Jewish Archives - Page 4 of 7 - The Race Card Project

Where? you must mean Monaco right?

September 9, 2021September 9, 2021 Arabic, High School, identity, Jewish, Michel Bassadon, Monaco, NY, Sephardic, White Plains

Michel Bassadon,
White Plains, NY.

I was born in Morocco. My mother was Austrian and my father Jewish Moroccan, known as Sephardic. In high school some of my peers said my accent was French, others said it was Spanish. They decided I was from Monaco, especially since my first name was French. For a long time I didn’t know who I was; I had native fluency in both French and Spanish but did not speak Arabic. Until I finally wrote a memoir “Where the Wind Blew: a Boyhood Lost in Tangier”(Now on Amazon) and understood my identity.

Passing so well that Jewish friends forget.

August 4, 2021February 14, 2022 CA, holocaust, J Okowita, Jewish, Los Angeles, passing

J Okowita,
Los Angeles, CA

As the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I find it strange sometimes that I am so not Jewish looking that even my Jewish friends forget.

I’m Korean, Jewish, both, neither? American.

July 4, 2021February 22, 2023 American, Benjamin Donguk Lukoff, bi-racial, Collected from The Race Card Project, Jewish, Korean, left out, On Location: Seattle Community Colleges, Seattle, WA

Benjamin Donguk Lukoff,
Seattle, WA.
Collected from The Race Card Project, On Location: Seattle Community Colleges

Biracial and multiracial people often feel left out of the conversation on race. I’d like to see that change.

Why don’t you consider yourself White?

June 28, 2021June 28, 2021 being white, CA, history, Jewish, my people, Redwood City, white

Anonymous,
Redwood City, CA.

White people have been trying to kill my people for 2000+years. I think that gives us an out on being part of any “race”.

I won’t forget them–six million

June 3, 2021 Cheryl Zapien, Dumfries, hatred, impurity, Jewish, Mexican-American, mixed, never forget, not about color, six million, VA

Cheryl Zapien,
Dumfries, VA

I’m so happy to be a part of the discussion. I am Jewish married to a Mexican American man–so we are a mixed family–and a close one. I am about as white as a person can get–yet in spite of that nearly 50-75 percent of my family was murdered in the Holocaust. Were Hitler here today, myself, my family, my mixed children and my husband, who would protect me with his life, would find ourselves in a concentration camp because of our racial impurity.

Consider this: race is, on occasion, not about color. It is, however, about hate. Whenever we leave any discriminated group out of the conversation, the discussion is weakened. The argument is made less and we ourselves are engaging in the very thing we are railing against. It is together that we have to fight against all forms of discrimination. There is absolutely no place for division in a fight against something so as insidious as hatred. Thank you so much for allowing my voice to be heard.

We’ll stand up for each other

May 31, 2021May 31, 2021 #blacklivesmatter, Jewish, other, Portsmouth, proud, racial justice, stand up, Susan H Berger, tast force, Unitarian Universalist, VA, WWI, WWII

Susan H Berger,
Portsmouth, VA.

I am a proud Unitarian Universalist of Jewish decent. If we don’t stand up for each other who will stand up for us in this world. UU’s and others hid Jews in WWII. I am a member of our Racial Justice Task Force. “Black Lives Matter.”

How did you get a boy?

March 19, 2021October 4, 2021 1998, Asian, boy, China, Claire Wallick Moy, Jewish, Maplewood, NJ

Claire Wallick Moy,
Maplewood, NJ.

This is what I was asked in 1998 when I moved to NJ.
Our 3 children look much more like their father than me.
so many girls have been adopted from China in this generation, but not boys.
A white Jewish woman with an Asian looking boy is outside of people’s reference point.
Picture of Russell 2003.

Am I the care giver? Well yes I am.

But, you don’t look Jewish

March 5, 2021 but you don't look, elementary school, first experience, FL, Fort Myers, genes, High School, irish, Jewish, Rose Brown, Russion Jew, scottish

Rose Brown,
Fort Myers, FL

I don’t typically tell people that I’m Jewish. In elementary school, I was the only Jew and as such I was solely responsible for singing Jewish songs during the holidays and explaining our traditions. It continued in middle school, with everyone turning around to look at me during our week on the holocaust. Luckily for me, my Scottish/Irish genes have overtaken my Russian Jew genes as far as my appearance. By high school, I kept my Jewishness to myself. As an adult, sometimes my friends will out me (they don’t know I prefer to keep it private), and I invariably hear, “But, you don’t look Jewish”.

BREAKING NEWS: Jews experience prejudice AND white privilege

February 23, 2021 Bigotry, CA, Cupertino, Jewish, Osher Fein, prejudice, privilege

Osher Fein,
Cupertino, CA

This took me an embarrassingly long time to realize, but there’s this weird thing that white Jews experience called “conditional white privilege”. As long as my Jewishness isn’t obvious or doesn’t “offend” anyone, I experience the same privilege every other white person does. But, it was the moments of overt antisemitism that made me wonder if I fell under “minority” or if I fell under “privileged white person”. Eventually, I realized that these experiences don’t discredit one another. Do I experience bigotry? Yeah. Does that erase the fact that I still benefit from this corrupt system? Nope! I still benefit from injustice, unfortunately.

Trending new minority to hate: whites

November 23, 2020 Bev Parisi, Greenbelt, guilty, Jewish, MD, racial slur, woke, WOP

Bev Parisi,
Greenbelt, MD

My mother’s family was told “get out Wop,” because they’re Italian. As I grew up I was called a “Christ-killer” and people carved swastikas into my school desks because I’m Jewish. Now my daughter will be called “ugly” “fragile” and “guilty” because she is “white.” In most places I’ve lived, white people have been a minority population (44% in Chantilly VA, 27% in Baltimore MD, 13% in PG County MD). “Woke” people don’t hate whites because they’re the privileged majority; they hate them because as of this generation, they’re the newest minority for people to hate.

