Sharing from a friend!
Dave,
What you have heard is the prevailing white Jewish viewpoint on who is a Jew. However, the people who now occupy Palestine immigrated from all over Europe and other parts of the world. Their leaders were Zionist and had been looking for an area to establish a country for Jews since the early 1900's. They even considered settling in Uganda and some say establishing a system similar to the apartheid system that Jews helped initiate with Dutch and English settlers in what is now South Africa.
I had a minor in history when I attended American University (AU) and had to be well versed on such issues to combat the racist assertions made by Jewish students and some of my Jewish professors. I was one of a very few black students on the AU campus during the 1960's. Throughout my time at AU, I spent endless hours on weekends at the Library of Congress reviewing historical documents to stay ahead of these racists in our classroom debates. I suspect that you and Wilt may have had similar experiences at the University of Kansas as star athletes.
You may want to obtain a book by Jefferson Morley "Snowstorm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835." American History conveniently omits the fact that Francis Scott Key was an ardent racist who defended the continuation of slavery in the District of Columbia as the district attorney.
I have always believed that if 'true history' was taught in public schools that it would cause black students to have a far greater interest in learning about the past and give them a better understanding of the present and prepare them to effectively address issues on race in the future. Color still matters in America.
I was told by a Jew that I work with say the only way to be an authentic Jew you to be born of a Jewish mother.
Dave
Jim,
When I lived and worked in New York City many years ago, I became aware of black jews. One of the NYPD's top cops at that time DeForrest Taylor was a black Jew. Controversy has surrounded African Americans who have claimed that they are black Jews and many white Jews reject such claims outright. Ethiopians have been permitted to migrate to Israel, but many media reports indicate they have been forced to lived apart from white Jews.
I don't know what to make of the naming of a Ethiopian as Miss Black Israel.
Clarence
President Obama Meets with First-Ever Ethiopian Crowned Miss IsraelIsrael is putting its best face forward for President Obama, and what better face to put forward for America's first black president than Israel's first black beauty queen? The newly crowned Miss Israelis an Ethiopian Jewish immigrant to Israel .
She is joining Obama Thursday for the official state dinner in Jerusalem . Ethiopian immigrants have struggled to integrate into Israeli society, but Obama will be getting a taste of some of their recent success stories.
A few weeks ago, more than a quarter of all Israeli TV viewers watched the judges announce the new Miss Israel of 2013.
Titi is her name, short for Yityish Aynaw. She was the only black finalist in this year's beauty pageant and she has become Israel 's first black beauty queen. She's tall, commanding, and outspoken.
"It's time that someone from my community, someone with my skin color, who is Israeli just like everyone else, represent the country," Aynaw said.
What captivated the judges was not only her beauty, but also her life story.
Born in a small town, Titi was orphaned by the time she was about 10. She moved to Israel to live with her grandparents, who had already left Ethiopia for a new life here.
Titi said as an Ethiopian Jew, she grew up with stories about the Land of milk and honey, but her new life in Israel wasn't all milk and honey.
Titi hardly remembered her grandparents. She was sent to an Israeli boarding school without knowing a word of Hebrew. Some of her classmates made fun of her Ethiopian name, Yitayish.
"What is 'Yitayish?' This is my name. but it sounds weird," she says. "There were times they'd call me 'Tayish.' In Hebrew that's a kind of animal. You know?"
But she was proud of her Ethiopian heritage, and unlike many other Ethiopian Jewish immigrants who took on Hebrew names, she kept her own.
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