Racism in the Jewish Community & Anti-Semitism in the Black Community: Can the Rift Be Healed?

Introduction

This essay will analyze the tension between racism in the Jewish community and Anti-Semitism in the Black Community. It aims to highlight and give account on whether the rift between the black and Jews can be healed. It will first analyze the racism in the Jewish community and then Anti-Semitism in the black community and lastly look at their history in comparison to their similarities and whether the perennial tension between them can be healed or not.

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The belief in the superiority of one race, ethnicity, or religion over the other often resulting in biases, discrimination, and prejudice towards other races, ethnicity, or religion is referred to as racism. In racist practice, the underlying idea is that humans can be subdivided into distinct groups differentiated by their social behavior, innate capacities, and being segregated as either inferior or superior. Historically, there are institutions that practiced racial segregations such as the apartheid regime in South Africa, slavery in Latin America, Racism in the Jewish community, segregation in the United States of America, and the Holocaust. The practice of racial segregation can be demonstrated in many aspects of social life and/or actions, political systems, or practice that support the expression of prejudice in biased practice. There are associated social actions related to racism that includes among others; hierarchical classification, supremacism, xenophobia, segregation, otherness, related social phenomena, and nativism.

In the history of the United States of America, the Jewish Americans and African Americans have interacted throughout much of the history since time immemorial. Their relationship has been marred by conflict and cooperation. In 1964, their cooperation was strategic and significant which led to the emergence of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The relationship has also been soiled by controversy related to such topics such as affirmative action, Zionism, and the Black Power movement.

Review of Literature

There have been several studies put forward to try and analyze the relationship between the racism in the Jewish community and Anti-Semitism in the Black community. According to Baldwin (1967), he states that African American resentment of Jews reflects generalized anti-White sentiment. He further discusses the economic and social interaction that Africans have with the Jews. In his book, he states that the Black-Jewish conflict has been a thorn in the flesh. Baldwin further explains that it is so bitter to watch a Jewish shopkeeper lock up his shop for the night with your money on his pocket to a clean neighborhood miles away from you that you are not allowed to enter. (Baldwin, 1967, p. 135)

A new version of Jewishness as a minority culture developed between the years 1940s to the mid-1960s and this expounded on structural privileges of a white minority as earned entitlements (Brodkin, 2000, p. 139). In her book, she further argues that the privileges of whiteness more importantly residential and occupational mobility were extended to American Jews after the WWII

The rise of identity politics in the year 1960s gave Black-Jewish relations a big blow for both parties turned inward. (Greenberg, 2006, p. 205). The complicated history between the two communities was spurred by this relationship. According to a study done by Raden in 1998 to evaluate the preferred social distance between the Jews and the African Americans showed that it is much intertwined and very complex and very difficult to determine. In his study, he found that the Blacks were not interested in greater social distance suggesting that the evaluations of the Black anti-Semitism should be done based on dimension to dimension.

Other studies done by other scholars attribute Black anti-Semitism to competition and urban economics difference. According to a study done by Marx in 1967, he concluded that since Jews and Black communities are not economically equal; the implication is that anti-Semitism is more likely in Black communities than in Jew communities.

Racism

According to Sue (2003), she defines this term racism as either an action, attitude, institutional structure, or social policy that subordinates either a person or a group of persons due to their color she further states that it can take either form of prejudice, discrimination, or hatred directed at someone or a group due to their color, ethnicity, or social class and the belief that one race is either inferior or superior to the other.

Levels of Racism

According to Jones (1997), he stated that racism can take the form of either individual, institutional, or cultural. He defines individual racism as the interpersonal interactions or overt that reflect one's internalized racism. In that respect of definition, he defines institutional racism as the manifestation of the beliefs in policies and laws that generate the power to systematically disadvantaged individuals or group of people due to their color. According to him, cultural racism is the inherited racial climate of either a nation or community as viewed by the cultural worldview, cultural symbols, activities and the media

Many scholars state that racism is so different from prejudice since it involves power. This means that any racist must hold prejudicial attitude and have the power to oppress fellow men and women.

