I grew up in Hellertown, a community that refused to allow blacks to use the swimming pool because they smell funny in the Summer. In fifth grade, I once joked that a nun's nose was as big as a Jew's. When i grew up, racism and anti-Semitism were pretty much mainstream.
True, the nuns beat the shit out of me after I was reported by one of the girls. But I was not disciplined for making a disgusting anti-Semitic remark, but because the nun was really pissed off at being compared to a Jew.
"My nose is not as big as a Jew," she screamed as she swung away.
Maybe I should have told her to quit her "kvetching."
Someone in the local ad biz who is anti-Semitic who likes to say that to Jews. This fellow is a faux liberal who pretends to support Bernie Sanders. But at the same time, he demeans a local Jew with Yiddish terms. to alert readers that the writer is a Jew. This also plays on Lehigh Valley hate that is just beneath the surface.
"Quit your kvetching!" he'll say.
Anti-Semitism and racism are, unfortunately, a part of my background. It's under the surface, but it's still there.
5 comments:
can we come up with a symbol to indicate the subject is a bog-trotting paddy?
Bernie,
I grew up in Pittsburgh and saw no antisemitism, never heard a Jokes about Jews and never felt the need to indulge in it myself. To this day I still don't get why anyone would feel differently towards a person who was Jewish than they would any other human being.
Ask a Black man and we'll give the answer, Scott....
-Alfonso Todd
Years ago I worked for a man who was filled with racist hate. He spoke quite openly about it and it made me quite uncomfortable. He had been taught from an early age by his parents to hate white people. All white people. He confided that I was "different" and earned an exception to his rule.
Racism and hatred crosses all racial demographics. It starts at home and takes an unfortunate toll.
I'm a free market capitalist and see potential in all as meaningful contributors to profitability. I've never understood discounting the ability of someone based upon their race. It befuddles me. A wise man once spoke about the content of character. This is the lesson for our children.
The local(ish) hack advertising writer you refer to doesn't seem to like priests either. And there's more than one Black man he's attacked too.
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