Congrats on your new job! I’m glad things are working out for you ? A question though-what is the problem with wearing the Star of David to an interview? I’m not trying to be condescending here, I just don’t know much about the Jewish culture and the stigma you face, and I’d like to know more so I can help! ?

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Well, there’s not much you can do to “help”, exactly, other than to promote Jewish voices and you know, speak out against bigotry. But basically, I went to a job interview several months back and wore my David necklace. My Dad was visiting shortly after and I wore my star to dinner. He was asking me how it went and then noticed the necklace and suddenly got very serious and went, “You didn’t wear THAT, did you?!” And when I said yes, he freaked a little.

While my dad was a young professional during the seventies, eighties, and nineties… Anti-Semitism has this sort of odd place within the bigotry/repression sphere, especially in the US. A lot of us are white, so we “pass” for “PROPER” white… As long as we don’t remind people that we’re Jewish (as I’ll get into later, that can be easier said than done) And while the “standards” of “PROPER” white have become more flexible in recent years (it used to be that Pols, Irish, Greeks, and Italians were almost on the same level as Jews in the US). Things have gotten better for a lot of the “non-proper white” groups, and things seemed to be getting better for Jews as well (though our progress has not been what it was for, say, the Pols in America, or the Italians. Keep in mind, when I bring up Pols, I am talking multi-generational Polish AMERICANS, and I am NOT talking about Pols or other Eastern Europeans ESPECIALLY native born and raised Eastern European women, particularly those who are dealing with their own anti-immigrant drama. Don’t let Melania Trump’s golden tower fool you, it can REALLY SUCK being an Eastern European woman) is actually seeming to regress.

Anti-Semitism has a lot of facets to it that allow people to be “subtle” about it. Modern racists have learned this trick to say and do heinous shit to PoC without being too obvious, more or less, their “mainstream”, “alt-right” expressions are in many ways modeled more on the methods of Anti-semitism than, say, a George Wallace speech. Even the old-school racists are starting to do it.

You didn’t hear Donald Trump call anyone that word that starts with “S” and rhymes with “lick.” Yeah, you heard him question a civil court judge’s qualifications to make a ruling on a court case because OF HIS HERITAGE POSSIBLY INTERFERING WITH HIS IMPARTIALITY, but he’s not going to outright call that judge a slur. He can’t just say “Mexicans shouldn’t be allowed to judge me”, he has to do linguistic gymnastics about how said judge, based on his heritage, might be biased by default.

You know how we have all this news about neo-nazis, MRA’s, and White Supremacists using code words and language on search engines or in their writing to say bigoted things or whatever and not be caught in their racism?

Well, that’s no news to Jews. Basically, modern racism has now taken its methods from anti-semitism. It’s the Diet Racism practice, same great bigotry, but with less calories! (But still just as toxic anyways). You’re not going to hear a lot of racists use slurs outside of an anonymous message board. Instead, you’re going to hear bullshit statistics on “Black on Black” crime and the “inner cities” and “exploiting the welfare system and affirmative action”. This has been a growing trend since the 80’s. You won’t hear Trump call anyone the “S” word, you’ll hear about “mexico’s worst being sent over”, “taking our jobs and not paying taxes” and “Puerto Rican immigrants.” “The Jews own Hollywood”, “Those Jews sure have done well for themselves” and “Dear Jewish thing: HERE IS THIS THING I HEARD THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT DID!!” anyone? The group who gets all the old fashioned racism plus the diet stuff are Muslims or really anyone of Middle Eastern heritage.

See, our ability to “pass” and our odd “not proper white” public profile (for those of us who are white) means that people have had to play the mental gymnastics thing with us for a looooong time. It’s not just that we’re “not proper white” of course, it’s that our group has reputations for being “tricky”. So when someone finds out we’re Jewish, ah-hah! And all this time before people thought we were a proper white person! And if we’re upfront about who we are, we’re “shoving it down peoples’ throats”, “trying to co-opt REAL oppression” and, among the most popular among employers, “This person will probably use Jewish Holidays to try and get out of work.”

And since we supposedly “own everything anyways” and “are white, basically” (but not proper white, of course), it’s okay to discriminate against us. There’s no REAL struggle to being a Jew, after all, since they own everything and have lots of money and are white (sigh). (And the Holocaust is over anyways!) The big shadow system of powerful Jewish puppet masters will get me a job. And no , when I bring on the white thing, I’m not saying PoC have it better, or that they’re favored over us. I am saying that bigots like to use any excuse they can to be bigoted, and will use the “Well, she’s white, anyways.” As an excuse. (A lot of anti-Semites don’t even view themselves as bigots, or even anti-Semites, really, even if they are, in fact, hostile towards Jews. Sound familiar?)

They use different excuses for PoC, this is just one the Jews get.

Oh, and if you’re a Jewish PoC? It gets even better, since 1) You’re EVEN CRAFTIER for tricking into people thinking you’re NOT a Jew by… Not being white. ANOTHER JEWISH DECEPTION 2) Your Judaiism is questioned even more because you’re not white, 3) Racist White Jews will reject you, and 4) You still get the bonus of having it assumed that the shadow Jewish network will take care of you 5) Anti-Semitic goyim of color will ostracize you as well and may even start calling you white (Being a Jew is this amazing Catch-22 because we’re stereotyped as being the pinnacle of all pejorative white stereotypes and yet aren’t “proper white”) and 6)Even the people who mean well will treat you like some sort of ethnic punchline “LOL you’re a BLACK/LATINO/ARAB JEW, could you HAVE IT ANY WORSE?!” (I have Black, Jewish cousins who have to deal with this shit. They love being Black and Jewish, are proud to be Black and Jewish, and everyone around them wants to make jokes about how their blackness and Jewishness is a curse.)

