How Jews Became White, Essay Example

Those Jewish people who migrated to America in the mid twentieth century were mainly from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.  Most were escaping persecution and the aftermath of the second world war.  Some migrated to the modern state of Israel and developed it into the multicultural state that we see today.  The concept of racial whitening is somewhat ridiculous. Jews are not all white although this is probably more directed to the class context of social acceptability into American Society.

The acceptance of the Jewish people into America really came about after the dreadful facts of the holocaust in World War 2 became public knowledge ” Karen Brodkin Sacks’ article “How Did Jews Become White Folks?” details this shift in status, from non-white to white, among the Jewish immigrant population. She points out the fallacy of the claims of her parents’ generation that “Jews overcame anti-Semitic barriers because Jews are special”. She does not credit the Jew’s ability to ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps’ as the sole reason for their change in status; rather she gives credit to “the post war boom, the decline of systematic public anti-immigrant racism and anti-Semitism, and governmental affirmative action extended to white males”  (Bloom)

In the context of ” The biggest and best affirmative action program”  we are really talking about democracy at work in America.  The ability to provide freedom, liberty, self-expression and self-determination from a displaced race of people that were being eradicated in Europe by a Nazi party determined to wipe them out by ethic cleansing.  In particular a highly cultured, educated and generally well meaning people that once again had been stereotyped and used as a scapegoat to  arouse mass hatred in Europe giving them a common enemy.  America stood firm as a beacon of democratic light and has continued to uphold such values as an integral part of its constitution.

There was some criticism on the affirmative action program, particularly in the rapid advanced of the Jewish and Asian people to the USA whilst the blacks were largely ignored.  Some cited that the Blacks had been kept in ignorance at the lower echelons of Society whilst the Jews accelerated because of their stature as Scientists, Doctors, Lawyers, Business Professionals etc. ” Jews and Asians, on the other hand, are populations that immigrated to North America and included doctors, lawyers, professors, and entrepreneurs among their ranks. Moreover, European Jews are able to function as part of the White majority. To expect Blacks to show the same upward mobility as Jews and Asians is to deny the historical and social reality that Black people face.  ”  (Pious).

The Affirmative Action program was started by President Theodore Roosevelt at the end of the Second World War.  The President signed an Executive order which banned discrimination in the Federal Government and the war industries.  In this context programs were provided to rehabilitate Jewish immigrants into suitable positions in America.  In addition the order outlawed discrimination against blacks on defence contracts.  In the first instance the program became difficult to enforce because it lacked funding and enforcement. The Blacks felt the inbound Asians and Europeans were treated better and as such they were excluded despite having tenure in America.  The Affirmative Action gained more strength and momentum in the 1960’s with the rise of the Civil Rights Movement.

Works Cited

Bloom, Davida. The journal of Religion and Theatre. 1 9 2002. 14 12 2009 <http://www.rtjournal.org/vol_1/no_1/bloom.html>.

Pious, S. Understanding Prejudice. 2003. 14 12 2009 <http://www.understandingprejudice.org/readroom/articles/affirm.htm>.