As a Jew in America, and a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I am angered when others define my race as white. In fact, many Jews are not white— and yet some people, especially in the US as opposed to Europe, think it’s ok to define “our race” as white because many have white skin, and therefore benefit from white privilege. I am not denying white privilege.
They even think they can (inadvertently?) lump Jews with white supremacists, since we’re all white anyway. Case in point: Whoopi Goldberg’s ignorant (not hateful) remarks echo the attitudes of undoubtably many uninformed people who define Jews as white.
In a recent episode of The View, in which the hosts were discussing the recent ban of the Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust titled, Maus, by Art Spiegelman, Goldberg said the Holocaust was about “man’s inhumanity to man” and “not about race.” When one of her co-hosts challenged that assertion, saying the Holocaust was driven by white supremacy, Ms. Goldberg said, “But these are two white groups of people.” She added, “This is white people doing it to white people, so y’all going to fight amongst yourselves.”
Fight amongst ourselves? You’ve got to be kidding me! It’s almost as bad as the recent top administrator with the Carroll Independent School District in Texas instructing teachers to teach “opposing perspectives” to the Holocaust, if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom.
How dare they legitimize the demonization of the Jewish people by spreading doubt and lies about the Holocaust? My blood boils.
I define my Jewishness more in terms of religion and culture than race, but my experience as a Jew in America gives me a different perspective about myself than that of the dominant Christian/white culture. The Nazis sought to scapegoat and destroy the Jewish people. One of their first steps was to define Jews as a race. This they held in stark contrast to the Aryan race, by which they meant White, Protestant Germans. The original Nazi propaganda shows measurements of Jewish noses and facial features including head shape to establish that Jews were racially inferior to Aryans.
Maybe we Jews are a little beyond an easy definition. Maybe complexity is in our DNA, and we must not allow others to define who we are. Nevertheless, HOLOCAUST EDUCATION MUST CONTINUE.
Here’s a list of a few resources and things you can do to get involved, educate, make a difference:
1.) Sign a petition to stop the ban on books about The Holocaust.
2.)Although many survivors are no longer living to tell their stories– many are available to view at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Film and Video Archive. Here’s a clip from the Shoah Foundation’s interview with my maternal grandma, explaining just a fraction of our family’s Holocaust experience.
3.) Thinking of teaching the Holocaust to children? There are educational guidelines for relevant and age appropriate ways of teaching the Holocaust through the ADL’s website.
4.) You can also get involved at the San Francisco JFCS Holocaust Center.
5.) Watch the Movie Paper Clips, visit Whitwell Tennessee’s Children’s Holocaust Memorial, support the spin-off educational program One Clip at A Time, or purchase one of my Paper Clips – Hope Mezuzahs.
6.) Contact your local bookseller to order a copy of the recently banned Holocaust book, Maus.
7.) Visit a Holocaust Museum—like the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, Holocaust Museum LA in Los Angeles or any of the dozens of other Holocaust educational centers around the country. There is sure to be one in or near your community.
Most of all, if you don’t understand why Whoopi Goldberg’s comments showed a lack of understanding about something deep and important, and you want to know more, ask questions, etc– reach out to me. I am happy to talk about it with you.
With Love,
PS: Read my mom, Susan Golant’s, reaction to Whoopi Goldberg’s recent Holocaust statements:
Imagine if a white person had said of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, “This is black people doing it to black people, so y’all going to fight amongst yourselves,” as Whoopi Goldberg had characterized the Nazi’s destruction of the Jewish people during the Holocaust. The outcry would have been heard from here to Kigali.
Let’s take a moment to remember those dark days when extremist Hutu rebels slaughtered 500,000 to 800,000 (and raped 250,000 to 500,000) of their Tutsi and moderate Hutu family, friends, and fellow villagers in only 100 days. Yet, the Hutus and Tutsis were never distinct races. The former were farmers while the latter herded cattle. Perhaps one group was taller than the other. Still, they shared a common language and culture, the same clan names, the same customs. They were kinsman, in fact. A wealthy Hutu could become an honorary Tutsi depending on economic status and by marriage.
So how could this atrocity have happened?
On the way to trekking with the highland gorillas in the Virunga Mountains some ten years ago, we stopped at the Kigali Genocide Museum in Rwanda’s capital. 250,000 of the victims were buried on the grounds there, and I cried uncontrollably as I sat among them for an hour.
Still, I got some answers. I simplify them here for the sake of brevity. Perhaps, not surprisingly, the problems trace back to 19th and 20th century colonial rule by the Germans and later the Belgians. These European occupiers had decided to treat the two groups differently, favoring the minority Tutsis, endorsing them as superior, and putting them in positions of power. The colonizers eventually created compulsory identity cards for each group distinguishing “race,” even though no such differences existed. These cards prevented Hutus from becoming Tutsis and turned what once was a fluid social structure into rigid ethnic alignments. Then, much like the Nazis, the colonists created propaganda that widened the rift by dehumanizing and demonizing the Hutus. Eventually, this unfortunate experiment in social engineering exploded in a backlash of violence and unprecedented bloodshed.
Although the situation caused shockwaves around the world, just as with the Holocaust, no country stepped in to stop the carnage.
“This is black people doing it to black people, so y’all going to fight amongst yourselves.”
Just imagine how such a crass and insensitive statement would sit with the Rwandans. Now, think about how Jewish people, and especially Holocaust survivor families, would react to Whoopi Goldberg’s words. The ignorance is jaw-dropping. Thank God Ms. Goldberg apologized and is educating herself.
Leave a reply