Living the Dream: Anti-Jewish Microaggressions

I have done implicit bias awareness and anti-racism work over the years in multiple ways and iterations but it never occurred to me to apply it to myself, as Jewish woman. Until now. (Go authoritarian regimes.)

I have spent many years working on the ways I am exhibiting unconscious racism and trying to make my work more equitable and inclusive. One day, after many years of living in the rural South and Midwest, it occurred to me that the term ‘microaggressions’ might explain to me some of the things I experience as a Jewish person in a part of the world where the Klan had a lot of influence for a very long time, and even now, multiple hate groups exist.

I want to be crystal clear from the beginning of this post that I make no equivalence with what I am calling anti-Jewish microaggressions, (nor am I sure they exist), and those of BIPOC[1] peoples. Structural racism permeates every aspect of life in the United States (and many other places) in ways that mean that the cost of all forms of aggression and oppression to indigenous people and people of color cannot ever be compared to the costs that white and white-passing people can ever claim. I am not intending to make any form of comparison that implies otherwise, and in fact, do not intend any comparison at all.

This post is really about some insights I got as Jewish person that the term and concept of ‘microaggression’ helped me name and see. I wondered if other people were having similar experiences and so am writing this post. Derald Wing Sue’s name is most often associated with the term so I am citing one of his articles (Sue, et al, 2007) –- always good to start with a definition. “Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with racial/ethnic minorities” (p. 271). Key here, to my experience, was that there are negative assumptions implied through interaction or framing, and that they are often unconsciously held.

What I suddenly realized one day is that in my interactions with some folks around me, I found that I had to swim upstream against a number of assumptions and prove I was not Z, Y, or Z, before I could be taken seriously. And it occurred to me that a number of those assumptions are ones that are heavily associated with Jewish stereotypes. Some of the things I was dealing with are also stereotypes of women, and I am cis-gender female, so there is some intersectionality at work here. That terms refers to the ways that identities of oppression can overlap, meaning that the person experiencing oppression gets their does in a different way, than, say Jewish man would, in this example.

Before I list some of those assumptions, I want to do one more piece of definitional work – explaining why I am not using the term ‘Anti-Semitic’. As I understand it, that term describes a linguistic category, a family of languages that include Hebrew, Arabic, and many other languages. The peoples who use these languages are so diverse that I am totally clear that I can’t say anything personally that represents anything useful about them as a whole. I am not at all sure I can even say anything that represents most Jews, or even many Jews. Heck, or even some Jews.

OK, those assumptions I was talking about. It was never explicit but I realized (and this is after years of living in the South and the Midwest) that I felt like I often had to prove that I was not:

Narcissistic

Greedy

Selfish

Childish

Insincere

Deceptive

Irrational or Delusional

Hysterical

Making wild assumptions or trying to impose crazy ideas with nothing to support them

Lazy

Over privileged

Insensitive

Secular and non-spiritual

And of course, sometimes I may be some of those things. I would not want to promise, for instance, that when exhausted and frustrated I have never been irrational. Unlikely, really. Really unlikely.

But, generally speaking, when I am trying to make an argument about something, like that it would improve morale if staff members had more secure wages and benefits, I try and make a clear argument, back it with information and data, try and think about ways to frame what I am saying that won’t make assumptions or hurt people inadvertently, etc. But then I find I have to do an extra step, be extra rational, have extra data, because I know I will first have to undermine those (potentially anti-Jewish) assumptions. Do other Jewish folks have this? Do you over-think because people might assume your motivations are selfish or that you are kinda just going off the handle in arguing whatever it is?

And again, this may not the end of the world – Jews are also associated with education and professional expertise – so we have some narratives supporting people listening to us, as well. BIPOC people face challenges I will never fully understand in terms of the conscious and unconscious assumptions being made about them and their motivations. After several tries in multiple forums, I find people do, generally, eventually, take me and my arguments seriously. (Still haven’t gotten anywhere in terms of staff wages and security, but I will keep trying.) It can, however, take exhausting years of repetition and proving over and over that I am a team player and know what I am talking about. And, potentially, proving I am not childish, ill-intentioned, irrational, etc.

Do other Jewish folks in the South and Midwest (or other places and contexts) run into this? Very interested to see if this resonates with anyone.

Sue, Derald Wing and Christina M. Capodilupo. Gina C. Torino, Jennifer M. Bucceri,

Aisha M. B. Holder, Kevin L. Nadal, and Marta Esquilin (2007, May-June). “Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life: Implications for Clinical Practice”. American Psychologist, American Psychological Association, 62 (4), p. 271-286.

[1] The term BIPOC stands for Black Indigenous People of Color.