text:
Exploring My Identity
Explore the complexities of our own identities, and how these identities shape the way we view and act in the world.
Enduring Understandings
- Our identities are complex and shifting, and shape the way we move through the world.
- Jewish identity is not simple and homogenous, but complex and changing.
Essential Questions
- What are the parts of your identity?
- What are the factors that influence our own identities (those identities that we choose and those that are imposed on us by others)?
- How does your identity change, or how might parts of your identity come into conflict, in different contexts?
- What stereotypes do we have about Jews in America?
Materials Required
- 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 index cards (some colored)
- Unlined white paper
- Copies of one of the document studies
Notes to Teacher
This lesson explores issues of identity, race, and Jewishness. Therefore, the documents intentionally focus on the experiences of Jews who are not white. There are many other facets of Jewish identity worthy of exploration which are not addressed directly in this lesson.
Prior to class, review the introductory essay and the four different Document Studies. Choose one Document Study to use with your class, based on which you think will lead to the most productive conversation. The discussion questions for each document can be found in each Document Study. Alternatively, you can divide your class into four groups and have each group focus on a different document and then come back together to share and discuss larger themes. (The directions in Part II of this lesson are for using one document with the whole class, but can be easily adapted.)
The "Defining My Identity" index card activity can be done before or after the Document Study. It is designed to introduce concepts of identity to students who have not yet engaged in identity exploring activities; if your students have already done identity exploration work, you may want to skip this activity entirely.
American Jews, Race, Identity, and the Civil Rights Movement
Introductory Essay for Living the Legacy Unit 1, Lessons 1-4
In every generation, people shape their sense of themselves and their place in society within the frameworks defined by their local community and the larger national community. What does it mean to be white? What constitutes Jewishness? (Is it a race? An ethnicity? A religion? A nationality?) The answers to these questions are not fixed but rather are constantly shifting, especially in a modern context in which people have multiple, sometimes competing, identities.
Race may, at first glance, seem to be the most immutable identity – existing "in the blood" or written on one's skin – but it is actually fluid. Before the mid-19th century, European immigrants to the United States were mostly absorbed into the white population, and Jews – though considered religiously "other" and often socially separate – were not viewed in racial terms. But the rise of mass immigration from Europe, beginning in the 1840s, brought in a new wave of immigrants too large to be easily assimilated, and this new social reality of large urban populations with a heavy European immigrant flavor led to a recasting of racial categories and relations. The ruling elite classes (predominantly wealthy, American-born Protestants) expressed their fears of "race suicide" as the "native" stock was infiltrated and overrun by these "inferior races" first from Ireland and then from Eastern and Southern Europe. This immigration wave brought nearly 2 million Jews to the United States, outnumbering the German Jewish elite who had arrived in the mid-19th century and transforming the American Jewish community, which had been predominantly Sephardic (of Spanish/Portuguese origin), into a predominantly Ashkenazi population, as it remains today.
The new racism that arose in response to the immigration wave was rooted in supposed science – intelligence tests and a eugenics movement that focused on breeding "better" people, as opposed to the "feebleminded" Eastern Europeans, Mexicans, Asians, Native Americans, and African Americans. This "scientific racism" justified the passage of legislation that outlawed Chinese immigration (Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882) and heavily restricted immigration except from Northern Europe (Johnson Act of 1924). The government and businesses limited the social mobility of those "inferior races" who had already settled in the US through policies such as quotas in higher education, corporate hiring restrictions, and, in the postwar period, federal housing loan policies that enforced racial segregation and subsidized the suburbanization of white populations.
In this context of changing perceptions of race, the racial identification of Jews underwent significant shifts. On one level, most Jews were always considered white in that they were permitted to become naturalized citizens – a right reserved only for "free white persons," according to the 1790 law set in place by the first Congress. But during the years of the large wave of immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe (roughly 1880-1924), Jews were counted among the many European groups (the 1911 Dillingham Commission Report on Immigration identified 36 different European races) classified as not quite white, or racially "other." (Some Jews, for example, were classified as "Hebrew.") Who fell into this racially suspect category depended on who was seen as different, unassimilable, or a threat to the nation, as well as who was perceived as providing essential (though devalued) labor. In the 1860s, the Irish were singled out for their savagery and racial weakness; by the end of the 19th century, Jews often bore the brunt of anti-immigration racism, targeted as the racial scourge overrunning and infecting urban areas. Political cartoons, for example, often depicted Jews as dirty, diseased, and criminal. Though expressed in racial terms, this anti-immigrant sentiment also intersected with fears of the rising working class and of political radicalism.
