#queercomrade

[justsomeantifas]

Completely agree with your distinctions of white/nonwhite Jews, but was wondering on what authority they're based in since, as you say, there is plenty of disagreement within the Jewish community about race/ethnicity/identity

they’re based on my work to understand how colonization has worked to establish a system of racial hierarchy, reading about the foundations of whiteness as a structure both in scientific racism and inquiry into united states and world history as it pertains to european colonization, as well as my own lived experience in jewish and non-jewish spaces as a brown jew

[justsomeantifas]

Are sephardi jews white?

some sephardi jews are white (spanish/italian/greek jews for instance)

but others aren’t (morrocan jews, middle eastern jews, for example)

[justsomeantifas]

what is the race of the stereotypical latino? bc i am that and idk what to call myself, bc im not black latino but also not white so im just ?????

most latinxs are mestizxs (mestizo/mestiza)

mestizx means a mixture of european and amerindian ancestry. sometimes this also includes asian or african ancestry.

[justsomeantifas]

What's your opinion on the term "white passing"?

really crucial to mixed race people to describe our condition. crucial

the term shouldn’t be used by european jews to self describe as it so often is. european jews are white not white passing, the population changes that happened to make european jews “look white” happened far, far before race as it exists today was established as an oppressive structure

i really hate seeing this because it positions jewishness as an identity with a non-white racial value, when in reality it’s an identity with no racial value (because it’s not a race!!). it also is an example of white people stealing terminology from people of color and making it something that it isn’t. when white jews use this terminology it’s hard for me to trust that they are dedicated to listening to and centering the voices of jews of color, because i know that i am not the only jew of color who has expressed serious discomfort with that use of language and had our voices silenced when we express dissent on this issue and other issues of race.

[justsomeantifas]

Let's say I have a good friend and roommate who is feeling somewhat home sick lately, who is from another country. Would it be inappropriate if me and a couple others, who are not from her native land, tried to cheer her up by making her some of her favorite dishes from her country to surprise her?

that gives me pretty racist vibes?? why would she only be able to feel comfort from foods from her “native land”?? (talk about exotifying phrasing by the way!)

maybe make her food that cheers you up when you are sick? if you try to make her ethnic food without consulting her it’s going to end up a hot mess, since you aren’t from that culture you’ll probably fuck it up and it won’t even accomplish what you are trying to do. -queercomrade

Edit: OH i misread that, i thought you meant she was sick at home, not homesick. I still don’t think you should do it and I still think it will turn out to be a hot mess.

[justsomeantifas]

i've tried very hard to use 'they' pronouns as my default, instead of saying shit like "he or she", and I think so far I have been successful, but the answer to the last ask got me wondering if it's ok to degender people (?) like that before I know their pronouns? ofc once I learn what their pp are, i use those but.. could you shed some light on this term 'degendering'? it's not one i've heard before, although it might be self-explanatory.. thank you!!

it’s fine to use that as a default, just not if you already know someone’s pronouns

this usually happens to trans women, where people won’t call her “she” and subs in “they” this is a subtle expression of transmisogyny, because they won’t respect her wishes to be referred to with she pronouns

this could also happen to trans men 

in both cases it works as a subtle linguistic undermining of the person’s identity

[justsomeantifas]

What's your (or y'all's) opinion on neuro-atypical people who can "pass" as neurotypical. Like, I'm fairly certain I have Asperger's to some degree cause it runs in my family, and I wonder if it's possible for me to have "neurotypical privilege" or something along those lines cause it's not """obvious""" that I'm atypical.

i am one of those people.

it’s a survival tool. for me at least, it’s fucking exhausting

like having insight on psychosis it’s like, helpful to keep yourself alive but it would be pretty incoherent to call it a privilege. just like, don’t put blame on other ND people for not being able to do that because in an ideal world none of us would have to

[justsomeantifas]

there is no way you can convince me that a bagel - literally bread in the shape of an 'O' - carries any sort of cultural significance whatsoever.

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Food/Ashkenazic_Cuisine/Poland_and_Russia/The_Bagel.shtml