Washington Post/ABC News Poll: Racist Feeling in America June 22, 2008

Roughly 3 in 10 Americans admit to harboring “some feelings of racial prejudice”, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll released this week has found. Some 30% of white respondents and 34% of black respondents answered yes to the question: “If you honestly assessed yourself, would you say that you have at least some feelings of racial prejudice?”

The numbers in the June 15th poll represent a 12% decline from 1999, when 34% of Americans answered yes to the same question.

When asked, “Generally speaking, do you think race relations in the United States are excellent, good, not so good or poor?”, however, a full 51% of Americans — 36% of Black Americans — responded that race relations were positive in America (47% saying “good”), more than double the dismal 21% — 10% of Blacks — who answered positively to the same question in 1992, and nearly double 1996’s 28% (11% of Blacks). (The Post notes that the gap between White and Black positive responses — 17% — is the largest since polling on the topic began in 1992.)

These numbers should strike hope in all of us. While showing that we have far to go, these numbers also show some measure of how far we have come. While, yes, over 6 in 10 Black Americans considered race relations to be negative in America, this is a far cry from the 9 in 10 who considered them to be so in 1992 — and the number of Black Americans who consider themselves to have a close, personal White friend is up to over 9 in 10 in 2008, a 10% increase from even 2003. (I have a personal issue with the phrasing of the question, “Do you think blacks experience discrimination…?” in the Washington Post poll — this clearly ignores the anti-White discrimination that 1 in 4 White Americans said they experienced in a 2006 CNN poll. In that CNN poll, however, barely 1 in 8 Americans considered themselves “racially biased,” but this poll shows that an “honest” assessment of “racist feelings” perhaps brings out more closet racists.)

We really are coexisting more.

While a country where two-thirds of Black Americans have been subjected to hearing offensive racist remarks (as a March 2008 CBS News poll showed), the far-reaching majority (nearly 9 in 10) White Americans said that they think America is ready for a Black president, and that alone shows that we Americans have the perception that our country is ready to move forward to a new chapter in its history.

We Americans believe our country has “grown up” from its racist past to at least some degree.

And now all we need to do is take it that many steps further, towards what we all know we are capable of achieving.

Hawking Anti-Obama Propaganda June 18, 2008

Apollo Braun (real name: Doron Braunshtein), an Israeli-born New York-area visual artist, has begun to gain notariety as of late for his ever-creative anti-Obama gear. In March, he launched his line of $129-250 custom “Who Killed Obama?” T-shirts, calling himself very “punk rock” to the fashion blogger at the New York Press. In May, Braun launched his Jews Against Obama T-shirt (pictured), also retailing for $250 from his Lower East Side boutique. On the release of this newest piece of politico-fashion, Braun gave his true feelings on Obama in a statement:

“I am a true anti-Obama New York Jew. The word on the street is that New York Jews will vote for McCain anyhow. The majority of the Jews – at least the ones that are proud of their religion and practice it – like me, don’t want to see Obama – a man who’s middle name is Hussein, and his family from his Kenyan father’s side is Muslim, as the leader of this great country.

More than that, after Obama’s pastor, Jeremiah Wright honored Louis Farrakhan – definitely one of the most racist and anti-Semitic people alive – Obama lost us Jews totally. That made me start this political movement in the first place.”

And today, I get an Email from Mr. Braun’s publicist, telling of his new $30-creation, an “Obama=Hitler” T-shirt, perhaps his most shocking creation to date:

Israeli born, New York based pop artist and fashion designer Doron Braunshtein, also known as Apollo Braun, owner of the five year old “Apollo Braun” boutique on Orchard Street on the Lower East Side, crossed all limits and boundaries with his new creation: a t-shirt bearing the slogan “Obama = Hitler”. As of yesterday, the batch of the first 200 t-shirts came to his store and seven of his most devoted customers already bought the t-shirt, which cost only $30. “I never thought I would ever sell something that I created at such a cheap price,” Braunshtein says, “but you have to understand me, I want to see as many people as I can wearing my idea, and I don’t want money to stand between them and this fabulous t-shirt.”

Braunshtein explains why he made the association between Obama and Hitler: “I have an incredible imagination, you can call it a Jewish imagination if you want and it is what it is, Obama reminds me of Hitler in more ways than I can explain. I mean, every time I hear Obama speak, I automatically think about Hitler.