This racial definition of Jewishness, though derogatory when applied by non-Jews, could also serve a positive purpose for Jews. Many Jews embraced race as something that united them – a kind of identity deeper than belief or religious practice, something primal, defying assimilation. Racial identification resonated with a Jewish sense of peoplehood – an identification that was not entirely captured by the definition of Jewishness as solely a religious identity – and fulfilled the desire to preserve a minority identity.
Soon after the Johnson Act effectively closed the door on immigration from anywhere but Northern Europe, conventional wisdom on racial classification moved toward the recognition of three main races: Caucasian, Mongoloid, and Negroid. This meant that the many different European races – including Jews – were consolidated into a monolithic category of Caucasian whiteness, and the primary racial distinction in America became the black/white binary.
Several factors led to this consolidation of whiteness. In light of the severe immigration restriction, those formerly considered "racially other" now posed less of a threat. Without a steady stream of new immigrants, the Eastern and Southern European populations were now predominantly American born, not immigrants themselves, and thus seemed less different and more easily assimilable. At the same time, the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural South to urban North and West between 1910s and 1940s threw the distinction between black and white into sharper relief.
The involvement of African Americans in World War II also caused a major shift in racial issues on the home front. The dissonance African Americans experienced between fighting for democracy abroad but being denied its benefits at home led to a surge in civil rights activism, particularly around segregation of the armed forces and the defense industries. As segregation (also known as "Jim Crow") became the central American racial issue, racial differences among whites became less important. By emphasizing the black/white binary, Jim Crow could work to solidfy the whiteness of certain groups, such as Jews, who had previously been considered ambiguously white. Finally, Nazi Germany served as a sharp reminder of the horrific dangers of race-based classifications.
After World War II, Jewishness remained a social distinction but no longer a racial one. For example, Jews were allowed to move into white suburban neighborhoods that the Federal Housing Authority policy determined were only for people of the "same social and racial classes" (though some communities instituted housing covenants that excluded Jews). "Ethnicity" became the new language to describe difference among whites, now seen as cultural – a distinction that further entrenched the black/white divide by implying that racial differences go deeper than cultural differences. The new racial system defined whiteness as the "normal" American state, and blackness as a racial problem.
Many scholars have argued that Jews in the South were the first Jews to see themselves as white, but the case of Leo Frank makes clear that they occupied an ambiguous middle category of racial outsider. In April 1913, a 14-year-old white girl was murdered in a pencil factory in Atlanta, and Leo Frank, a Jewish part-owner and manager of the factory, was convicted of the crime based on the testimony of a black janitor. When his sentence was commuted by the Governor in August 1915, a mob pulled him out of the prison where he was being held and lynched him. That a supposedly white man could be convicted based on the testimony of a black man, and the use of lynching as the method of (illegally) meting out his punishment, demonstrates the contingency of Frank's perceived whiteness.
Throughout the postwar period, the social position of Jews in the South was precarious, despite the fact that Southern Jews were among those Jews with the longest roots in the US. Jews in the South were accepted as part of the social fabric, and in many cities were prominent business people who often ran the local store, but they were also seen as different from other whites and somewhat suspect, and in some cases excluded along with blacks. They had to work hard to fit in, and many Jews were reluctant to take action that would set them apart from the other white community leaders. They felt they needed to assure their own equality and security first, and therefore were often hesitant to engage in overt, public civil rights activism, though some supported civil rights in quiet, private ways.
While for some Southern Jews, association with the Civil Rights Movement confirmed for their white neighbors a lingering sense that Jews were racially tainted, for many Northern Jews, involvement in the Civil Rights Movement served to further solidify Jewish whiteness. Allying themselves with blacks cast into sharper relief the whiteness of Jews – ironically, since many Jews were motivated to civil rights activism by a sense of identification with African Americans and a persistent sense of "otherness" despite having, by and large, "made it" in America.