AntiSemitism

In the spelling of this term, many scholars often avoid the hyphen to ensure that the word is used is not used for anything besides its original intent to mean hatred for the jews. In this aspect, therefore, it is defined as the hostility, discrimination, and prejudice towards Jews as a religious and a cultural group manifested on a person, society, or institution. It is categorized as either, social, religious, economic, psychological, racial, or sexual.

The Schism Between Blacks and Jews

From the historical book, it is evident that prior to the division between the blacks and the Jews, the two groups were initially allies during the civil rights movement. The shared history of oppression contributed to their shared values of social and community responsibilities and the identification of the underdog or less fortunate (Adams&Bracey, 1999; Kaufman, 1995; Lerner&west, 1995). They also shared the role of religious teaching that embraced love and understanding. In the late 1960s, this alliance began to splinter. This splinter is due to the presence of some Black antisemitism and Jewish racism. Some studies done suggests that this schism has been fuelled by the economic divide between the two groups and the emergence of Black Nationalism and Zionism.

For thousands of years, anti-Semitism and oppression have been a major setback for the Jews. In the same sense has racism, oppression, and discrimination been a problem for the Blacks. Studies argue that anti-Semitism is the oldest form of oppression and racism the most severe form of oppression and that the US has a racist system based on skin color where whites have most privileges compared to blacks. These affirmations contributed to the Black-Jewish schism.

Another contributing factor to schism is the aspect of visibility. This has to do with one being able to be identified as either Black or Jewish. Visibility was viewed as schism through skin color, body type, surname, and facial features.

Bridging the Rift between the Blacks and the Jews

The rift between the Black and Jews; in my opinion, can be healed through a number of actions. Having intergroup encounter dialogue programs stressing on interpersonal and intrapersonal awareness, understanding, and growth to prepare one to be able to understand sensitive topics related to race and culture that spurs schism. This helps each individual to be able to know their history as either a Black or a Jew such that in the event that there is a joint dialogue between Blacks and Jews, then each of the participants would know their individual background and therefore work towards promoting the Black-Jewish discourse.

Secondly, there can be organized workshops and seminars for both the two groups to sensitize them about cultural protectionism so that they learn about their diverse racial, cultural, and social backgrounds.

Lastly, there should be strategies for reconciliation and healing that includes among others teaching the two parties and making them aware that they share common values, cultures, and experiences. Emphasis should be placed on communication and they are made aware that they both value spirituality, interconnectedness and the importance of extended family. Another strategy is to make each party that they share past experiences with discrimination and that they develop a coping mechanism towards schisms such as the use of rituals and food. Since the Blacks and the Jews are considered nondominant cultural group in the US, they must, therefore, deal with acculturation and enculturation issues. In that respect, the strategy is to make them aware that they have cultural similarities and that schism was imposed either externally or artificially. This has the effect of bridging the gap between Antisemitism Blacks and the Jewish racism community

References

Baldwin, James. "Negroes are anti-Semitic because they're anti-White." New York Times Magazine 9 (1967): 112-22.

Berkovits, Balazs. "Critical Whiteness Studies and the "Jewish Problem"." Zeitschrift fur Kritische Sozialtheorie und Philosophie 5.1 (2018): 86-102.

Raden, David. "American Blacks' and Whites' preferred social distance from Jews." The Journal of social psychology 138.2 (1998): 265-267.

Schlosser, Lewis Z., et al. "Racism, antisemitism, and the schism between Blacks and Jews in the United States: A pilot intergroup encounter program." Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development 35.2 (2007): 116-128.

Simes, Jessica T. "Does anti-Semitism among African Americans simply reflect anti-White sentiment?." The Social Science Journal 46.2 (2009): 384-389.

Thomas, Laurence Mordekhai. "The Matrices of Malevolent Ideologies: Blacks and Jews." Social Identities 2.1 (1996): 107-134.Wilkinson, Doris Y. "Anti-Semitism and African Americans." Society 31.6 (1994): 47-50.