Hitler was an excellent speaker, who gave great speeches and made the masses follow him almost blindly, Obama is also an excellent speaker, who gives great speeches – like the incredible speech about race – who encourages the masses to follow him. But exactly like Hitler, in my opinion, Obama doesn’t talk, he just preaches, for God’s sake, does anyone understand a word he is saying? All I hear him do is just preach and preach. Also, Obama, exactly like Hitler in his time, will tell you whatever you want to hear, can manage any kind of crowd of people and will promise you the world, but what can I tell you, I am just not his fan. He cannot fool me.”

First of all, the fact that any Israeli-born artist would ever call anyone who is as pro-Jewish and pro-Israel as Obama “Hitler” makes me shudder and cringe. To do so is shortsighted, ignorant, and completely baseless. Dov Hikind’s March assessment of Barack-lash, that Jewish voters would make “a mass movement toward Sen. McCain” in November, while it could be expected, should not be applauded and certainly not taken as a harbinger of a “true New York Jew.” Obama was so pro-Israel when he addressed AIPAC it would leave Arab-Americans and Palestinians wondering if they could even support the nominee.

As blogger Gershon Goremberg says in the name of ambassador Dan Kurtzer: “The one candidate who speaks in clear terms of taking a new approach to the Mideast is Obama. This is what scares the small coterie of American Jewish rightists who would eagerly fight to the last Israeli. If you care about Israel, you should hit “delete” when you get their emails.”

People who care about Israel, says the ambassador, delete such filth from their inboxes.

So given Obama’s fervently pro-Israel stance, pro-Jewish stances, pro-diversity and anti-racist stances, and his distancing himself (or outright rejecting) sequentially from every prejudiced member of his inner circle, precisely where does one draw the parallel between Obama and Hitler? Precisely where does one get off making visual fiascos as offensive as to have someone dressed as Hitler in front of a Palestinian flag?

I’d say that “some people do anything for a buck”, but Mr. Braun is letting these objets go at one-eighth his normal asking price. Besides, he believes his own filth anyway.

Apparently, in some minds, no amount of fact can change a fallacious opinion.

Obama and The Jews II May 22, 2008

These past few weeks I’ve been touring, promoting my album, This is Babylon and haven’t been able to write as much as I had been in the past. From Berlin to LA and everywhere in between, these past few weeks have been a non-stop marathon of promotion and performance.

And I believe today’s travesty which graces the front page of the New York Times is a quite apt segue to make my return to the blogosphere.

Jodi Kantor’s “As Obama Heads to Florida, Many of Its Jews Have Doubts” highlights, in black and white, perhaps one of the most lamentable upshots of collective Jewish consciousness: the anti-Semitism still latently looming over America (and the world)’s present and ominously towering over the world’s recent past, combined with the advent of Web 2.0, has opened the door to a whole new era of misinformation and paranoia. Ms. Kantor’s article chronicled her visit to the “Aberdeen Golf and Country Club” (so right off the bat — mince no words — we know precisely which class of people we’re dealing with) where she met Jews who voiced their insecurities with voting for Obama.

Predominantly representing the aging South Florida demographic whose largely 70+ populace have become anecdotal (and the butts of painful puns like “Botoxodox Jews”), Ms. Kantor’s interviewees showed a downright depressing susceptability to the Obama-noia that’s been plaguing the inboxes of many likely Democratic voters:

“The people here will not vote for Obama…because of his attitude towards Israel,” Ms. [Shirley] Weitz, 83, said…”They’re going to vote for McCain.”

Does anyone realize — or care — that the Jerusalem Post said that Obama’s voting record was “impeccable” regarding Israel? Is it that Sen. Obama supports a two-state solution regarding Israel and Palestine — the same thing that is advocated by both Hillary and McCain? Is it that Sen. Obama expressed willingness to speak to Iran? Would it be better to just consider Iran the world’s first “suicide state” prima facie, and react accordingly?

Perhaps the most disturbing thing is the rundown in the continuation of the article. Ms. Kantor’s article continues with an interview with Rabbi Ruvi New — who mused about the entire election coming down to a “few old Jews in Century Village” — and then moves on to Jews who have become a “conduit” for Obama misinformation.