Today, many American Jews retain an ambivalence about whiteness, despite the fact that the vast majority have benefited and continue to benefit from white privilege. This ambivalence stems from many different places: a deep connection to a Jewish history of discrimination and otherness; a moral imperative to identify with the stranger; an anti-universalist impulse that does not want Jews to be among the "melted" in the proverbial melting pot; an experience of prejudice and awareness of the contingency of whiteness; a feeling that Jewish identity is not fully described by religion but has some ethnic/tribal component that feels more accurately described by race; and a discomfort with contemporary Jewish power and privilege.
And of course, while there is a tendency in the US, where the majority of Jews are of Eastern European descent, to assume a shared white racial identity for Jews, many Jews are in fact not white. Throughout history, Jews have come in all colors and from all places, and have almost always lived multicultural lives. The "mixed multitude" of the Jewish people include Jews from Arab lands (Mizrahi Jews), Jews with roots in Spain and Portugal (Sephardic Jews), and Jews from India, Asia, and Africa, some of whose ancestors may have been separated from the rest of the Jewish community many centuries ago. There are many Jews of color whose families have been Jewish for generations, if not centuries. In an American context that increasingly values diversity, the backgrounds and colors of the Jewish community are also enriched by adoption, intermarriage, and conversion. The Institute for Jewish and Community Research, an organization that studies the demography of the Jewish people, estimates that at least 20% of the American Jewish population is what they term "racially and ethnically diverse, including African, African American, Latino (Hispanic), Asian, Native American, Sephardic, Mizrahi and mixed-race Jews by heritage, adoption, and marriage."
Just as the definition of racial categories in America is always shifting, as illustrated by changes in the options for racial self-definition on the US Census, so, too, does the definition of Jewish identity and the image of what Jewish looks like continue to change.
Defining My Identity
- Hand out one colored index card to each student. Ask your students:
- If I were to ask you right now "Who are you?" what are the first five things that would come into your head? "I am a…." Write these five things down on your index card.
- Explain to your students: Today we'll be talking about identity, a term that's often thrown around without much exploration. The exercise we just did on the index cards is meant to help us think more concretely about the concept of identity by naming some aspects of our own lives by which we define ourselves. The five things we each listed on our cards represent facets of our identities and should help us understand that our identities are complex and change over time and in different contexts.
- Have each student find someone else in the class with which they share at least one thing in common from their list. Give each pair a piece of white paper and have the students draw a Venn diagram of their identity lists showing in what ways their identities are similar (overlap) and in what ways they are different. Once the diagrams are drawn have your students discuss whether there are things from the other person's list that they would have added to their list if they could have written down more than five things? Write these items next to the Venn diagram.
- Have your students come back together as a class and ask a few of the groups to share their Venn diagrams. Ask your class:
- What about the similarities and/or differences we found in each other's identities surprised you?
- Think to yourself: what things came to mind that you chose not to include in your list or Venn diagram?
- Ask your students to return to their index card and think about which things they would remove or add if they were filling it out in a different setting: at their school; while doing their favorite activity or hobby; while in their own neighborhood; at synagogue; at camp.
- When all of your students have had a chance to write down their new identity list, ask the following questions:
- What things remained the same when you revised your list?
- What did you delete or add when you revised your list?
- If your lists are different, why do you think this is?
- How do you think a setting/group of people might change the way you think about your identity?
- How do you think a setting/group of people might change the way you choose to present your identity? (i.e. are there times that you would choose to wear or not wear a piece of jewelry with a Jewish star? What other examples can you think of with other aspects of your identity?)
- What assumptions do people make about you – accurately or inaccurately? What parts of your identity do most people "see" from looking at or speaking with you?
- Which parts of your identity are only "visible" if you choose to express them?
- What do you think this means about our identities?
- Remind students to consider again:
- What did you think of, but choose not to say aloud?
