White supremacists over the weekend began the hashtag #JewishPrivilege, causing a social media uproar still ongoing as of press time. The alt-right had a field day with the hashtag, with Jewish celebrities and rabbis alike becoming incensed at the anti-Semitic rhetoric, and continuing into today, trolls are still using the social media platform to disseminate the anti-Jewish lie that there’s a collective “Jewish privilege” in America that should be checked.
One of the cornerstones of the anti-Semites’ arguments is based on income inequality: if one can point to obscenely wealthy Jewish billionaires, then it follows that Jews as a class must be privileged. If one can point to a group of Jews with a higher median income than a group of non-Jews, then Jews as a class must be privileged. Some other arguments were based on power, access to status, or the existence of the State of Israel.
Never mind that hundreds of thousands of American Jews are Black. Or LGBTQ. Or Latino. Or Native. Never mind that thousands of us are disabled. Never mind that Jews are the most targeted group for hate crime in the U.S. today. Never mind the anti-Semitism, never mind the discrimination. Black and Latino Jews are targeted for the same discrimination our non-Jewish counterparts face; no “privilege” exists to check this fact of our lives.
If one can point to a certain policy or group of people having “granted” or “given” rights to another group, the recipients of said rights can not be considered “privileged” in relation to the members of the first group. Jews, as a class, were allowed into institutions and neighborhoods. Individual Jews were also lynched (albeit in far smaller numbers, and often for helping people of color). Jews were, and still are, victims of hate crimes at the hands of the same people who harbor anti-Black sentiments.
Do anti-Black Jews exist? Undoubtedly, and in some of the most sinister forms of anti-Blackness. From racist mistreatment of Ethiopians in Israel to racist microaggressions reported by Jews of Color in New York, anti-Blackness can be so insidious as to turn some members of the Jewish community against other Jews, let alone non-Jews. This however, in my opinion, is due to an identification with whiteness, rather than being intrinsically white oneself. Whiteness in America is linked to a system of power to which Jews lacked access for much of this country’s history. European ancestry (and white skin) gives many Jews access to White privilege – and to the racial hierarchy that grants it. Taking advantage of this access and identifying with the group in power, to the detriment of others, has led to some Jews adopting anti-Black beliefs and presenting as if they were truly white.
This identification with whiteness, with the group in power, can be so all-encompassing as to encourage some Jews to eschew public displays of Jewish identity, change their names, or even pursue plastic surgery – as a way to seem “less Jewish”. That “Jewish” would even be something to mitigate shows it stands as an identity in contrast to “white”. But it is white privilege, not any “Jewish” equivalent, being exercised when such privilege exists.
Jews of Color do not benefit from any “Jewish privilege”. No one would say that Ethiopian woman given birth control against her will is operating from a position of power. Mizrahi, Sephardic, Indian, Native, and other Jews are not benefitting from any collective privilege bestowed upon all Jews. If anything, those of us living at the intersection of color and Judaism are experiencing a unique cocktail of racism, anti-Semitism and White supremacy: hardly a privilege.
My #JewishPrivilege:
In Iran I got beat up by Muslim kids for being a “dirty jew”.
In England I got my nose broken by skinheads for being a “dirty jew”.
In US, after I became a doctor, a neo-Nazi spat in my face while I sutured his bleeding wound in ER.
Still a proud Jew.
— Afshine Emrani MD FACC (@EmraniMd) July 13, 2020
Speaking about a collective “Jewish privilege” erases the experiences of the majority of the Jewish community. Are there individual Jews or groups of Jews with privilege? Undoubtedly. But the privilege of individual people, or groups of people, does not extend to the larger class as a whole. Not by a long shot.
There is no “Jewish privilege” in America. And White supremacists know it.
So they started a hashtag.