There are probably about a million other things because I’m a mostly white Jew. Granted, I don’t “pass” for “proper white” in a way that has nothing to do with my choice in Jewelry. But I’m still clearly white and therefore “white enough” as long as I don’t seem “too Jewish.” Keep in mind, I was often found “too Jewish” BEFORE I EVEN BECAME A PRACTICING JEW. I WAS TOO JEWISH EVEN BACK WHEN I WAS TECHNICALLY CATHOLIC. (But despite the religious contradiction, you apparently can totally be Catholic and Jewish, and indeed, still “too Jewish” despite how often you do to Church. Because Ethnicity and Othering. Since we’re not “really” a religion anyways, you’re still totally Jew despite how devoutly Catholic you are!) I mean, sure, I was raised with Jewish traditions among my Jewish family in a Jewish neighborhood and went to Temple occasionally, but my Mom raised my sister and I Catholic [with Jewish traditions thrown in because my Mom fucking loves Jews so much she married one then threw herself into keeping our heritage in our lives as much as she could short of NOT raising us Catholic. She’s the one who ended up giving me my Star necklace when I converted and got me in touch with a proper school trough her best friend, who is literally a Rabbi.] But even back when my instincts were to make a sign of the cross when shocked and was walking around in my uniform that literally had PAUL VI CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL plastered on it, I had people “guessing” I was Jewish. Even if I didn’t mention my last name. And keep in mind, my first name is ‘Wendy’, which is not exactly Rachel, Ruth, Deborah, Judy, Esther, Rebecca, Sarah, Leah, Haddassah, or Miriam. But, well… Dark hair, dark eyes, wide nose, pale skin, short, high cheek bones…. JEW! You just said “Oy”, JEW!!!

And, in a work place, one of the most popular things to assume our crafty Jewish minds are out to do is get out of work and use our religion/culture as an excuse.

Even a show I love, like Futurama? When, during episodes, the holiday Bender makes up to get out of work? “Robannukah”. They even make an entire section of the holiday special about it, complete with a musical number reminiscent of “Hava Nagila” and the entire Fiddler on the Roof soundtrack and a resolution involving Oil Lasting Much Much Longer Than It Should Have. They don’t treat Kwanzaa with much more respect, but at least include ACTUAL BLACK PEOPLE WHO CELEBRATE IT in the portrayal of it. No Jews in Futurama, unless you count the Hannukah Zombie.

There’s a whole Family Guy sketch where Stewie straight up tells a clueless Rabbi that he thinks his religion is just a scam to get extra holidays off. Never mind that with the two major Christian holidays, ENTIRE WEEKS OFF are given by educational institutions for celebrating it, that Christianity purposely placed the Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter during the Hannukah and Passover seasons, and to up the anti, extended their winter holiday from eight days to TWELVE. Or that the western staple of the weekend (constructed by Christian ruling bodies) being time off is based on them moving their sabbath to Sunday (to ease in Pagans) while ALSO insisting on using our Sabbath as a Day of Rest as well. But yeah, we’re the ones trying to scam our employers to get “extra” days off. You know, because they’re not always the EXACT DAYS Christians have designated as the proper days off. Hell, most Western Jews at this point have basically thrown in the towel, just celebrating many of our High Holy days on a weekend or convenient National Holiday/ regardless of what our calendar says because we so much as ask to leave early on Fridays, it’s us “using our religion” to work less. Meanwhile, predominantly goyim ruling bodies create things like Columbus, Labor, and Arbor Day.

Another favorite excuse from employers about Jews is creating “tension” with Muslim and/or Palestinian employees, which is utterly horriblarious. ESPECIALLY in DC, which has fucking EVERYONE here. Like, I’ve yet to meet a Palestinian (and, actually, a Muslim) that I haven’t gotten along with. Seriously. I’ve had long discussions with Palestinians SPECIFICALLY ABOUT Israel and Palestine and walked away from the encounter WITH THEIR PHONE NUMBER. PALESTINIANS HAVE LITERALLY BOUGHT ME DINNER AFTER TALKING TO ME, KNOWING I WAS JEWISH. A Palestinian who moves to the capital of the Israeli State’s most powerful ally is NOT going to GAF about being around a Jew. If their sensitivities about The Israeli conflict were such that WORKING AROUND A JEW would disrupt their work performance, THEN SO WOULD MOVING TO DC AND SPENDING SEVERAL HOURS A DAY WORKING ON MILITARY CONTRACTS FOR ISRAEL’S CHIEF ALLY. Also, like, you know, all normal people, their goal is to do their job, pay the rent, and not disrupt shit to make anyone’s work life more difficult. But how actual Muslims and Palestinians feel is not really the point. The point is an excuse to be a dick to Jews. TBH, I believe I’d have a better chance of getting a job wearing my star interviewing with a Palestinian or Muslim than I would with a white goyim.

Yeah, so that’s basically it. In certain work places, making it clear you’re a Jew (i.e. Wearing a small necklace with a six pointed star on it) is basically an invitation to “please come up with a bullshit excuse to discriminate against me. I AM THE OTHER.”

My current job is great. I’m on my first couple of days, I’m having fun. The environment here is diverse. The cubicle they gave me already had an equality sticker pinned up and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on my Bombshells Batwoman statue. I’ve mentioned the Jewish thing in conversations about the statue and peoples’ responses are devoid of any hint of issue. I just have to memorize and categorize a lot of stuff.