- If you are teaching Unit 1, Lesson 2, collect your students' index cards and Venn Diagrams and keep them to be used for the beginning of that lesson.
Document Study
- Hand out the Document Study you chose for your class.
- As a class, discuss the first set of questions that precede the chosen article or portrait. (Discuss these questions before reading any of the text. The discussion will be based on the title of the article or on visual analysis of the photograph.) You may want to list your students' assumptions about this individual on a chalk board, white board, or chart paper at the front of the class so that they can be referred to later in this activity.
- Have a couple of students read aloud the text (article or transcript) featured in the Document Study.
- As a class, discuss the second set of questions (which follow the article or transcript). Try to draw out from the discussion the following main themes: how the person feels about his/her identity, are any parts of his/her identity in conflict and why, to what degree does s/he have a choice about his/her identity, and do other people see him/her the way s/he sees herself. Give your students as many opportunities as possible to also reflect on their own experiences related to identity.
Reiterate to your students some of the following ideas:
- Just because we are all Jews doesn't mean we are all identical or all value the same things.
- Like all of you and [name of the person whose document you studied], Jewish people have always had and will continue to have complex identities.
- Some parts of Jews' identities have been chosen, and some parts of their identities have been imposed by others. (You may want to give some examples here taken from individuals your class has already studied during the year.)
- Whether chosen by them or given by others, these identities have affected how Jews—and all people—have seen themselves and how they've acted in the world around them.
My Personal Story: Kimchee on the Seder Plate
Discussion Questions (Part 1) - Before Reading
- How does the image this title conjures up fit with your idea of a Passover seder? How is it similar or different?
- What might be some reasons to have kimchee on a seder plate?
- What assumptions might someone make about the author of this article just based on her name and the title of the article?
My Personal Story: Kimchee on the Seder Plate
One year my mother put kimchee, a spicy, pickled cabbage condiment, on our seder plate. My Korean mother thought it was a reasonable substitution since both kimchee and horseradish elicit a similar sting in the mouth, the same clearing of the nostrils. She also liked kimchee on gefilte fish and matza. "Kimchee just like maror, but better," she said. I resigned myself to the fact that we were never going to be a "normal" Jewish family.
I grew up part of the "mixed multitude" of our people: an Ashkenazi, Reform Jewish father, a Korean Buddhist mother. I was born in Seoul and moved to Tacoma, Washington, at the age of five. Growing up, I knew my family was atypical, yet we were made to feel quite at home in our synagogue and community. My Jewish education began in my synagogue preschool, extended through cantorial and rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College (HUC), and continues today. I was the first Asian American to graduate from the rabbinical program at HUC, but definitely not the last--a Chinese American rabbi graduated the very next year, and I am sure others will follow.
As a child, I believed that my sister and I were the "only ones" in the Jewish community--the only ones with Asian faces, the only ones whose family trees didn't have roots in Eastern Europe, the only ones with kimchee on the seder plate. But as I grew older, I began to see myself reflected in the Jewish community. I was the only multiracial Jew at my Jewish summer camp in 1985; when I was a song-leader a decade later, there were a dozen. I have met hundreds of people in multiracial Jewish families in the Northeast through the Multiracial Jewish Network. Social scientist Gary Tobin numbers interracial Jewish families in the hundreds of thousands in North America.
As I learned more about Jewish history and culture, I found it very powerful to learn that being of mixed race in the Jewish community was not just a modern phenomenon. We were a mixed multitude when we left Egypt and entered Israel, and the Hebrews continued to acquire different cultures and races throughout our Diaspora history. Walking through the streets of modern-day Israel, one sees the multicolored faces of Ethiopian, Russian, Yemenite, Iraqi, Moroccan, Polish, and countless other races of Jews--many facial particularities, but all Jewish. Yet, if you were to ask the typical secular Israeli on the street what it meant to be Jewish, she might respond, "It's not religious so much, it's my culture, my ethnicity." If Judaism is about culture, what then does it mean to be Jewish when Jews come from so many different cultures and ethnic backgrounds?
