I am so goddamn sick of this question, and if I never see it again it would be too soon.
Right, so the on-one-foot version is: Jews are an ethnoreligious group. As an ethnic group, we hail from the Levant. ALL of us. Yes, âevenâ the Ashkenazim. The vast majority of us share not just Middle Eastern genetic material, but a lot of common phenotypes that are often racialized, and are common to the Middle East and Mediterranean. Yes, âevenâ Ashkenazim.Â
In Europe especially (but NOT exclusively, antisemitism isnât just a white western problem), the fact of our foreign origins and the fact we werenât Christian led to massive persecutions that continue to today. The word antisemitism itself was a 19th C term coined by German âracial scientistsâ looking for a more âscientificâ reason to hate Jews, as this was considered more enlightened and reasonable than relying on xenophobia and religious discrimination. It wasnât predicated on us being not-Christian, it was predicated on the fact that we were foreign Semites and therefore a threat to indigenous white Europeans.
Antisemitism is an inherently intersectional oppression, relying on religion, culture, and ethnicity. It is predicated on white supremacy, just like every other form of racism. This is why if you look it up on wikipedia, it is defined as such.
Antisemitism is racialized. This racism was the root of the Holocaust. That many Jews are or were white-skinned did not mean that those Jews were racialized as white, especially not during the Holocaust.
In some places today, like the USA and Canada, some white-skinned Jews are able to assimilate into whiteness. Some of these Jews identify as white. Some of them do not. However, this is conditional at best, and these Jews can be and sometimes are rejected by whiteness and white people, and sometimes violently so. Because their relative privilege, their ability to pass, does not change the fact that antisemitism is an inherently racialized oppression. In this way, even white Jews can and do suffer from white supremacy, and to dismiss this antisemitism as not racism when it very much is is incorrect and does not accurately understand the liminal position of these Jews in the racial hierarchy. In other places, like most of Europe, all Jews, even and including white-skinned Jews, are to this day are conceived as an inherently foreign Other. They would not be considered âwhite.â To call them white and assume they have full unfettered access to white privilege is entirely incorrect.
Naturally, of course, this entire conversation is centering whiteness, since not all Jews are white-skinned, white, or white passing. So perhaps when you next consider asking foolish questions about a much maligned ethnic group, you can do us all the favour of not assuming all Jews are white.
A note: Not all Ashkenazim are white or white-passing. There are plenty of Ashkenazim of Colour. To conflate Ashkenazuth and whiteness is to engage in serious erasure, and it is disgusting. Donât fucking do it.
By that same token, there are a number of Mizrahim and Sephardim who are white-skinned and/or white-passing. This does not make them âwhite.â It certainly doesnât make them not Mizrahi or Sephardi. Donât assume such bullshit things.
We are a rich and diverse ethnic group, with many cultural traditions and backgrounds and a countless stories to tell. Do not assume things about us, do not flatten us or erase us with your simplistic false bullshit narratives, do not talk over us, do not ever assume you know anything about us, because if you are a gentile, I can bet cold hard cash that you donât.
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