In early January, the school board of McMinn County, Tennessee voted to ban Maus. This book is a graphic novel that appropriately and powerfully teaches about the Holocaust to children (and adults).
Earlier this week during The View, Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts talked about this, and Goldberg caused such a stir that she then became the news story. She claimed that the Holocaust was not about race, since both the Nazis and the Jews were white. When pressed, she said that the Holocaust was not about racism, but rather about man's inhumanity to man. Later that evening, she was a guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
She said to him: As a black person, I think of race as something I can see.
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Goldberg's comments are mistaken. The Nazis defined themselves explicitly in racial categories; they were the Aryan race. And, they didn't define Jews by their theology or level of observance: They defined Jews by blood. Anyone with a Jewish grandparent was targeted, regardless of whether they identified Jewishly or not. The Holocaust was entirely about race.
Yair Rosenberg writes, She is not an anti-Semite, but she was confused - and understandably so.
Yes, it is understandable that she made this mistake: Whenever anyone asks me, Rabbi, is Judaism a race, a culture, or a religion, I smirkily answer, yes. Judaism is 4000 years old, but the concepts of race, culture and religion are much more modern. Judaism doesn't fit neatly into these categorizations. And it's not just non-Jews that get this wrong; many Jews are confounded by this!
David Baddiel coined a term for this confusion: Schrodinger's Whiteness: The whiteness of Jews is defined by the beliefs of the observer, not oneself. Of course, not all Jews are white, but those of us who are caucasian don't identify our Jewishness as whiteness. Adding to this complexity is the fact that generally speaking, Jews in America are privileged in a way that African Americans are not. So yes, her comments were wrong, but again, understandably so.
The problem with her comment, understandable as it might be, is that it minimizes the very real and dangerous specificities of racism, and in this case, anti-Semitism. In order to eradicate it, we must first name it, and name it correctly, and not subsume it under the general rubric of man's inhumanity to fellow man.
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Goldberg later thought about what she said, and reflected upon the pain she caused. ABC decided to suspend her from The View for two weeks.
The CEO of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, was interviewed on CNN. He said, We should have council culture, not cancel culture. He also reminded us of the Jewish value of t'shuvah. We must allow people to learn and change.
We are far too quick to punish, when what we should do is educate. The former director of the ADL, Abe Foxman, expressed a similar sentiment in his tweet that read: Don't punish her ... educate her.
And when talking about race, religion, gender identity, sexuality and intersectionality, it is incredibly easy to say something that is wrong, or hurtful, or even offensive. Sometimes, what matters most is not what was said, but how the person reacts to criticism and contrary points of view.
On Tuesday's episode of The View, Goldberg said, My words upset so many people which was never my intention. I understand why now, and for that I am deeply deeply grateful because the information I got helped me understand some different things.
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Here in Athens, a Principal and Vice-Principal of a local elementary school took down a piece of art because it included the words, Gay is OK. When defending their position, they compared the Pride flag to the Nazi swastika.
I am incredibly sad and frustrated that the leadership of Oglethorpe elementary gave into the complaints of a parent, rather than stand firm for the educational values of inclusion and understanding. And I am also troubled by the comparison to the swastika. But I am even more sad, and quite frankly angry, at their seeming unwillingness to enter into dialogue about this incident. Twice in the last week I have asked to meet with them - to discuss ... not to punish. And there has been no response, neither from them or from CCSD officials.
The Interfaith Clergy Partnership of Athens has partnered with the Clarke County schools in several ways over the past few years. Our Clergy Partnership was created with four core principles, principles that lift up the values of diversity and inclusion, and we operate with the implicit and explicit understanding that every human being is created in the image of God. And when we make mistakes, which we do, we engage in dialogue and conversation, even when they are difficult and painful, to learn from one another and grow.
As we Jews know from our Brit, our covenant with God, any successful partnership goes two ways. I hope that our educational leaders choose to engage with us as together we learn and grow. They should model the very characteristics that they espouse to their students and school community. And if so, maybe one day they too can repeat Goldberg's words: I am deeply grateful because the information I got helped me understand some different things.
