Tag: Politics

“Should Old Annoyance Be Forgot…”

Posted on Posted in Black Jews, Jews of Color, JOCS, Judaism, Politics, Race, Racism, ReligionTagged , , , , , , , 11 Comments

here we are with 2009 on its way out and 2010 on its way in. as such, id like to list five new year’s resolutions of sorts [many of which have been inspired by aliza hausman]. now this isnt a list of things that i want to do, but of things i want others to do. and yes, i realize that im a big fat jew, so why am i jumping on the secular/pagan new year’s deal? well, b/c the things id like to see resolved spring from a decidely un-jewish frame of mind and thought, and since you bastards obviously didnt pray any of your idiocy off on rosh hashana, maybe this time you’ll get ur act together. LOL! [no, not really. not even a little bit.] anyhoo.

1. stop telling jocs that they’re too sensitive/complain too much/are career victims. really, its great that u perceive that ur particular inclave is joc-friendly [altho, to add just a lil bit of credence to the merit of ur purported statement, you may want to, i dunno, ASK the jocs in ur inclave how THEY actually feel the community treats them, not how you THINK they feel or SHOULD feel based on your necessarily limited knowledge and experience of the situation]. no, white ppl, just b/c you converted does not mean you are an automatic authority on the woes of the joc community. sure, you might feel some needling due to ur convert status, but that does not even begin to open ur mind to the waves of microaggressions and grade-a ignorance a joc undergoes on a near-daily basis.

1a. as an addendum, id also like to call a halt to statements like “i dont think its THAT bad.” “do you really experience THAT much racism?” “are you sure what ur experiencing isnt just slight unease?” [all of these are actual quotes, btw]. now, [although ill prolly get the same waves of emails asking why i feel the need to devolve to physical violence as i did for my jocslapping video] im gonna give you an example:

imagine that i was complaining that as a joc i was getting punched by people on a constant basis and ur response was “are you really getting punched THAT hard?” see, ur missing the point THAT IM GETTING PUNCHED. stop asking me if im really getting punched “that hard” or “that often”, just STOP FUCKING PUNCHING ME.

2. please, everyone, get over the assumption that racism and ignorance only exist in the orthodox jewish community. the reform and conservatives just do it in hipper clothes and with better hair.

2a. as an addendum: non-orthodox jocs, us orthodox jocs who speak of our negative experiences are not crazy. we feel great that you’ve had such lovely experiences, but sadly that has not been the case for all of us. it isnt something that “we” are “putting out there” or what “we” are “doing”. and although, no, not all ashkenazi or other non-jocs are rabid, horse-riding, sheet wearing racists, yes racism is pervasive and institutionalized in american judaism. please stop trying to tell us its not. when synagogues have in their constitution that “this congregation will not encourage or interfere with making proselytes under any pretence … until he, she or they provide credentials…and, provided he, she, or they are not people of color” [congregation kaal kadesh, south carolina] and that the congregation is limited to “white isrealits [sic] only” [another synagogue whose name i cant recall at the moment] then yes, its institutionalized. when a rabbi receives death threats before attending their pulpit b/c they’re black [rabbi alyssa stanton], then yes, its pervasive.

3. randomly, j***h’s witnesses, please stop trying to recruit me while im walking down the block on shabbat in my jewniform. clearly, ive already been drafted by a team. however, im sure some of those guys over there in the dugouts could use your help more. and by “guys in the dugouts” i mean “those Gdless drug dealers over there on the corner”.

4. ppl who dont support/believe in the state of israel are not any more un-jewish than you are. theyre un-ZIONIST. yes “anti-zionist” is usually code for “anti-semitic”…if ur a NON-JEW. but if you ARE jewish, then you know the difference. please stop being so holier-than-thou. if i dont believe ur supporting the state of israel makes you a death-eater, then me not supporting the state of israel shouldnt make me lord voldemort. either way im sure we can BOTH agree that flying planes into buildings is a very not good thing to do.

5. black [and other ethnic] ppl: please stop condescending/pitying us jocs b/c you feel we abandonded your savior to be jews. more importantly, stop patting urselves on the back for remaining so blindly faithful to the religion that was forced down your throat and most responsible for stripping away ur original culture, enslaving you and oppressing you.

thank you for ur time.