Ms. Kantor’s article notes that some “older Jews…as well as many younger ones” believed any number of fanciful inaccuracies, One man believed his friends’ word that Obama was “an Arab”. One woman suspected affiliation with Palestinian organizations, and one woman suspected al-Qa’eda had endorsed Obama. As Jack Cafferty alluded today on CNN, how is it possible that such affluent people, such educated people, such worldly people could be susceptible to such misinformation?

And perhaps the worst part of all comes out when racism — the elephant in the room thus far — gets brought up. Ms. Kantor alleges that some of the voters’ apprehension was as rooted in race as it was in Israel relations:

At brunch in Boynton Beach, Bob W…in his 80s, said…bluntly, “Am I semi-racist? Yes.”

Is this really just “par for the course”, the “nature of the beast”? Does it have to be this way? Is Obama campaigning in Florida in vain? Is there really nothing that David Axelrod and Robert Wexler, Obama’s Jewish Florida strategist, can do to change these opinions? And perhaps worse — will these Jews vote for a right-wing candidate who Bush said will “continue…his policy”, in spite of their own and the country’s best interests, just because at the most cursory of face values, a white face is more trustworthy than a brown one? Mr. Obama shares very little psychographically with most of the anti-Semites in the black community, as Ms. Kantor notes — he lives in a community alongside Jews and has “close ties” to Jews his entire career.

Obama has denounced Farrakhan, Rev. Wright, and virtually every other enemy of the Jews in the African-American community. The Jews in Florida are demographically less poised to flip-flop to the GOP — as opposed to their New York counterparts — and if it’s really racism that would cause such a flip it is time for anyone who has come to pooh-pooh such conduct to engage in self-examination.

All the information on Obama’s voting record is available and can easily disprove the online rumormonger set. But nothing in the world can make him un-black. We have to remember what is at stake — and if American troops are put on track to “stay in Iraq for 50 years”, it will be small consolation that an old white man sent them there.

Geert Wilders and Islamophobic Incitement March 24, 2008

Geert Wilders, the Islamophobic (not, he says, to be confused with anti-Muslim, which would be wrong) right-wing Dutch MP who everyone loves to hate has decided to go full-speed ahead with releasing his anti-Islam film, Fitna — which has already begun to spark outrage throughout the European Union and the Muslim world:

Already, 15,000 people have protested in Afghanistan against the film, burning Dutch flags.

Nato commanders say that the Taliban could use it to whip up more anger and the Dutch ambassador in Malaysia said protests could lead to “dozens of deaths”. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, said the film would threaten peace.

In a speech to the European parliament in Strasbourg this year, the Grand Mufti of Syria warned of global consequences. “If there is unrest, bloodshed and violence after the broadcast of the Koran film, Wilders will be responsible,” he said.

The website for the film - fitnathemovie.com - was taken offline by its Internet Service Provider, Network Solutions, for the flagrant violation of its acceptable use policy which bans such inciting speech.

Of course, like minds flock together — the Czech far-right National Party has offered to step up and broadcast the movie, offering Wilders asylum and protection in the Czech Republic in an “undisclosed location” should any attempts be made on his life.

And all this for what? To continue to give a voice to this man’s racist diatribe? This is someone who has called Islamic society “retarded” and inferior, and who has called the Qur’an a “fascist text”? Where is the heter, who gave this man permission, to just patently diss 1/6 of humanity like this?

Would he honestly be able to stomach an equivalent diss against his own faith, his own background, his own culture? And the National Party will be equally responsible if they take the disastrous step of broadcasting Fitna in lieu of Network Solutions.

Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard told the Dutch De Volksrant in an exclusive interview that:

Dutch politician Geert Wilders should definitely air his anti-Quranfilm, Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard says Monday in an exclusive interview in the Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’.

Westergaard says he does not understand Dutch politicians who say that Wilders should not air his film. ‘There is not a single politician in Denmark that would state a similar thing. That would mean political suicide for him. Every Danish politician knows you should never limit the freedom of speech.’

Westergaard does not regret his caricatures of the prophet Muhammad ‘at all’. ‘It started out as and still is a matter of freedom of speech.’ Westergaard considers starting this debate as a ‘duty’ of newspapers and cartoonists. ‘Muslims are to accept that.’

Muslims are to “accept that”? Freedom of speech, as the Egyptian ambassador to Indonesia already said, is circumscribed by a sense of responsibility which must likewise never be compromised — the International Human Rights Law makes provisions for hate speech and related things.

