Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

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Blacks, Jews, and Gender \\ 399 Another difference was emotional: at first we were all feisty and bold, but as time progressed, the Black women remained willing to express their anger while the Jewish women seemed afraid to let theirs out. I'm not sure if this was because the Blacks had more to be angry about, or if we Jews felt our complaints to be less legitimate. But I do know that when one side believes itself less entitled than the other to take ownership of its feelings, the integrity of the dialogue process is fatally compromised. Something else ripped the scales: The Jewish women were willing to be critical of Jewish leaders and to condemn any Jew whose position on Black/Jewish issues seemed misguided. (Sometimes we got too wrapped up in arcane Jewish community politics, as if these "inside baseball" stories were of interest to everyone.) The Black women, on the other hand, always closed ranks around Black leaders. While they were candid about their community's problems, they all seemed to hold the same lockstep views on incidents that involved Blacks and Jews, and they defended any African American with whom the Jewish world found fault. Or, if they had an ideological dispute among themselves—whether on Tawana Brawley or Crown Heights—they chose not to reveal it to us. After a while, we Jews found this united front hard to believe and somewhat disconcerting. Most important, I think the group ran out of steam because each side came in with fundamentally different expectations. The Blacks may have been ready to move from dialogue to action that would address the needs of African Americans, while for Jews, dialogue itself is the need—it's a short term cure for Jewish insecurity. If Blacks are still talking to us, we tell ourselves, maybe the liberal alliance is not dead, maybe we don't have to fear Black Christians as much as white Christians, maybe they won't all gang up on us. I think we could have addressed the needs of both groups if we'd found ways to put our skills and experience to use in the community. Together, we could have tackled a single social issue—perhaps working to combat violence against women, a problem that crosses lines of race, ethnicity, and class. We could have helped start other dialogue groups around the city. We could have gone out in pairs and given talks in schools, churches, and synagogues. We might have traveled together to Israel and Africa, or at least to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D. C., and the Schomberg Center for Research on Black Culture in Harlem. And we should have worked harder to place joint op-eel pieces to counteract the barrage of stories emphasizing Black/Jewish enmity. (Two of us coauthored such a piece in support of David Dinkins' candidacy, but after the New York Times turned us down, we never pursued it further) At this point, coulda-woulda-shoulda is a futile exercise. Suffice it to say, I miss our group enormously and I'd join another Black/Jewish women's dialogue in a minute regardless of the Sturm und Drang that inevitably would repeat itself with a new cast of characters. Why do Jews and African Americans seem to lock horns more than other
400 // LETTV COTTIN POGREBIN minorities? Maybe it's because we take each other seriously. Maybe we still believe that our destinies are interwoven. Or maybe we're inadvertantly performing a service for white Christians—functioning as surrogate combatants for the bigots in the dominant culture. Watching us clash with each other in public, other Americans can let off steam vicariously while avoiding the fury that might otherwise be directed at them. But as we satisfy the media's lust for conflict, Blacks and Jews get sucked into the oldest scam in the world: divide and conquer. It makes no sense for us to pull away from each other. Racist rednecks lump us together; neo-Naxis lump us together; the Klan lumps us together; Posse Comitatus, the Skinheads, the Aryan Nation, and the National Association for the Advancement of White People lump us together. If we were less competitive and more politically savvy we would lump ourselves together, become a lump in America's throat, a pebble in the redneck's shoe, a pea under the mattress of royalty. We would link up and make life uncomfortable for those who hate us. Together our two groups comprise 1 5 percent of the population and much of its moral conscience. Both of us are uppity—we demand the right to look and act differently from whites or Gentiles, and yet to be treated similarly—and our uppityness puts us in the same category as feminists of every stripe. You might say women are the Jews of the world, or Blacks are the Jews of America, or vice versa all around. Despite most Jews having white skin, and despite most Blacks being Gentile, both groups remain perennial outsiders, second-class citizens, just as all women are second class in a world that sees men as the norm. This is an important triple parallelism. History has taught us that the fate of each outgroup is inevitably linked to the destiny of the others. An assault on one presages an attack on the other. Working together, we can be each other's early warning system. It should not take a burning Torah or a flaming cross to make us form a bucket brigade.
