jews discrimination essay
Anti-Semitism, hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group. The term anti-Semitism was coined in 1879 by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns under way in central Europe at that time. Although the term now has wide currency, it is a misnomer, since it implies a discrimination against all Semites. Arabs and other peoples are also Semites, and yet they are not the targets of anti-Semitism as it is usually understood. The term is especially inappropriate as a label for the anti-Jewish prejudices, statements, or actions of Arabs or other Semites. Nazi anti-Semitism, which culminated in the Holocaust, had a racist dimension in that it targeted Jews because of their supposed biological characteristics—even those who had themselves converted to other religions or whose parents were converts. This variety of anti-Jewish racism dates only to the emergence of so-called “ scientific racism” in the 19th century and is different in nature from earlier anti-Jewish prejudices.
Anti-Semitism has existed to some degree wherever Jews have settled outside Palestine. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, religious differences were the primary basis for anti-Semitism. In the Hellenistic Age, for instance, Jews’ social segregation and their refusal to acknowledge the gods worshiped by other peoples aroused resentment among some pagans, particularly in the 1st century bce –1st century ce . Unlike polytheistic religions, which acknowledge multiple gods, Judaism is monotheistic—it recognizes only one god. However, pagans saw Jews’ principled refusal to worship emperors as gods as a sign of disloyalty.
Many white Jews are proud of the role that Jews played in the Civil Rights movement. They keep recall a golden era of relations with the African American community. That era was in fact short-lived, mostly from the end of World War II to a peak in 1965, and plays far more significantly in the minds of white Jews than those of African Americans. White Jews hold the iconic picture of Dr. Heschel marching with Dr. King. (It was a march that lasted several days, and there are many other pictures of people walking alongside King.) While they were close and had an important relationship, it is important to keep in mind that Heschel was there as an individual. He did not have the support of Jewish institutions. Unlike Heschel, the majority of Jews active in the Civil Rights movement were not involved visibly as Jews.
Jewish institutions filed supportive briefs in many of the Civil Rights cases through the early 1960s, but once the issues began revolving around affirmative action, the Jewish community backed off. As the calls for Black Power rose, white Jewish involvement fell. As historian of Black-Jewish relations Cheryl Greenberg writes:
Since 2012, France has suffered from a significant increase in the number of anti-Jewish hate crimes and their severity. These form part of a rise in anti-Jewish attacks across most of Western Europe and heightened expressions of anti-Jewish racism and bigotry. (1)
The French government has in the last 20 years more fully and honestly accounted for France’s role in the Shoah and supported education promoting knowledge and awareness of its history and advancing the values of human rights and non-discrimination.
NOTE TO TEACHER: At the heart of each type of anti-Semitism is fear of and hostility toward those who seem different or who are perceived as outsiders. Stereotypes of Jews as devils or evil foreigners helped fuel anti-Semitism. Many historians argue that the source of anti-Jewish theory and practice was xenophobia, hatred of foreigners, which accompanied the growing, intense nationalism of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Before doing the interview, you may want to refer to the “Chronology” to understand what took place in 1935, 1938 and 1945.
In the 1930s, the U.S. appraisal industry opposed the “mixing” of the races, which it believed would cause “the decline of both the human race and of property values.” Appraisers ensured segregation through their property rating system. They ranked properties, blocks, and even whole neighborhoods according to a descending scheme of A (green), B (blue), C (yellow), and D (red). A ratings went to properties located in “homogenous” areas — ones that (in one appraiser’s words) lacked even “a single foreigner or Negro.” Properties located in neighborhoods containing Jewish residents were riskier; they were marked down to a B or C. If a neighborhood had black residents it was marked as D, or red, no matter what their social class or how small a percentage of the population they made up. These neighborhoods’ properties were appraised as worthless or likely to decline in value. In short, D areas were “redlined,” or marked as locations in which no loans should be made for either purchasing or upgrading properties.
In 1954, FHA official George W. Snowden told the Mortgage Bankers Association that since black home purchasers had an excellent credit record, it would be logical for mortgage bankers to use a “uniform, single-standard lending policy” for blacks and whites. The association’s trade journal, Mortgage Banker, derided Snowden’s comments as “one of the most remarkable statements ever heard from an MBA rostrum.” In short, on the rare occasions that private bankers and savings and loan officials were presented with evidence of black creditworthiness, they rejected the information.