There's a scene in Clerks 2 where Randal says a racial slur (which i will not put in here; if you don't know what i'm talking about, go watch the movie). Randal gets way confused why everyone is freaking out, not knowing that the words are derogatory.
I walked out there, while my boyfriend, his buddy and girlfriend talked about that scene and a few others. I kept my mouth shut, because i had never heard that word before, and i didnt feel like gettin crap about being so ignorant about the world around me.
Truth is, I'm from Utah. What most people think of when I say that is "Mormon." I'm not, by the way, and i get a little annoyed by that, because it happens so often and i get sick of hearing that word honestly. Its one of the few places in the world that is so deeply associated with a religion that people feel that it's okay to ask.
Anyway, Utah is like a world of it's own. Nothing like the surrounding states. Yes, it has many mormons. But it also has few non-white people. In fact, I didn't meet a Jewish person until I left that place! It's whitewhitewhite. Because of this, many people there are what I like to call "ignorant racist," meaning that they just don't know. My mom, before we moved out of state, once heard a black co-worker say that when she goes to the grocery store, she seems to have eyes on her, staring at her. Course, she lives in a place where older people live, the whites who probably rarely see any other color than white.
Yes, it's bad ti have such things happen, but in a way it's good. Growing up, i never heard any racial insults. I never saw the type of racism that most people think of. People were people--that's it. You may actually thank the church for such a view--they love all, and all of the higher figues in the chuch, now as well as in the past, wouldn't tolerate racism. Therefore, the only thing left was the type i said before, "ignorant racism."
It wasn't until I moved out of state that i began to hear things that hurt my innocent ears--from people of all races. Before moving to Arizona, I only knew the N word--and i only knew that word because my 7th grade teacher had the class read "Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry." I had no idea what it meant at the time. But moving to Arizona, I was shocked to see how many words, how much prejudist, how many "dey tuk ur jorbs!" crap.
I saw much diversity, but i felt out of place. I felt like a racist myself, because I'd say something that I had no idea would offend anyone. Many people saw me as a redneck from Utah, when in reality I was only ignorant (how was I to know that saying the word Jew would be offensive to a Jewish person). So i drew back and kept my mouth shut.
I was surprised--I thought Utah would be the more racist of places, because it's so white, and so closed in--i was definately wrong. My friends that I have had since being here, all different ethnicities, were extremely racist.
I wondered if this is what "normal" is outside of Utah---jumping quickly to judgement about another person because of the surface look. And it wasn't just racism--sexism was worst here too. It bugged me that my friends of all shapes, sizes, and colors talked down about the "different." I was bothered about generalizations "ALL women are this, ALL mexicans are that." I was disgusted.
But then, my senior year of high school, the movie "Crash" was released, and I thanked God that such a good movie was made about the somewhat not-so-obvious-but-obvious-enough racism. It is one of my favorites. I wasn't the only one bothered by the throw-and-catch of prejudists that were happening constantly.
Unknowingly, it seems fate was showing me truth. It does happen, and people notice it.
Right now, I have a theory that most people are racist in some way or another, most of them not knowing that they are.
There is a high possibility of a black president, but I think that a few people will vote for him...because he's black. Is that racism, or is it progress?
Some colleges and businesses will choose a minority over a white male because he/she is a minority. Is that prejudist, or is it working for progress?
Some white people avoid saying certain things, or laughing at a joke regarding a certain race, but its because they are scared of offending. Would it be racist to laugh, or is it racist to not laugh out of fear?
In today's society, what does it mean to be racist, and is much of society racist in one form or another?
Judism is a religion not a race. Many jews, if not the majority, are white.
Racism occurs out of diversity.
Utah is so monochromatic that it would be impossible to formulate a strong prejudice against a race, it is a social fact. just consider yourself lucky that you have had the benefit to experience both urban and rural settings and have the ability to see "invisible racism."
Just a couple of things:
1=Clerks 2 is GREAT!!!
2=I never heard racial slurs like that in Utah, either, not until I went to Chicago, so i think you might be on to something there.
3=(To the above commenter, not Alexia) Judaism IS a religion, yes, but there exists a Jewish ethnicity as well. I should know, because I'M ethnically but not religiously Jewish myself. What, you think it's a coincidence that Jews generally look alike or have the same set of last names? You think the Holocaust was about RELIGION? Gee whiz. . .
That is a common mistake people make. Judism is not a race. There is no specific genetic code that would make a person jewish. Anyone can convert to Judism, but a person cannot convert from white to oriental.
Christians and muslims also have common names, but that does not make them a race.
http://torah.freeyellow.com/Judah.html
...you can't consistently categorize groups of humans into racial categories based solely on genetic factors. Human beings are all of the same "race," biologically speaking. "Race" is a categorization based on visible characteristics and self-identification. To quote the American Association of Physical Anthropology...
In other words, racial identities are based more on cultural perceptions than they are on any sort of biological consideration. Judaism is a religion, but Jews are an ethnoreligious group that share a common cultural (and to some extent ancestral) history. So, in a practical sense, the Jewish people represent both a relgion and a "race," if one feels compelled to categorize people along those lines.
TTFN,
Blackout
-------------------------
Check out Progressive PRIDE, a Gay-Straight Alliance for the Progressive U community.
"Judaism is a religion, but Jews are an ethnoreligious group that share a common cultural (and to some extent ancestral) history...."
I completely agree, but I perhaps should mention this woman that became offended was Jewish (religiously and ethnically), and told me so previously.
Then you must believe that Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims are a "race" also.
there is a distinction between race and ethnicity.
Ethnicity is a group of people that share heritage, religion, and cultural beliefs.
