#from WASP eatablishments

[libelula202]

(Disclaimer: I am a goy)

In the book The Help (which the movie starring Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis is based on) Viola’s character is a black maid in Jackson Mississippi in the 60s.

There is a scene where she is accompanying her current (not wealthy) white employer to the local “whites only” country club.

Then she helps the little girl of the family into her swimsuit:

I put Baby Girl’s yellow bikini on. “You got to keep you top on, now. They don’t let no nekkid babies swim at the country club.” Nor Negroes nor Jews. I used to work for the Goldmans. The Jackson Jews got to swim at the Colonial Country Club, the Negroes, in May’s Lake.

(Obviously the focus of the book is on the racism in Jackson and how it effects these women’s lives.)

It always stood out to me (a non Jew) that the author, Kathryn Stockett, went out of her way to point out that Jews were not welcomed at this country club. In fact, they had to have their own separate facilities.

In a book about the civil rights movement and racism, the one time the Jewish folk of Jackson are mentioned, it’s to point out they are held separate from the “nice white” families in Jackson.

Ostracized.

And this is a (relatively-2009) recent book. I know it’s about the 60s, but it was the first time I personally was presented with a modern-ish version of antisemitism.

Also, the editor (Mrs. Stein) they are trying to get to publish their book is Jewish. Several references are made, including when the white main character, Miss Phelan, offers up a Merry Christmas to Mrs. Stein, and she responds “We call it Hanukkah, but thank you, Miss Phelan”.

To me, it seems like the author is trying to make a point that there are all kinds of segregation. That anti-black is not the only kind to exist, even though it’s the focus of the book. Because every time the editor is brought up, Ms Phelan doesn’t know how to talk to her. She is just so awkward it gives me second hand embarrassment. There’s the double take at her name-clearly Jewish, the winter holiday debacle, and having to ask what Yiddish phrases mean. Others I’m sure I’m missing, it’s a loooong book.

(I hope it’s ok for me to add this. If it makes anyone uncomfortable for a goy to chime in let me know and I’ll delete. I just wanted to highlight another piece of media that acknowledged this type of antisemitism and ostracization)

@sephardigf put these tags on on a reblog of a post I reblogged, and it inspired me to make a post about this topic.

Goyim who assume that Jews are "white" and "oppressors" and have always lived the good life in America are truly laughable. Jews have never been treated as white. We were even victims of segregation. And if you notice all the new "No Zionists Allowed" signs on American businesses these days, we still are segregation's victims.

In the 1950s, the ADL looked into segregation of Jews by businesses in the US, and what they found was depressing to say the least. So many businesses, in all fifty states, had policies of discrimination and ostracization against Jews. Many places were designated "Gentiles Only". Jews started compiling travel guides to help each other know where was safe to visit. These guides later inspired African Americans to do the same. And Jews definitely saw ourselves in the struggles of African Americans for rights. Jews helped organize the NAACP and marched right alongside African Americans in their demonstrations demanding civil rights.

Don't you dare tell me Jews are "white" or "oppressors". We know all about oppression, from the perspective of the oppressed.

And this was the case no matter what kind of Jew you were. The goyim didn't distinguish between Ashkenazim or Sephardim. We were (and still are) just Jews to them. And we were "other".

Anyone who has the chutzpah to say that Jews are oppressors and "white colonizers" is a schmuck, no doubt about it.

You can ignore the realities of Jewish oppression all you want. But ignoring reality won't make it go away.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.