How is Westergaard living, by the way?

Death threats have forced Westergaard to live in safe houses. He will soon be moving to a new shelter for the sixth time.

He was first criticized after he had drawn a picture of the prophet Muhammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. His caricatures were recently republished by several newspapers in Denmark. Three men plotting an attack on his life were arrested mid February….More than 200 thousand people demonstrated against the Danish cartoons and the Dutch film of Wilders in the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday. ‘Death to Denmark, death to the Nederlands’, the crowd shouted.

So Wilders is willing to go through this, put Dutch troops on the frontlines in danger, cause millions of euros in losses for Dutch businesses, potentially cause hundreds of murders, and cause a worldwide furor by insulting the faith of 1/6 of humanity — for what? What could possibly be worth it?

Y-Love at SXSW 2008: The Revolution Begins March 18, 2008

Those of you who are avid readers of This is Babylon know that I haven’t been blogging for a few days.

This year, I was part of the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, the music-fest which draws thousands of bands from all over the world, vying to be noticed in perhaps the most influential music conference of the season.

Some bands are content to go there to promote their music, sell some CDs, and leave as quietly as they entered. Y-LOVE, on the other hand, has a bigger agenda, one of interfaith and intercultural unity, and to this end, on Saturday night, after cries of “last call” were ringing at every bar, I decided to spread my message of “peace, love, unity and respect” in the streets.

An impromptu anti-prejudice rally ensued, and as you can see, the results were beautiful.

“The Redneck Shop”: The KKK Superstore March 11, 2008

Introducing “The Redneck Shop”.

Serving racists in Laurens, South Carolina since 1996.
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Will McCain Reject? Will Jews Accept? March 5, 2008

The American Prospect clued me into a little piece of GOP double-talk and double standards that I didn’t know about during this primary campaign.

Howard Dean, DNC Chair, went after John McCain on CNN Late Edition this past Sunday for not having come out as saying he “rejected and denounced” the vehemently anti-Catholic pastor John Hagee after Hagee endorsed him — the way Obama was asked to do (and complied in flying colors) with the anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas was called in to defend her fellow party member, and the transcript shows just how hypocritical this really is:

BLITZER: But here’s the point that the critics are making right now, and those Catholics who are urging John McCain to reject Pastor Hagee. Louis Farrakhan has called Judaism “a gutter religion.”

Hagee has suggested, at least according to the Catholic League president — we’ve done some checking of our own – he said that Catholicism is “a great whore and a false cult system.” That sounds very, very damning, Senator.

HUTCHISON: Well, John McCain has said he doesn’t agree with that.

BLITZER: But is he ready to embrace someone who calls the Catholic religion “a great whore?”

HUTCHISON: Well, I think John McCain’s statement that he put out from the campaign, after the question was raised, speaks for itself. And I think that, many times, people who endorse someone are not in total agreement with them on every issue. That’s the case with most people. I think this is turning into a political attack, rather than anything that’s substantive.

What did this chick just say? “That’s the case with most people”?

And let’s not for a second confuse this endorsement with the wholly unsolicited and unwanted Farrakhan endorsement Obama had the unfortunate displeasure of having to deal with. As recently as this past weekend, McCain was making decisively pro-Hagee statements, saying:

I am very proud of the Pastor John Hagee’s spiritual leadership to thousands of people and I am proud of his commitment to the independence and the freedom of the state of Israel. That does not mean that I support or endorse or agree with some of the things that Pastor John Hagee might have said or positions that he may have taken on other issues.

Here’s how John Hagee introduced John McCain on his “No Surrender” tour, featured on the John McCain.com site:

Yeah, McCain totally doesn’t want Hagee’s support.  Hagee has since amended his anti-Catholic statements, which included his calling the church the “anti-Christ” (video), but the Catholic League is not buying it, saying “no amount of spin” can change “reality”. (Hagee also said that he believes that the anti-Christ will be the head of the European Union.) McCain initially said that he was “very honored”‘ by Hagee’s endorsement.Former GOP candidate Mike Huckabee also appeared, however, at Hagee’s church, so apparently McCain is not the only GOPer to seek an endorsement from the man who said:

“Adolf Hitler attended a Catholic school as a child and heard all the fiery anti-Semitic rantings from Chrysostom to Martin Luther.”