As the child of a non-Jewish mother, a mother who carried her own distinct ethnic and cultural traditions, I came to believe that I could never be "fully Jewish" since I could never be "purely" Jewish. I was reminded of this daily: when fielding the many comments like, "Funny, you don't look Jewish," or having to answer questions on my halakhic status as a Jew. My internal questions of authenticity loomed over my Jewish identity throughout my adolescence into early adulthood, as I sought to integrate my Jewish, Korean, and secular American identities.
It was only in a period of crisis, one college summer while living in Israel, that I fully understood what my Jewish identity meant to me. After a painful summer of feeling marginalized and invisible in Israel, I called my mother to declare that I no longer wanted to be a Jew. I did not look Jewish, I did not carry a Jewish name, and I no longer wanted the heavy burden of having to explain and prove myself every time I entered a new Jewish community. She simply responded by saying, "Is that possible?" It was only at that moment that I realized I could no sooner stop being a Jew than I could stop being Korean, or female, or me. I decided then to have a giyur (conversion ceremony), what I termed a reaffirmation ceremony in which I dipped in the mikvah and reaffirmed my Jewish legacy. I have come to understand that anyone who has seriously considered her Jewish identity struggles with the many competing identities that the name "Jew" signifies.
What does it mean to be a "normal" Jewish family today? As we learn each other's stories we hear the challenges and joys of reconciling our sometimes competing identities of being Jewish while also feminist, Arab, gay, African-American, or Korean. We were a mixed multitude in ancient times, and we still are. May we continue to see the many faces of Israel as a gift that enriches our people.
Discussion Questions (Part 2) - After Reading
- If Angela Warnick Buchdahl were to do the 5 part identity activity we did earlier, how might she have filled out her card?
- What made Angela uncomfortable with her identity?
- Has there ever been a situation in which your identity has made you uncomfortable or the actions of others have caused you to question some part of your identity?
- Do you agree or disagree with Angela's mother? Is it possible to change your identity? Why or why not?
- Angela Warnick Buchdahl describes a changing Jewish community. Do you think if she were a child today she would be more comfortable with her identity? What role do you think community plays in identity?
- Angela mentions the "many competing identities that the name 'Jew' signifies." What do you think some of these identities might be? Do you struggle with any of them?
- Revisit the assumptions made about Angela Warnick Buchdahl and her article before you read it. How many of the assumptions were correct? How many were inaccurate? To what degree do we judge someone else's identity by visual clues and/or names?
Ashkenazi Eyes
Discussion Questions (Part 1) - Before Reading
- What kind of image does this title conjure up? What do you think "Ashkenazi eyes" look like? Do you think this description is positive or negative?
- What assumptions might someone make about the author of this article based on her name and the title of the article?
- "Ashkenazi Eyes" is part of a book entitled The Flying Camel: Essays on Identity by Women of North African and Middle Eastern Jewish Heritage. What images and perspectives does this title conjure up for you? What impact does this have on your responses to the previous questions?
Ashkenazi Eyes
When I was a child, I had a hard time saying I was American. If pressed, I said I was Californian. Los Angeles, where I grew up among diverse cultures, felt more accessible and familiar than the great expanse of America, with my images of Dick-and-Jane families who were far away from my frames of reference. My world was multicultural—from the intimacy of my home, shared with my Iraqi-Indian Jewish father and Russian-American Jewish mother, to our circles of friends, to my schools.
My Jewishness factored significantly into my struggle with claiming American identity. My neighbor, for example, regularly reminded me that I was not welcome in her house on Christmas Day, though she was happy to be my best friend the other 364 days a year. My early idealism also factored into the equation: even at a young age, I was painfully aware that America had not lived up to its credos. I stopped saying "and justice for all" during the Pledge of Allegiance once I learned about the experience of African Americans.
Discussions with my immigrant father, who appreciated the freedoms he found in this country, forced me to question my distancing from American identity. As I learned about the history of activism in this country, I came to see that the very struggles to realize America's promise of democracy, liberty, and equality are in fact a quintessential part of what it means to be American. This perspective afforded me a window through which I might comfortably claim being American.
When I traveled to other parts of the world, I realized that I had no choice but to identify as American—both because of personal experiences of feeling foreign and because through the eyes of people of other nationalities, there was little chance I would be mistaken for anything but American.
