From: bjag@nwu.edu (Bharathi Jagadeesh)
Subject: Re: Parental racism (was Re: Lighten up people!)
Followup-To: alt.culture.us.asian-indian
Organization: Northwestern University
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 18:02:59 GMT

In article <1992Jul23.183616.16549@novell.com>, mvij@novell.com (Manish
Vij) wrote:
> 
> In article <4432@dove.nist.gov> hira@cme.nist.gov writes:
> 
> >Now for something completely different. How do your parents view race 
> >relations within the US, this is mostly directed towards those who've 
> >grown up here. My folks have sympathy with african americans, but definitely
> >no empathy for them. In fact, they get on my case when I talk down about 
> >white society, and have quite a different perspective towards white society
> >than I do. I have a few ideas about why, but I'd like to hear what other 
> >people think first.
> >
> >Ron

[Manish's stuff about African/Hispanic Americans deleted for now]

> 
> My dad is firmly convinced that Jewish people control the country, especially
> banking and the media, and that they control it in accordance with their
> ethnic views.  I have no opinion on this, except that it is true that
> the Jewish lobby has succeeded in creating a pro-Israeli American
> foreign policy.

> Manish

I understood(kind of) the development of racism against the poorer
minorities in the US (though I certain don't think it's any less bad for
that), but I really don't understand the development of this racism against
Jews. Why do you think your father's developed this "Jews control money &
the press"  mentality? Jews may be over-represented in some of these
fields, but Indian-Americans are certainly over-represented in fields,
too--like engineering, science, and medicine. Even though our numbers might
be high (certainly higher than our % in the population) in those fields, we
certainly don't _control_ them. 

The status of Jews in America is different from Indians, since they've been
here longer (and they're white), but they, too, still form a minority of
members of those fields. In fact, it hasn't been that long since
Jewish-Americans couldn't get jobs in most of the larger law firms in the
country (maybe 25 years, or the same length of time blacks have been able
to vote in the south). Jewish-Americans still face discrimination (though
certainly not nearly as strong as that against blacks & hispanics)

I have always been (and continue to be) an opponent of many of Israel's
policies & supporter of the Palestinians. I do believe that the
Jewish-American lobby has influenced American Israeli policy negatively
(though it is certainly also influenced by discomfort with the third world,
anti-communist sentiment, and anti-Arab sentiment present in the general
population--and these factors may in fact be the dominant ones in the
formation of America's Israeli policy). However, I'm troubled by how easily
even immigrants (particularly Indians, who I see as being similar to Jews
in their economic status) seem to accept the anti-semetic myth that "Jews
control everything." 

So going back to the question, how do you think your father built up these
sentiments? Did he encounter Jewish people in the bank? Does he have a
Jewish boss?

I'll comment on Indian racism against blacks (from my personal point of
view) later. I've never really examined my parents opinions on this
question and I'll have to probe them about it. 

I've always assumed that they aren't racist, because I & my siblings aren't
(at least as much as you _can_ not be racist living with racism in our
society). My sister's working w/ the NAACP legal defense fund this summer &
my other sister has been teaching in a predominantly black neighborhood in
LA. My parents are liberals (they are socially conservative--that is don't
believe in divorce, premarital sex, etc.-- but in general their liberal
sentiments have overpowered their conservative stands on those issues). So
I'd expect them not to have many racist sentiments. But we'll have to see. 

Incidentally, while I mention my parents: if there are folks out there who
know them and not me could you mail me before you make comments to my
parents about my posts? I wouldn't write anything I wouldn't be willing to
tell my parents, but it's weird, having my parents parrot back my posts to
me third hand. 

Bharathi Jagadeesh                 bjag@nwu.edu