Aging black movie star Whoopi Goldberg puts the Holocaust into perspective. She seems to downplay the racist motivation of Nazi Criminals ... https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/opinion/letters/whoopi-goldberg-holocaust.html Protest against Racism is reserved only for PoC? I don't think that! The persecution of Jews in the Nazi "3rd Reich" was extremely racist. Racism isn't a matter of skin color! Racism is the claim that others who don't belong to my culture/ancestry are natural-born enemies that must be fought.
I agree that the word 'racism' could have a slightly different meaning to a white person than it does to a black person. It's a lot to do about nothing.
Americans don’t have a good sense of ethnicity, unlike in the old world, so, to many american woke, the racism is only interracial hate. This just demonstrates how ignorant american woke are and how shallow their ability to grasp an ethnic conflict is.
From what I've heard, she said something about (this is my paraphrasing): "It wasn't about race, it was about man's humanity of man." I don't really know what she was going for there. If she was lumping all of the camps into "the Holocaust," then maybe? The Nazis also sent homosexuals, feminists, communists, Romani, Freemasons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. to their camps. But there's no doubt that Nazism was based on racial authoritarianism.
Whoopie is a black female with a Jewish-sounding last name, raised in and by a white America. That may save her from harder punishment. Imagine she would be an ethnic white member of the Republican Party ... BTW: I don't want to feed the victim myth of the right-wingers here either. Just my 5 cents.
I just saw her interview on Colbert. Apparently she just didn't view Jewishness as a "race" because people can't necessarily tell you are Jewish just by looking at you. It's still ignorant, but doesn't seem malicious. The Nazis certainly regarded Jewishness as a race and didn't just go based on appearance.
She's very special. That matters a lot today. I love the Western World and its soft spot for birds of paradise.
Racism is called racism because its about race, sooo...... Nazis thought they were a "master race", but that was ignorance on their part, because they were Caucasoid, as were their victims.
I am torn on this issue because I agree with her in some respects although I don't agree with the way she phrased it. The reality is "racism" does not exist between non-Jewish people and Jewish people because the skin color/tone is not differentiable. Sure, a bigot may unleash his/her hatred upon learning that someone is Jewish but it's not likely to happen **solely** because of visual cues. Bigots aren't actually hateful toward non-white people. They are hateful toward people easily identifiable within whatever subset of society they place others. If it was about "race" ALL people of that race would be in their "targeted" group but that's not the case. A very simple example of this is "Barney, the dinosaur". Many parents loved Barney because their children did. Yet, when it was revealed that the person in Barney's costume was black, all hell broke loose. Hitler didn't discriminate people because of their skin color. Jewish people look "white" so unless they are wearing a David cross or self-identify as "Jewish" nobody else would know. That's NOT the same as someone that is easily identified as "non-white". A black or brown or Asian person are instantly identified as "non-white" (therefore, on some skewed chart, inferior). Someone with an accent not directly associated with white people are placed in that same category. With that said, I don't believe that Whoopi was incorrect. Yes, her comments could be misunderstood and the reasoning behind them does appear insensitive, but, ounce for ounce, her position is factual. A Jewish person stepping outside their front door is simply not hated on appearances alone.
I've been targeted as a "Jew boy" based on my appearance. And the Nazis were clear that they were doing this based on race. Just because a race isn't easily identifiable by sight alone doesn't mean it isn't racism. For example, there was an older kid I knew in high school who was mixed race, but could easily pass as white. He lived with his white grandparents and passed as white, hiding the fact that his father was black. When people found out he was black, they harassed him. This was still racism even though his race wasn't easily detectable on sight. I get where she was trying to come from, and I don't really hold it against her, but she was still wrong.
Hitler did discriminate based on race. See Jesse Owens. Hitler went beyond to a master race. See blonde hair versus brown hair. The Jews in Germany were known to be Jewish by where they lived, worked, and their last name, also where they worshipped. What Whoopi said was incorrect. She is ignorant of history. Races have all fought one another throughout time- Asian versus Asian, Black versus Black, White versus White, and Latino versus Latino etc. etc.
I absolutely agree with you, Arleigh. Yes, Hitler did discriminate against people solely because of their race. I'm not questioning that or defending it at all. My point is...if a Jewish person is walking down the street, nobody crossing his/her path would necessarily know they are Jewish (assuming the aren't' wearing a Cross of David, yarmulke or wearing Orthodox clothing. I empathize with all targeted groups because hatred is stupid and counterproductive. If my comments offended you, I am truly sorry. I don't make excuses or rationalization for ANY group of people to be hated and marginalized. P.S. If you so choose, I'm willing to report my post to be removed. Please let me know if that would make you more comfortable.
Yes. I am aware of this and I thank you for sharing your personal experiences that prove my point. Please know that I respect your contributions to this forum and, in no way, was my comment to disparage or minimize what you and your ancestors faced due to racism. I swear to you that was not my intent but accept that my words may have hurt you in some way. For that, I am sincerely apologetic. P.S. If you so choose, I'm willing to report my post to be removed. Please let me know if that would make you more comfortable.
No need at all MJ! I am not offended. Just wanted to offer you a different perspective. You might not know if the person crossing you on the street is Jewish, but if they were speaking the language or with an accent, you may be able to determine. If I was fortunate enough to pass Shakira on the street, I would not know what her ethnicity is, but if she was speaking Spanish as we passed, my guess would be she is a Latina.
When you live in a homogeneous ethnic group, spotting a Jew, while never 100% accurate, is still a fairly easy task. I’m just saying that from my experience growing up in Ukraine - each ethnicity does pose its own distinct visual signs. It’s not difficult for me to spot someone from Ukraine or Russia in an American crowd. In some cases I can even tell a Ukrainian from a Russian apart. You can observe this phenomenon indirectly if you note that most immigrants tend to intermarry within the immigrant community of their own ethnicity, even when they all don’t have problems speaking English and their parents have no ability to influence them. Americans can’t tell the difference because they always see mixes when they are growing up. So, long story short, Germans were attacking Jews for their appearance.
Thanks Arleigh. I am glad that neither you nor @yardmeat were hurt by my post. I totally agree with you!!! My point was simply that, from Goldberg's perspective, Jewish people are not **instantly** categorized on skin color alone.
Of course not, man. It was obviously all in good faith and I can see the point. Whoopie got some things wrong, but I'm not really holding anything against her, and her claims seem to also have been in good faith.
I think this is where Whoopi’s ignorance is on full display. She seems to define racism as only whitey being racist against Blacks. As we know history is full of the complete opposite of her thinking.
There are 4 races in this world. Jews are not one of them. Jew is not a race. Whoppi's problem is that she discounts violence or genocide between white people. It matters more to her if white are victimizing others.