Race is simply a genetic trait that determine how somone or groups of people in a specific location physically appear. It is something that you are born with.( dictionary.com)
So what you mean Jews are ethnics, but not a race( as you said in your comment)
How did Jews come to be classified as an ethnic group anyway? We could also divide Muslims into Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia using that definition.
McKinney 08
...but what I DID find when I looked was this...
And why "must" I see catholics, protestants, and muslims as a "race?" I really don't see ANYONE as any race other than the human race. If one feels compelled to make such distinctions, however, these groups would not meet even the relatively broad criteria of the AAPA--whom, btw, I would suggest is a better source that dictionary.com--as they share neither consistent cultural nor biological similarities across their respective populations.
TTFN,
Blackout
-------------------------
Check out Progressive PRIDE, a Gay-Straight Alliance for the Progressive U community.
Well, this isn't even what the blog was about, so I apologize for having apparently derailed it and will only comment on the whole "Jew" thing one more time:
Since it is clear to me that none of you self-appointed experts of my heritage actually SHARE that heritage, It's obvious where all the confusion's coming from. Being an ethnic Jew basically means one is descended from the Hebrews, an ethnicity belonging to the Caucasian race. Now, somewhere along the line it was decided that Jews were not only a religion, they were their own people. This is where the confusion comes from, because this view is not based on science, it is based on religious tradition. And the tradition holds that if a child's mother has Jewish blood (again, this isn't scientific), then that child IS Jewish, regardless of religion. My mother has Jewish blood, therefore even though I wasn't religiously Jewish I WAS BORN Jewish, in the eyes of Judaism and basically the rest of the tradition-respecting world. My ancestors were Hebrew, yours weren't, and therefore I AM A JEW. Please stop saying I'm not, because it's important to me and it's actually incredibly ignorant.
And yes, I have big nose.
Hebrews are Caucasion??? I hope you don't believe this.
McKinney 08
"most scientists now consider race to be primarily a social rather than a scientific concept."
again Blackout--APPLAUSE! Race is what we make it. We are all the same species, so what does it matter?
And by saying Utah is whitewhitewhite, I didn't mean a Jewish person wasn't. I am sorry for the misunderstanding. I meant that I never met a person that called him/herself a Jew/practiced the Judism religion.
I never said that Jews ARE a race. Please note that the person i said "Jewish" to had called herself that. "I am Jewish" is apparently okay for someone of a Jewish background to say, but when I said "She's Jewish," (talking about ETHNICITY NOT RACE) without hesitation she took it offensively.
And everyone seems to be ignoring my Questions near the bottom of the post. :( Has anyone read the ENTIRE thing?
Correct me if i am wrong, but...
1) some people do believe that Jewish is a race.
2) some dont. It all depends on how you grew up and what you were taught. Some people i've met think Muslim is a race, some dont (i believe this is also ignorance)
Like blackout showed, it is nowadays a SOCIAL concept.
Some white people avoid saying certain things, or laughing at a joke regarding a certain race, but its because they are scared of offending. Would it be racist to laugh, or is it racist to not laugh out of fear?
I think people should think about WHY they don't laugh at a racist joke. With most racial jokes, there is a negative stereotype that must be accepted in order for the joke to be funny. So laughing, in a way, is saying that you agree with that stereotype.
McKinney 08
I agree, but what about someone like Dave Chappelle making a racist joke, which is what a lot of the skits on his show are about.
Another question: I think some people laugh at racist jokes because of how stupid they really are--I think Chapelle is a perfect example of this. I love his show, and I usually laugh because i believe his show to be making fun of such stereotypes and prejudices. I could be wrong, but i don't think i am.
and as for the Jewish/Judism/Hebrew thing, it seems that either way--them being white or being a completely different race--is wrong in someone's eyes.
Here's the dictionary.com definitions:
Jew /dʒu/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[joo] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. one of a scattered group of people that traces its descent from the Biblical Hebrews or from postexilic adherents of Judaism; Israelite.
2. a person whose religion is Judaism.
3. a subject of the ancient kingdom of Judah.
–adjective
4. Offensive. of Jews; Jewish.
–verb (used with object)
5. (lowercase) Offensive. to bargain sharply with; beat down in price (often fol. by down).
That's also what I think of Chappelle. Part of the reason he just up and went to Africa was because he saw a camera man laughing at one of his jokes in a way that made him uncomfortable. He thought that maybe people were not laughing because of the absurdity of stereotypes, but because they actually believe them.
McKinney 08
Well, that's what it seems to imply on every job application I've ever filled out. Caucasians CAN originate in the Middle East, you know. The word doesn't mean "Anglo-Saxon". Then again, some folks believe the Hebrews were black, so who knows? All I know is what my family history says, whether it's correct or not. But anyway, enough of the "Jewish as ethnicity" thing; as Alexia said, it's not a hard fact either way, it's a matter of much-debated and frequently disagreed upon opinion, even in our community. I've made my feelings and the traditions I've been taught known, and won't repeat them because THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS BLOG'S ABOUT AND YOU'RE ALL WRONG ANYWAY. ;)
So in that spirit, let me say more on-topic: I only think racist jokes are funny when you're making fun of racists, not when you're making fun of a race. But that's a fine line to walk, so for the most part I think it's best just not to walk it at all.
Then again, some folks believe the Hebrews were black, so who knows?
Maybe you think all Hebrews are white because you live in mostly white places. But I assure you that in other cultures Hebrews are Black, Middle Eastern, etc.
All I know is what my family history says, whether it's correct or not.
Your family is probably just Ashkenazi Jews. There are Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrachi, etc.
McKinney 08