Why am I always Monopoly Banker?

June 26, 2020June 28, 2021 banker, Eugene, Jewish, joke, Monopoly, not a joke, OR, Sasha Feoktistov, stereotype

Sasha Feoktistov,
Eugene, OR

Jews as a minority group are put in a particularly awkward place. Because we enjoy most if not all of the privileges of being in the white majority, it makes dealing with subtle cases of bias and discrimination particularly delicate. I’m not about to make a stink about always being told “Sasha, you be the banker” when playing Monopoly, nor will I point out to an Asian colleague how offensive the statement, “Jews in America are doing fine, you’re all rich” is (my instinct is to joke, “yea we hire Asian accountants to do our taxes.”). Frankly, these are minor issues, but the discomfort with challenging these subtle slights carries over to more egregious comments about people being “Jewed” or getting “ki*ed out on.” How do you know where to draw the line? How do you stand up for yourself without playing into another stereotype of Jews throwing accusations of antisemitism at everything?

Why aren’t we persecuted any more?

June 23, 2020 ct, identity, Jewish, Linda Bronstein, Race, West Hartford, WWII

Linda Bronstein,
West Hartford, CT

The Jewish people have been the target of hate for thousands of years, in just about every country in the world. My parents’ generation in America faced restrictive quotas when applying for colleges and jobs, and “restricted areas” when looking for homes to rent or buy. But in post-World War II America, Jews suddenly became white folks (although anti-Semitism is by no means dead). Who did we sell out or leave behind in that process? Was it necessary to trample on the next downtrodden group in order to climb the ladder of privilege? And as for me, when I responded to an outpouring of divine love by following the Jew from Nazareth who embodied it, I was embraced and valued by the ones that my parents thought would turn on us in a heartbeat if we pushed our luck. Race and identity are more complicated than the color of one’s skin.

Not all Jewish people are cheap.

June 15, 2020June 15, 2020 "jew me down", CA, cheap, Jewish, Leonard Fribourg, Mission Viejo, stereotype

Leonard Fribourg
Mission Viejo, CA

I worked swap meets for many years and was always astounded when folks would ask if they could “Jew me down” and think nothing of it.

I am Isaac; I am Ishmael

January 24, 2020January 24, 2020 Berlin, Hitler, humanity, identity, Ishmeal, Issac, Jew, Jewish, Jonathan Aaron, MD, Owings Mills

Jonathan Aaron,
Owings Mills, MD,

As a Jew, I have always been intrigued by how Hitler twisted Jewish identity, indicting Jews as having bad blood and thus being an impure race requiring extinction. In the summer of 2015, I visited Berlin and discovered a fascinating art exhibit that challenged people’s notions of identity and asked viewers to identify as Isaac or Ishmael; I chose both as affirmation that I am above all else part of humanity.

I’m a Jewish courageous white male.

November 19, 2019November 19, 2019 Jake Shapiro, Jewish, Minneapolis, MN, The Blake School

Jake Shapiro,
The Blake School,
Minneapolis, MN

I chose these words, because it shows my identity, and portrays a characteristic I see in myself. I was born 100% Jewish, and it is something I hold on to every day. I put courageous as one of my words because I am always wondering something and questioning things making it a big part of me.

A Jew lost in this world

November 13, 2019 fight, history, Jewish, lost, OH, our county, religion

Maya Granot,
OH

Jews only make up 2% of the world’s population. As a minority…as a Jew, I constantly have to think about what I say and who I say it around. I have to think before I speak rather than speaking freely because I never know who around me Anti-Semitic. Being a Jew gives me a biased opinion on certain topics that I know many people who surround me disagree on. However, when a group of people are targeting YOUR people would you not have this biased prejudice towards them? As much as I try to be open-minded, as a Jew it is hard. If you constantly heard that you are worthless and have no business being on this earth would you be open-minded? No. Because of all this, I feel lost. I feel lost because I feel like everywhere I go, as a jew, no one accepts me. Even in Israel, the home for Jews, I feel lost. Arabs are constantly launching rockets and bombs towards innocent Israeli civilians in OUR home and then blaming us for fighting back for OUR country. Because of this, I’m lost. If innocent people are fighting for their country and get blamed for that and are told they are evil than who are the innocent ones in this world?
As a Jew I am lost. Where am I welcomed? Where is my home? Where in history did Jews do something to deserve this?

Im a Jew, and I am lost in this world.

Am I Jewish? Ancestry vs. Religion

June 18, 2019June 18, 2019 Alexandra Vogt, ancestry, Crofton, ethnicity, Jewish, MD, Norwegian, religion

Alexandra Vogt
Crofton, MD

Because I was not raised in the Jewish faith, I feel unable to claim my ancestry on my father’s side the way I do with the family history on my mother’s side (Norwegian immigrants.) I wish there were commonly used terms that differentiated Jewish ethnicity from the religion.

I am mixed, but still white…

June 18, 2019June 18, 2019 Chiriquahua, German, italian, Jewish, Las Vegas, mixed, Native American, NV, seneca, stereotype, Vika Lynn, white

Vika Lynn,
Las Vegas, NV.

I grew up with a Native American father and a German/Italian-Jewish mother…i take after my mother but my father is full blooded Chiriquahua/apache and Seneca…when I started talking about how my culture is amazing, I was ridiculed as a “Wannabe” ….traits are chosen by choice of both parents…just because I don’t look stereotypically Native American doesn’t mean that my father isn’t….I wouldn’t lie…but unfortunately people come after me saying that I’m a liar when I am not.

Join the Newsletter

Info

Join our community