Still, "American" continues to fall short of representing my cultural identity or even nationality. Even "American Jew" does not fully describe me, because the term conjures up images that reflect only half of me—bagels and lox, Woody Allen, the Holocaust, yarmulkes, and ancestors from Eastern European shtetls. People do not seem to realize that "American Jew" also means chiturni for dinner, a hamsa around the neck to ward off the Evil Eye, a henna party before marriage, and ancestors from Poona, India and Basra, Iraq.
I have hazel-green eyes—"Ashkenazi eyes," people tell me. These eyes and light skin conceal my Iraqi-Indian heritage, rendering half of me invisible. Before speaking with me about my experience or background, most people presume I am Jewish, and by that they mean Ashkenazi or white. Because I am especially close to my father's side of the family, it is difficult to have my ethnicity defined by others in a way that does not recognize my Mizrahi identity. People who are dark-skinned or still hold traces of an accent may tire of the question, "Where are you from?" But I would welcome the rare opportunity to round out people's perceptions of me.
Discussion Questions (Part 2) - After Reading
- If Julie Iny were to do the 5 part identity activity we did earlier, how might she have filled out her card?
- With what part of her identity was Julie uncomfortable? Why?
- Has there ever been a situation in which your identity has made you uncomfortable or the actions of others have caused you to question some part of your identity?
- What experiences and knowledge help Julie Iny come to terms with part of her identity? Why did she need to come to terms with it? Is it possible to change one's identity?
- With what part of her identity does Julie still struggle? How do the actions of strangers reinforce this struggle?
- What kinds of assumptions might people make about your identity?
- Revisit the assumptions made about Julie Iny and her article before you read it. How many of the assumptions were correct? How many were inaccurate? To what degree do we judge someone else's identity by visual clues and/or names?
Claire Saxe Interview excerpts
My name's Claire Saxe, I'm 16 years old.
My father is mostly Russian, and my mom is I think about half Russian, my grandmother is part Native American. She's Ojibwe and lives on an Indian reservation in northern Wisconsin.
I'm not very religious. I think 3/4 of my family either is or was Jewish at one point in their life, but I'm not really religious at all. Whenever people ask what religion I am, I mention that parts of my family are Jewish but I'm not religious, but I think culturally I identify more with being part Native American than I do with being part Jewish. Which is interesting, because I'm such a small percentage Native American, but I think just because I've been to the reservation every year since I was a baby, I'm so familiar with the culture and everything because of my grandma, it feels closer to me than Judaism does.
In 6th grade I did research on Ojibwe religion, 'cause when all my friends were getting Bat Mitzvahed and I was like well, maybe I can find something of my own. And it wasn't really what I had sort of romanticized it to be, but there's still something that it has been in my head all these years that I like, and I'm not really sure what you'd call that. I mean, I really like the idea of being connected to nature and your surroundings, and acknowledging the life of everything around us, and it's sort of spirit and existence. I find that really comforting, you know feeling at home, and feeling like I'm not alone when I'm in a forest surrounded by trees, because everything around me is alive…
When I was about 13 and all my friends were getting Bat Mitzvahed I was kind of upset, and I asked my mom why she hadn't made me Jewish when she had the chance. And I guess part of me does still want that a lot, sort of wants to have that identity, to have that part of myself more concretely. But religion now isn't a part of my identity so much, because I didn't have any sort of religious experience growing up. So I don't think I need it, I'm not dependent on it. But if I grow up and find something that feels right, I think I would like to have that as part of who I am, and to pass on to my children, so they do have that. And since such a large part of my family and a large part of my ancestors were Jewish, I'd probably investigate that first. But it's not something that I'm yearning for and that I need, because it's not something that I've had my whole life.
Discussion Questions (Part 1) - Looking at the Photograph
- Describe what you see in this picture. How is this girl posed? What is she wearing? Where is she sitting? How would you describe her expression?
- What do you think this girl is communicating to you as the viewer?
- Does she seem approachable? Reserved? Other?
- Based upon what you see in the picture, what assumptions might someone make about the identity of this girl? What is the basis for those assumptions?
