplishment. There have been notable blacks like George Washington Carver, but the most famous blacks seem to be those who’ve achieved in sports, which seems to accrue more benefit to the individual than to society.User Detail :
Name : ShirleyAvery, Gender : F, Disability : none, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 52, City : st. louis, State : MO, Country : United States, Occupation : writer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Jews don’t hate black people. Hasidic Jews tend to be an insular group. You wouldn’t really see a Hasidic Jew walking down the street with a white Christian, or even a non-Hasidic Jew. They have very strong beliefs about religion and adhere to them strictly. This is reflected in every aspect of their lives: how they dress, what they eat, what they read, how they behave, etc. So you will generally see them with other people who share their beliefs and practices.
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Name : JZ, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Methodist, Age : 31, City : Forest Hills, State : NY, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,I don’t know too much of the historical specifics, but I know there has been much tension between African Americans and Jewish Americans in the past 50 years. It was kind of shocking for me to realize this, because as a Jew, I have always identified with African Americans and their struggles. When I was a child, my parents gave me books about slavery and civil rights, and books about the Holocaust and Anne Frank, and I always thought I was reading about the same thing. I don’t want to sound ridiculously idealistic, as I do understand there are great differences in our cultures and struggles, but I’ve always felt that Jews and blacks have quite a bit in common — we’re more expressive, emotional and blunt than your average Protestant American, and we understand oppression in similar ways. I like black people, and I’m sorry I currently live in such a white state. B.J., I am sad to hear that you’ve had such negative experiences with Jews.
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Name : Rhiannon, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 29, City : Eden Prairie, State : MN, Country : United States, Occupation : Professor, Social class : Middle class,You are talking about Eastern Parkway. Jews there are fanatics, and being pretty religious myself I have no qualms about saying that. They are crazy. Forget about African Americans, they wouldn’t even communicate with me even though I am Jewish, just because I am not Orthodox Hassidic. They wouldn’t even consider me Jewish. The less religious ones, on the other hand, have no problems with any ethnicity, race or culture. I have many African-American, Latino, Middle Eastern, etc. friends, and all I really care about is how good our friendship is instead of what they are or what they believe or don’t believe in.
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Name : Leah, Gender : F, Religion : Jewish, Age : 21, City : Brooklyn, State : NY, Country : United States, Social class : Upper middle class,Actually, since Judaism is a religion, there are black Jews. In fact, there was a whole group of people in Ethiopia called the Falashas who were Jews from the time of King Solomon. When they were in danger of starving during the famine several years ago, Israel arranged to airlift them to Israel and resettle them there.
I am afraid the problems in Brooklyn have more to do with perceived injustices than anything else. Perhaps the Jews feel that the blacks receive preferential treatment by the police, the city or state, and vice-versa. I had heard of some programs underway to help both sides meet and talk to dispel any myths or problems.
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Name : Leslie22884, Gender : F, Religion : Jewish, Age : 47, City : Jefferson, State : LA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The many achievements that afro-americans developed were almost always stolen by a white person. We’ve created simple things like the fountain pen, to more elaborate things like the White-House. The clock that you have hanging on your wall was created by a black man. The traffic lights you abide by everyday was created by a black man. We’ve never really received any recognition for our creations because the white man always stole it first.
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Name : Ptah30304, City : brooklyn, State : NY, Country : United States,It’s really unthinking and a little offensive that anyone would say that Jews hate blacks. Jusat because your limited contact with an ultra orthodox jewish group has made you think that maybe they have a problem, don’t make generlizations about jews everywhere. That’s like me saying ‘why doi all blacks hate whire people?’ becasue some black guys once gave me a hard time. Intelligent people know that not evetyone who belongs to the same religion or race think alike. I myslef am Jewish and have just married a black man who I am very much in love with, so obviuosly jews don’t hate blacks.
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Name : Brittany, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 21, City : Washington DC, State : DC, Country : United States, Occupation : Actress, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I actually studied this during my last year in college (2000). I may have my head up my butt here, but in my analysis, the break began during the civil rights movement, particularly in areas outside the Southern locus of the movement (West Coast and North East). I think there was a certain amount of frustration on the part of African Americans in these areas that their struggle for civil rights and the racism they experienced wasn’t as openly recognized. It was not uncommon, particularly in the South for Jewish groups and black groups to work together on demonstrations and legislation. However, in these outside areas, where people were feeling left behind by the movement, the emphasis was on African American rights, rather than equal or civil rights, and I don’t think that was a platform many Jewish people could get into. That is a pretty general synopsis of a very complex issue, and I based my analysis on individual instances of negative interaction between the two groups (Watts riots, Crown Heights, Brownsville school problems, etc), geography, specifics on the groups involved (denomination, for instance)…if someone wants to email me for more info, my address is resinhed@comcast.net…I feel kinda bad truncating things like this, but don’t want to take up the whole site…
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Name : Sara, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 28, City : Tacoma, State : WA, Country : United States, Occupation : na, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower class,I lived there for a time, including the three day riot when one Jew was killed, and lots of damage was done. Hearing ‘kill the Jews!’ from your living room window does not encourage open-ness and community feeling. Seeing cars overturned and on fire makes you feel unsafe. When all of these actions (without exception) are done by those you live near, that is doubly frightening. The response is to turn away, not to trust. Does that mean I did not trust all blacks there? No, there were certainly those I interacted with on cordial neighborly terms. But there were also those who were hostile to me without any provocation, threw glass bottles on the playground, used drugs at the kiddie park, or made threatening remarks for no reason. I am not from New York, nor did I come with any preconceived ideas about black people. I grew up seeing black librarians, teachers, and other professionals. I didn’t think of them any differently than I thought of a Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, etc. person. They were just another person. That changed during the time I lived in New York. Unfortunately. I don’t feel that way about all black people everywhere. There are black Jews in my synagogue, and we have normal interactions, as with everyone else in the congregation. There are lots of black Jews in Israel, ditto for that. It goes both ways, and feelings are not unprovoked.
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Name : LP, City : Pittsburgh, State : PA, Country : United States,
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