“Pope Pius XII, called by historians ‘Hitler’s Pope,’ joined Hitler in the infamous Concordat of Collaboration, which turned the youth of Germany over to Nazism, and the churches became the stage background…To those Christians who believe that Jewish hearts will be warmed by the sight of the cross, please be informed—to them it’s an electric chair…”

And let’s not forget about Hagee’s racist slurs. The Emerging Minds blog (among others) points out a San Antonio Express-News article from 1996 which mentions Hagee meeting with black ministers about running a “slave sale” fundraiser. Its advertising promised “[s]lavery in America is returning to Cornerstone”. And let’s not forget the sexism:

“Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist.”

Racist, sexist, anti-Catholic, wholly insensitive, Islamophobic and anti-Arab.

A man John McCain is “honored” to be endorsed by.  Will McCain step up and “reject and denounce” his prejudiced endorsers the way Obama did?  Or will GOP supporters just have to wonder precisely how much of Pastor Hagee’s “gospel” McCain agrees with?

One Priest’s Prayer for Unity January 30, 2008

The Catholic Explorer today ran this beautiful piece by Bishop J. Peter Sartain on “The Insidious Power of Racism”. It gives an insight into precisely how racism affects its victims:

From an early age I had been aware that our southern city was divided by race and economics, though at first I did not fully understand how that division unjustly determined so many details of daily life. My parents had taught us to treat all people with respect, and they practiced what they preached.

The grocery and upscale department store in our neighborhood were like many others in the South of my youth. Among the characteristics they shared was a striking symbol: two drinking fountains side by side, identical in every way except that one bore a sign that read “White” and the other a sign that read “Colored.” Even as a child I was struck by the strangeness of that arrangement….

As I prepared for confirmation in the sacristy of an Arkansas parish three years ago, I overheard a young boy ask the pastor if he needed servers. “Sure,” said Father. “You can carry the cross.”

The blond-haired boy quickly reappeared, vested in an alb and carrying the processional cross. A few moments later, he startled me with a question.

“Do you know what the KKK is?”

I was truly taken aback. “Yes,” I said. “That’s the Ku Klux Klan. We don’t agree at all with what they stand for. Why are you asking about them?”

“I heard they’re coming to town, and I’m afraid because my father and my sister are from Mexico.” I tried to reassure him that his father and sister were in no danger, that the police would be aware of anything unusual that might be planned…It broke my heart that evening to confront the painful effects of racism again in such a powerful way. Anxiety was written on his face and in his question. With shame I admit that my brief exchange with the server exposed to me once again my own lack of sensitivity to the insidious power of racism.

A little child. Anxious and scared from racism. Bishop Sartain explains where he believes the root of his lack of sensitivity to said insidious power comes from:

As I mentioned, I was reared in a home where racist attitudes were neither taught nor tolerated, and I grew to understand more clearly why racism is sinful and antithetical to Christian faith. As a priest I have preached about it.

But I have never had to face racist attitudes directed at me.

Hearing his question, I was awakened in a new way to what racism does to little kids, to struggling parents, to aging grandparents, to the courageous pioneers and modern-day workers in the civil rights movement—and to people like me, who aren’t nearly as alert as we should be to its dangerous influence.

Those of us who have been victimized by racism are so much more primed, if you will, for its horrible effects. Those of us who have (and we know that anti-white racism is as damaging to its respective victims) been victimized by racism are the ones second guessing negative social interactions with members of other groups asking, “Is it because I’m…” Pervasive racism can only be denied by those not suffering from it, and Bishop Sartain became acutely aware of this with a simple statement from a child.

Did the other kids in his class know the KKK were coming? Did they even know who the KKK were? While his (probably older) sister and mother knew that the KKK were a fringe group of crazies not to be worried about, this kid said straight out, “I’m afraid.” He heard they were coming and he was afraid.

Bishop Sartain’s piece concludes with his prayer for the end of hatred and division:

[G-d], teach us to build a world where little boys and girls, and their parents and grandparents, don’t have to ask fearful questions. Help us rise above racism in all its forms that we may recognize and disarm its influence. May we never reject or frighten any of Your little ones, for we are all Your sons and daughters, made in Your image. Amen.

Ken y’hi ratzon. So may it be His Will.