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STRUGGLES in the PROMISED LAND
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STRUGGLES in the PROMISED LAND Towa
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"Struggles in the Promised Land," C
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Introduction JACK SALZMAN I 1 The C
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STRUGGLES in the PROMISED LAND
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STRUGGLES IN THE PROMISED LAND intr
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Introduction \\ 3 center of Western
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Introduction \\ 5 against the will
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Introduction \\ 7 work. (The import
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Introduction \\ 9 suddenly, Jews co
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Introduction \\ 11 rise of Nazi pow
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Introduction \\ 13 figures were (an
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Introduction \\ 15 of the power eli
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Introduction \\ 17 friends were cau
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Introduction \\ 19 Mary R. Lefkowit
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THE CURSE OF HAM A Case of Rabbinic
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The Curse of Ham \\ 23 The American
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The Curse of Ham \\ 25 century West
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The Curse of Ham \\ 27 How did the
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The Curse of Ham \\ 29 beard became
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The Curse of Ham \\ 31 be said to r
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The Curse of Ham \\ 33 The Curse of
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'The Curse of Ham \\ 35 became the
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The Curse of Ham \\ 37 means of an
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The Curse of Ham \\ 39 Revue de I'U
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The Curse of Ham \\ 41 explain the
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The Curse of Ham \\ 43 24. Cf. Gene
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The Curse of Ham \\ 45 the son of C
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The Curse of Ham \\ 47 write histor
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The Curse of Ham \\ 49 Some authors
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The Curse of Ham \\ 51 an Ethiopian
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THE MEDIEVAL BACKGROUND WILLIAM CHE
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The Medieval Background \\ 55 and s
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Blackness The Medieval Background \
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The Medieval Background \\ 59 Vince
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The Medieval Background \\ 61 So, a
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The Medieval Background \\ 63 Frenc
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JEWS IN THE SLAVE TRADE three DAVID
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Jews in the Slave Trade \\ 67 Fortu
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Jews in the Slave Trade \\ 69 ed of
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Jews in the Slave Tirade \\ 71 sobe
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'THE LAW OF THE LAND IS THE LAW" An
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The Law of the Land Is the Law \\ 7
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BETWEEN WORDS AND DEEDS Jews and Bl
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 89 group
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 91 Hebre
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 93 ulati
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 95 stran
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 97 How d
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 99 omy t
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 101 or p
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 103 Bene
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Between Words and Deeds \\ 105 37.
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BLACKS AND JEWS The Struggle in the
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Blacks and Jews: The Struggle in th
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Blacks andjeu's: The Struggle in th
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LONG-DISTANCE RUNNERS OF THE CIVIL
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Long-Distance Runners of the Civil
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Long-Distance Runners of the the Ci
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Long-Distance Runner!, of the Civil
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NEGOTIATING COALITION Black and Jew
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 155 compat
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 157 spread
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 159 Presid
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 161 forcea
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 163 is to
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 165 howeve
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 167 its su
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Notes Negotiating Coalition \\ 169
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 171 Finder
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 173 box 17
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Negotiating Coalition \\ 175 jectiv
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BLACK-JEWISH UNIVERSALISM IN THE ER
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Black-Jewish Univenalism in the Era
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Black-Jewish Universalism in the Er
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Black-Jewish U niversalism in the E
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ALLIES OF A DIFFERENT SORT Jews and
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 199 e
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 201 t
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 203 R
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 205 a
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 207 a
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 209 "
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 211 m
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 213 s
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 215 h
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 217 T
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Notes Allies of a Different Sort \\
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 221 1
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 223 A
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 225 3
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 227 t
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Allies of a Different Sort \\ 229 P
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THE NEED TO REMEMBER Three Phases i
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The Need to Remember \\ 233 the ten
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One Significant Example The Need to
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The Need to Remember \\ 237 several
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The Need to Remember \\ 239 The ext
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The Need to Remember \\ 241 tions.
