Aninejay Mandaday
Aug 25, 2017 · 2 min read

Yes, we have work to do specific to being descendants of the Jewish Diaspora who have phenotypes that Whiteness currently superficially permits itself to be projected upon, and yes, a goodly portion of that work involves owning and challenging our skin privilege and the insidious cognitive limits that can come with it.

That said, no, we are not White. In truth, most folks who reify that particular dominance category by embracing its conditional projection onto their bodies don’t qualify for Whiteness per the founding principles of Whiteness in general nor for the specific variation of Whiteness defined as such by U.S. White Nationalists. Each and every time someone (whether or not they qualify for Whiteness per its own defining characteristics) insists on continuing to identify as such, Whiteness as a dominance category is strengthened and reified. The inverse of the ’90s zine Race Traitor’s tagline, “Treason to Whiteness is Loyalty to Humanity” is equally true: Loyalty to Whiteness is Treason to Humanity. White Supremacist Nationalism cannot and will not end until and unless the social construction of Whiteness is set aside as the toxic, thieving lie it is.

We can recognize our skin privilege, resist and use it in service of struggle and solidarity, name and call out Whiteness and White Supremacy and White Nationalism, and all without reifying the most successfully murderous anti-Semitic, anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, anti-immigrant, misogynist, racist et al. dominance category of the last 5,000+ years. Many Ashkenazim have done and many continue to do so every day. Rejecting a White identity label doesn’t require co-opting PoC either. Non-white is one among many existing terms currently in use.

And that said, how exactly is asserting this — “People of color see us as white — try asking one of them.” — anything other than a bouquet of fuckery? People of Color are a monolith now? Any one can speak for all the rest? And you can accurately predict what every last one of ThemTM will say? And anyone not identifying as such should feel free to pick one at random and accost them with questions about anti-Semitism, Jewishness, and race in the current U.S. variation on white supremacist nationalism? Are you next going to ‘defend’ this reeking bouquet by insisting you have PoC friends/family members/mentors/coworkers who agree with you?

Or will you be a bit more suprisingly honest and do a bit more legwork, perhaps beginning right here with someone who not only doesn’t agree with your weak defense of clinging to a dominance category (ostensibly) in the name of justice, but sees such thinking as an active impediment to the urgently needed anti-racist work of resisting and defeating U.S. white nationalism?

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