Judaism On Prejudice

A beautiful article on Chabad.org caught my eye today at random. Normally I don’t read Chabad’s The Jewish Woman, but doing a Google News search for “Torah” led me to this beautiful article by Ms. Stacey Goldman, teaching about this week’s Torah portion. The piece is called “The Spirit of the Laws”, a phrase I am usually used to hearing in a different, more judgment-centered context — “don’t do X, it would violate the spirit of the law”, if not the letter — to justify the prohibition of any number of things.

Ms. Goldman’s Torah teaching, however, sheds light on a beautiful concept expressed by Exodus 21: G-d’s eschewing of prejudice between humans. Her story begins autobiographical, lamenting her ironic “loss of Jewish identity” as her Jewish observance grew:

It sounds bizarre, but I have found that the more I live my life as an observant Jew, the more I seem to lose my Jewish identity. When I was growing up in Minnesota, Jews made up less than two percent of the mostly Scandinavian, German population. My dark, curly hair was a constant reminder of my minority status. I never saw this as a negative aspect to my identity. On the contrary, I relished my membership in a global club of Jewish people all over the world…I didn’t discriminate; I would beam at every person regardless of age, gender, length of skirt, head covering or lack thereof. Invariably, I would receive a nod and a smile in return. Yes, we are one of the same; we shared a history and a destiny.

When I was accepted to an East Coast university, I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm at the prospect of constantly being surrounded by my People…I increased in my Jewish observance, got married and started to have children. I still smiled at other Jews, but I noticed that I was only smiling at Jews who looked suspiciously like me - the new religious me. In fact, I had lost my ability to identify other Jews who weren’t wearing the telltale uniform of Orthodox Judaism. I had found the Torah of Israel, but I seemed to have lost my sense of the Nation of Israel that had come so easily before I even knew about the commandments.

I hear this complaint far too often from non-Orthodox Jews — that Orthodox Jews don’t want to interact with them, that Orthodox Jews “think they are better” intrinsically, that Orthodox Jews are standoffish and clannish. This is especially painful when someone’s path to observance is dashed because - how were she supposed to know she wasn’t supposed to wear that..? - someone cut them off or embarrassed or admonished them when they were taking their first steps to Torah.

Ms. Goldman finds her way out of her mindset through learning Exodus 21, and what she learns is far bigger than just relations between Jews — she learns lessons for all of humanity:
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Just Wondering: Why is the NY Nazi Party… November 28, 2007

Could someone tell me why, of all places, the headquarters of the New York Nazi Party is in Brooklyn?

Brooklyn, of all places? One of the most diverse places in the nation? One of the largest, most vibrant Jewish communities where the borough president and mayor are both Jewish? While statistically, more people means more chances of finding a Nazi, wouldn’t we expect this ilk to be relegated to some backwoods cesspool or “white bread…mountain town” (a la South Park)?

Take a good look at these NY Nazi Party delegates. While, yes, we see bomber jackets and shaved heads and all those things we have been trained to look for — would one be able to easily peg that white-haired older man for a fascist? What about the well-dressed businessman-type in the button-down shirt and blazer?

The Brooklyn office of the Nazi party can be reached via phone at 1-718-252-2247, an “unlisted land line” with Verizon.

So apparently Brooklyn does have a Nazi presence.

Who are these people? And how do we stop children from next to — or inside — our own communities from joining up with filthy ideologies like this?

Who Cares About Ethiopians? October 16, 2007

An article from YNet today caught my eye. The body of Gabi Ababao Dwait a”h was returned to Israel from Lebanon on Monday, ending a three-year harrowing experience for the Dwait family, during which they had no idea where he was. No whereabouts. No videotaped messages flooding CNN. Nothing.

YNet reporter Danny Adino Ababa’s op-ed piece today, entitled “Who Cares About Ethiopians?” asks a question which I think should both ask, and answer, itself:

The Dwait family is a typical Ethiopian family whose world collapsed. The family was hit by one tragedy after another: A father who was run over by a car; a brother who committed suicide. For three years now, the family has been engaged in a search for the lost son. The son who nobody heard about, saw, or cared about. He just disappeared. Evaporated.

Just like any of us would do under such circumstances, they turned to the authorities, to the Israel Police. Yet the answer they received at the police stations in Haifa and Be’er Sheva was always the same: “He’s a big boy, he’ll return home.” Just like that. Just another Ethiopian guy wandering around – as if all members of the Ethiopian community are destined to wander forever.

