<< Frances Bolton (PHI) wrote:
>
> Do you really think this is paranoia is justified in the case of
> assimilated, successful US Jews? Or are you going to suggest that "the
> tide could turn for US Jews at any moment? I suspect US Jewish paranoia is
> a cynical ploy to get a disproportionate amount of attention/political
> favors for pet projects such as Israel and Holocaust museums?
>
> Frances >>
I haven't been following this entire discussion, but this statement caught my attention. When Hitler rose to power in Germany, there were Jews entrenched in the upper classes of all European countries -- and it did not stop the holocaust. Many of the right wing hate groups in this country target Jews and try to edit history, either diminishing the holocaust or saying it didn't happen. For that reason alone, it is important to keep the memory of these kinds of massive hate crimes alive. In addition to keeping the memory of the millions of Jews who were massacred alive, most of the holocaust museums and presentations I've seen, also include non-Jewish victims: gypsies, union leaders, marxists, priests, etc.
The right wing hate groups which try to diminish or erase the holocaust are the same groups which promote the reinstatement of slavery, Jim Crow, the passage of English as the only language which should be recognized, the end of eeoc laws for women, etc. To diminish one form of bigotry in favor of another is, imho, the same as taking the side of and promoting the hate mongers in other areas as well.
Finally, even within mainstream US society, anti-Jewish hatred is as alive and well as other forms of bigotry and racism. An old friend of mine went to a southern college and put up with her room mates feeling her head to see if she had horns -- southern fundamentalist christians are routinely taught that Jews have horns on their heads. Up here in NYC, about two years ago, I had a screaming battle with a Philipino man I used to work with -- let's call him Mr. X. He used to come in the break room and fight with an older man who has been working in craft in phone since 1952 (hard to believe, but true), let's call him Mr. Y. Mr X would yell out "JEW BOY" every time he wanted Mr. Y's attention. Mr. Y would ignore Mr. X, and the entire floor would be treated to repeated taunts of "Hey, JEW BOY." Now no one, and I mean no one, ever said a damn thing until I finally told Mr. X to shut up, then Mr. X turned on me and started calling me a Jew lover, and kept calling me a Jew lover until he was finally transferred. After this started, however, some of my other union "brothers" did get involved, and to their credit, Mr. X eventually had to whisper "jew boy" and "jew lover." My points, though, are that this type of racism was more acceptable than if he had been running around disparaging other ethnicities or races. maggie coleman mscoleman at aol.com