–MaNishtana

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[s]wordplay

Posted on Posted in PoliticsTagged 4 Comments

so i was surfing across fellow blogger aliza hausman’s blog [yeh, cuz she really needs me to send traffic her way. lol…] and i came across this blog about gay rights which, like a gajillion posts and discussions before it, argues that the gay rights and civil rights movements are pretty much synonomous.

but they’re really not.

now im not gonna bore you with the requisite i support gay rights/some of my friends are/im not homophobic cliched qualifying statements. im just simply going to respond to this article and state why.

this isn’t about playing the who’s been more oppressed game. as a friend of mine [both gay AND black, no less] once stated “oppression is oppression is oppression”. which is true. you cant tell someone if they’re oppressed or not or if one group is more oppressed than another. [although you really can, but that’s a philosophical discussion beyond the paramemters of this post]. but anyhoo, are the two  movements similar? most definitely. but a dog and a bear are also similar.  they both have fur, claws, growl, and walk on four legs. but anyone can see that they are very different animals.

so relevant to this discussion point by point:

1) “I’m for gay rights but … you can’t compare being Black to being gay.”

this is true. you cant. and no, this statement isnt implying that there are no gay black folk. its merely comparing instances of being discriminated against solely by virtue of being gay or black. a gay person will never [again, by virtue of being gay alone] be pulled over for “fitting the profile”, or driving a car deemed too expensive. there was never gay slavery, “straight only” laws, or people being firehosed for being gay. gays were never denied the right to vote, nor did they have to fight for citizenship. yes there were influential members in the framework of the civil rights movement, but they were part of the civil rights movement by virtue of being discriminated against for being black, not for being gay.

2) No, you’re not getting it, I didn’t choose to be Black and I can’t hide being Black.

also true. being black [in most cases] is an extremely and constantly visible marker which evokes discrimination and prejudice instantly. in cases of white gays, being gay largely does not revoke or trump inherent white privelege to the average passerby. ppl dont clench their purse when a gay man/woman enters an elevator. even once they do find out said person is gay. its not about “choosing” anything either way.

3) That’s my point, almost exactly, you can tell when someone is Black usually, but you never know if they’re gay! Well unless they’re really flamboyant or something.

well sure this is a little f*cked up that some black folk are mad that gays can “pass”, but that doesnt mean its any less true. see the profiling comment from above. also, black folk have a “thing” about passing. see the past few decades of hair straigheners, good/bad hair, dyes, skin cremes, nose jobs, paper bag tests, and every member of the jackson family.

4) Okay, I get that, but doesn’t it piss you off when they use the Civil Rights Movement for their movement?

yes, the “us/they” thing is usually derogatorily laced. but what is essentially meant is “they” as in by dint of solely being homosexual, not to the exclusion of those who are both black AND gay. those who are black and gay who use the civil rights movement as a reference to the gay rights movement are addressing the fact that they are homosexual, not necessarily anything “black” attached to it.

at the end of the day, in no way am i insuinuating/advocating that the gay rights movement is any less of a valid movement or that rights arent deserved. its just a very different battle than the civil rights movements but with similar tropes that resonate across both. as i quoted earlier, oppression is oppression is oppression. also, its ok to believe the two are not equitable. surprisingly enough it does not mean you’re a raging homophobe or the straight equivalent of a well-meaning white person in 1955 raised by racist parents or someone who wishes for all “the gays” to burn in hell.

well except for perez hilton. b/c he’s f*cking annoying.

–MaNishtana

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You Down With O.P.P.? [Obama’s Peace Prize]

Posted on Posted in Politics, RaceTagged , Leave a comment

after just nine months in office, obama has won the nobel peace prize.

since it happened in the midst of the hectic festival season, i was otherwise occupied and thus gonna just let this media wonderment slip by uncommented upon.  however, it was constantly kept on the forefront of my mind as, like i said, it was in the midst of the festival season, which means i was spending inordinate amounts of time around fellow orthodox jews. orthodox jews, as we know, generally are not fans of obama. even to the point of changing the wording of the “prayer for the govt” when obamas views on israel dont exactly mesh with theirs. [which makes me wonder if they did the same when carter was in office, but thats a race card i dont particularly feel like playing.]

anyhoo, it was snickers galore for the president who “hasnt done anything yet” yet won a nobel peace prize. the comments definitely held a shade of “he only got it b/c he’s black“. now, im not here to weigh what he has or hasnt done or whether he deserves the prize or not. but i would suggest president obama be very careful. in fact were i him, i wouldve respectfully, tactfully declined the peace prize.

why?

ever heard the term “kill them with kindness“? well all the accolades and public fawning and overexposure obama experiences only serves to undermine anything he tries to accomplish. they make it seem that he doesnt really deserve anything he gets–whether he actually does or not–and have the potential to make his messages ineffectual b/c ppl 1-are tired of seeing/hearing him, 2-will figure that it doesnt matter what hes doing or saying b/c he’ll get an award for it anyway, so why bother listening?

dont get me wrong: im an obama supporter–one of the rare breed who can support him yet simultaneously look at his actions objectively w/o blindly agreeing to whatever he deems pleasing and/or believing he’s zeus incarnate reborn in mortal flesh–but i really think he needs to curb his propensity at most times to be [quite transparently] lead by his ego.

–MaNishtana

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