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| Elishva Rishon (Nashim Magazine) |
Elisheva is both Jewish and black. She tells her story in a thoughtful
and sensitive article in Nashim Magazine. (Which should be read in its entirety.) She was born a Jew and raised to be observant. And loved her people –the
Jewish people. She never even thought of herself as black Only as a Jew.
Elisheva describes the pain she felt when as a child her
color became an impediment to friendships with other Jewish children.
I was about 8 or 9 years old, in a shul in Crown
Heights. On Shabbat, during the Torah reading, a group of kids would always go
out to play in the courtyard, and being shy, I never knew how to ask them if I
could play with them. Finally, one day, I gathered up the courage and
approached these girls, who were playing with a ball, and asked them if I could
play. The girls made faces and said, “No, you can’t play with us—you’re black
and dirty!”
I’m sure those children were not racist. They were just
ignorant. Never having had any interaction or education about other races. I must admit that as a young child (maybe 4 or
5) I too was ignorant. When I first encountered a black man, I admit being a
bit scared - thinking why is he black? I also remember thinking that if I
touched them their color would rub off on my fingers. I never thought about it
much and just assumed this was the case. Until I found out otherwise.
The thing is that thinking like this hurts black people even
if it is done in the complete ignorance of a child. It might have been
different if I had prepared by my parents having educated me about different
races – even at that young age.
It’s not that my parents were racist. Far from it. They just
never thought to educate me about that as a young child since we never really
encountered them.
I wonder though how many others have had this kind of experience
as a child? Ad how many are somehow still subtly influenced by that kind of
thinking - even if they are not actually racist? Most often it is not the kind
of racism which is accompanied with violence or threats of violence. It usually
comes in the form of an attitude molded by common negative stereotypes based on
cultural biases built up since the days of slavery.
I wouldn’t even call it racism in ever case. I would call it
just plain old prejudice against people that are different from you - not necessarily thinking an entire race to be
inferior to your race.
It’s all about difference. The greater the difference - the greater
the prejudice. That is inf cat the case with ‘Colorism’ by which Elisheva was
victimized too. The darker the skin color the greater the prejudice. This is
true even among black people themselves.
That’s the thing about racist comments. You never know who
you are going to hurt with it. And as
has been noted here in the past, there is plenty of it in the Orthodox Jewish
community.
While ignorance might be an excuse in for an sensitive racial comment from a child (albeit still hurtful) it is not an excuse from an adult. Either way when expressed to a black person it still hurts.
My experiences as a Jewish child at a time when antisemitism
was more common in a small city like Toledo - made me sensitive to what it must
feel like to be seen so differently. I
can’t imagine what it must be like for black people to realize that ignorant
people (even if it is innocent ignorance) see them so negatively
Ignorance is a ‘disease’ that can be treated. Without it
even if one is not an overt racist, they might still say or do things that are
insensitive. As Elishava notes in her article:
Coming into adulthood, my experiences of racism within Orthodox circles only became more complex and troubling. To be clear, not every racist situation I have had to endure was always done in such an obvious manner. Some racist interactions are absentminded ones. However, most racist exchanges are less apparent and very subtle—aka microaggressions. They are much more common than loud, screaming racism.
I have experienced these microaggressions in everyday situations, such as:
Walking into a Jewish store with Jewish friends and being the only one watched and followed by the store manager.
Being at a job interview with a Jewish employer who makes comments like, “I was expecting a Jewish girl from Brooklyn,” and when I say, “I am a Jewish girl from Brooklyn,” he looks at me with smug disbelief.
Being on a shidduch date, and having to tell the man to stop touching me since I am shomer negiah, and then he smirks and uses various words to insinuate that I must be immoral because, in his experience, someone who “looks” like me doesn’t act appropriately.
Being at a singles shabbaton in a hotel, dressed in fancy Shabbat clothes, wearing a Magen David necklace, and still, several fellow Jewish attendees throughout the event approach me to ask me when their dinner will be served or why I am there.
When someone refuses to believe that I am Jewish or was born a Jew and says, “You don’t look Jewish.”
Like I said. I don’t think that all these situations are necessarily
based on racial hatred. I think it is more ignorance than hatred. But sometimes it’s pure cruelty. There are some people that know
very well that the color of a person’s skin has no relevance to their
character. They just think they are being clever – not stopping to think what
it does to the person standing right in front of them. These people are sociopaths
in my view. Who have no sense of empathy for others. And are not worth a nickel
as human beings.
I think we really need to educate ourselves more. And put
ourselves in Elisheva’s shoes. It is so sad that she even had to write an article
like this - let alone live it.
We must
remember that whitening the face of one’s fellow is tantamount to spilling their
blood. That is what should go through everyone’s mind when dealing with all fellow human beings. Especially when that human being is one of us.
Like Elisheva.