Imagine that Gabi Dwait’s name was in fact Danny Gutshtein; imagine his family was Israeli-born and that his parents had connections in the right places – what would the last three years look like? Wide-scale searches, photos in the media, interviews with leading journalists?…Maybe some good will also come out of the fact that Gabriel Dwait’s tragedy finally exposed the humiliating attitude of the establishment, media, and Israel Police to members of the Ethiopian community.

Danny Admasu, director of the Israel Association of Ethiopian Jews (IAEJ), in his Jerusalem Post interview, shows that the Israeli Mishtara (Police Dept) is not the sole culprit, and that “integration of Ethiopians” into mainstream society (i.e., decreasing passive and covert racism) must be put on the front-burner in numerous arenas:

Admasu believes his role is to create awareness and dialogue so that Ethiopian Jews are more readily integrated and accepted.

“I want people to know that even if they don’t want us here, we are here to stay,” he says in a tone that he has made many an MK sit up and take notice.

“In the beginning, when Ethiopians first arrived here people said, ‘They are not educated; it will take at least 50 years for them to catch up,’ but that has happened much faster than anyone thought. Today, there are many educated Ethiopians, but they still end up working as security guards in the mall.

This is a serious problem and it must be solved. These people are the leaders of their family and their immediate community. If these people, who went to college, end up guarding a mall, everyone in the next generation sees that and says why do we bother? Why do I have to go to college if I will just end up working in a mall? We need to make this a big issue.”

Israeli security forces were unaware Dwait’s body was even in Lebanon until Hezbollah hinted that they had another Israeli there. “He’s a big boy, he’ll come home?” Would any Israeli-born family with “the right connections” even be told such a callous thing by an official? As his death wasn’t caused by Hezbollah fire (he drowned in the Mediterranean Sea), perhaps we can say this caused some of the lag in information gathering (after all, if you’re picking up bodies from a battlefield, drowning victims do begin to fade in priority), but to dismiss a grieving mother for three years and not even be aware of whether or not a soldier is in one’s own country or in enemy territory?

My condolences to the Dwait family, and I hope they are comforted in their time of need. I hope the Ethiopian community gets the representation it deserves. And above all, I hope that the worth of one’s lifeblood does not remain inversely proportional to the amount of melanin in their skin.

Some Post-Holiday Jewish Ethics September 24, 2007

The Jewish Press ran an interview with Prof. Marc Shapiro, professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Scranton and author of Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg, 1884-1966. Rabbi Yechiel Ya’akov Weinberg was better known by the name of his magnum opus, the Seridei Eish, and was one of the greatest Torah giants of Southeastern Europe in the late 19th century.

Among the interesting points Prof. Shapiro brings up is this quote, which bears repeating:

The Jewish Press: In your opinion, what would Rabbi Weinberg, author of the Seridei Eish and the subject of your first book, think of the Orthodox Jewish community today?

Shapiro: He’d think what a lot of gedolim would think from that generation. They would be very surprised that things they took for granted are now considered unacceptable – that the yeshiva world today in Israel, for example, sees something wrong with earning a living.

I think the frumkeit would surprise them. For example, the turn to glatt kosher as a standard, as well as the number of chumrot. This would surprise them only because part of traditional Judaism is reliance on the gedolim of the past and it’s very unusual for a tradition that regards itself as following the past to reject what previous standards were….

Rabbi Weinberg wrote that “perhaps we [the Jewish people] also bear some guilt” for anti-Semitism. What did he mean by that?

SHAPIRO: Rabbi Weinberg raised the possibility that perhaps the way Jews treat non-Jews contributes to anti-Semitism. He no doubt had in mind things such as how the Jew treated the Polish peasant and wondered if this didn’t have some impact on how the Poles viewed the Jews. Many Orthodox Jews thought it was okay to be less than honest in their business dealing with non-Jews.

Rabbi Weinberg argued that we must formally declare that we hold like the Meiri [13th century French sage], that all the negative things in the Talmud against non-Jews were only stated with regard to the wicked pagans of old, but didn’t apply to non-Jews as a whole.

We must relate to non-Jews just like to Jews, being absolutely honest in all monetary matters and regard them as having dignity as creations of God.

May every creation of G-d be treated with dignity this year, Jewish or otherwise. Shanah tovah, to a blessed sweet new year for everyone.