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The Need to Remember \\ 243 and ant
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The Need to Remember \\ 245 narrow
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The Need to Remember \\ 247 pal of
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The Need to Remember \\ 249 7. Ira
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The Need to Remember \\ 251 53; Dic
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The Need to Remember \\ 253 leges i
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The Need to Remember \\ 255 CONINTE
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AFRICAN AMERICANS AND JEWS IN HOLLY
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African Americans and Jews in Holly
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SEPARATE PATHS thirt een Blacks and
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Separate Paths \\ 277 attracted att
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Separate Paths \\ 279 sharecropper
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Separate Paths \\ 281 voter registr
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separate Paths \\ 283 Montgomery bu
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Separate Paths \\ 285 nor in the li
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Separate Paths \\ 287 and sexual co
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Separate Paths \\ 289 by Islam. Afr
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Separate Paths \\ 291 14. "Over the
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Separate Paths \\ 293 42. Powdermak
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Jewish Ideals, J
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Affirmative Action: Jewish Ideals,
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Affirmative Action: Action: Jewish
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APPENDIX Affirmative Action: Jewish
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Notes Affirmative Action: Jewish Id
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Affirmative Action: Jewish Ideals.
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION African American
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Affirmative Action: African America
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"NATION TIME!" Black Nationalism, T
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Nation Time! \\ 343 pcting national
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Nation Time! \\ 345 In spite of the
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Nation Time! \\ 347 case among unto
Page 360 and 361: Nation Time! \\ 349 Likewise, the d
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Page 364 and 365: Nation Time! \\ 353 The far greater
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Page 368 and 369: AFRICAN AMERICANS AND ISRAEL GARY E
Page 370 and 371: African Americans and Israel \\ 359
Page 378 and 379: III African Americans and Israel \\
Page 382 and 383: ON IMAGINING FOES, IMAGINING FRIEND
Page 384 and 385: On Imagining Foes, Imagining Friend
Page 396 and 397: BLACKS, JEWS, AND GENDER nineteen T
Page 398 and 399: Blacks, Jews, and Gender \\ 387 You
Page 400 and 401: Blacks, Jews, and Gender \\ 389 for
Page 402 and 403: Blacks, Jews, and Gender \\ 39! als
Page 404 and 405: Blacks, Jews, and Gender \\ 393 Jr.
Page 406 and 407: Blacks, Jews, and Gender \\ 395 sch
Page 408 and 409: Blacks, Jews, and Gender \\ 397 be
Page 412 and 413: BLACKS AND JEWS A Personal Reflecti
Page 414 and 415: Blacks Blacks and Jews: A Personal
Page 416 and 417: Blacks and Jews: A Personal Reflect
Page 418 and 419: III Blacks Blacks and Jews: A Perso
Page 420 and 421: Blacks and Jews: A Personal Reflect
Page 422 and 423: WALKING THE TIGHTROPE Some Personal
Page 424 and 425: Walking the Tightrope \\ 413 societ
Page 426 and 427: Walking the Tightrope \\ 415 This p
Page 428 and 429: Paul Buhle teaches American Civiliz
Page 430 and 431: Notes on Contributors \\ 419 Theodo
Page 432 and 433: Berman, Paul, ed. Blacks and Jews:
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Page 436 and 437: Bronx (New York): neighborhoods, 18
Page 438 and 439: Douglas, Justice, 337n.l '5 Douglas
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Page 442 and 443: opposition to, 166, 402; withdrawal
Page 444 and 445: Naison, Mark, 206 Nassar, President
Page 446 and 447: Religious Action Center of Reform J
Page 448 and 449: Student Nonviolent Coordinating Com
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