Discussion Questions (Part 2) - After Reading Transcript
- If Claire Saxe was to do the 5 part identity activity we did earlier, how might she have filled out her card?
- What parts of her identity have caused Claire to do research about her people and religion? Do you think the research has helped her become more comfortable with who she is? Why or why not?
- Describe a situation in which what others were doing has caused you to question some part of your identity.
- Only a fraction of Claire's heritage is Ojibwe but this is the strongest part of her identity. What has reinforced this part of her identity? How do you think experiences in our lives help shape our identity?
- What is an experience that has helped shape your identity?
- Revisit the assumptions made about Claire Saxe before you read her transcript. How many of the assumptions were correct? How many were inaccurate? To what degree do we judge someone else's identity by visual clues and/or names?
Jacob Goldstein interview excerpt
My name is Jacob Goldstein and I'm 15.
My father was Belizean, my mom is American, and I'm Jewish. So I'm one of a kind, you could say. I didn't know my dad because he died when I was little. But I grew up with my mom, and she's raised me all by herself, and she's done a great job.
A lot of people thought I was adopted. but, when people think I'm adopted, I really don't think anything of it, I just have to tell them that, no she's my mom and my dad was Black.
I identify myself as being Black, but I also identify myself as being Jewish too. I think of myself more as an individual than like any other person, because I'm both, like I'm Jewish and I'm black, so I'm different than most other people. I like being different than other people, I like being a leader, I don't like to follow other people and, what they do.
People base too much on the way people look, like the way people dress, like they look at me, and might think, like, I'm in a gang or something. That's just because of the way I dress. You can't really put an identity on someone that you don't really know. When people don't know that much about you and you're just like, oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm Jewish, they're like, what? That's something they'd never expect.
Discussion Questions (Part 1) - Looking at the Photograph
- Describe what you see in this picture. How is this boy posed? What is he wearing? Where is he sitting? How would you describe his expression?
- What do you think this boy is communicating to you as the viewer?
- Does he seem approachable? Reserved? Other?
- Based upon what you see in the picture, what assumptions might someone make about the identity of this boy? What is the basis for those assumptions?
Discussion Questions (Part 2) - After Reading Transcript
- If Jacob Goldstein was to do the 5 part identity activity we did earlier, how might he have filled out his card?
- Jacob says that people often make assumptions about him based on his skin color or the way he dresses (e.g. that he is adopted or that he is a member of a gang). He also says that people are surprised to learn that he's Jewish. How do you think these experiences shape the ways that Jacob thinks about and expresses his identity?
- How might people judge you based on what they can see? How does that influence the ways you think about and express your identity?
- Why does Jacob think of himself as an individual/different? Do you agree with Jacob? Is he different?
- Jacob says he likes to be different. In what ways do you like to be different? In what ways, do you want to blend in with others?
- Revisit the assumptions made about Jacob Goldstein before you read his transcript. How many of the assumptions were correct? How many were inaccurate? To what degree do we judge someone else's identity by visual clues and/or names?
Choices in Little Rock
More identity exploration exercises and texts can be found in Part 1 of Facing History and Ourselves "Choices in Little Rock" curriculum.
The Hebrew Mamita
"The Hebrew Mamita" by Vanessa Hidary, a spoken word performance reflecting on what it means to "look Jewish." Video is available on Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/hebrewmamita#p/u/7/VoENRgzP_VI. (Contains profanity.)
How Jews Became White Folks
Brodkin, Karen. How Jews became white folks and what that says about race in America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998.
Be'chol Lashon (In Every Tongue)
The website of the organization Be'chol Lashon (In Every Tongue) includes resources, research, and advocacy related to Jewish diversity.
The Jewish Identity Project: New American Photography
The Jewish Identity Project: New American Photography catalogue, from the traveling exhibition created by the Jewish Museum in New York. (Includes the photographs Claire (2004) and Jacob (2005) by Dawoud Bey.) Information on the exhibition and catalogue: www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/JewishIdentityProject.
Photographer Dawoud Bey's website
Photographer Dawoud Bey's website, www.dawoudbey.net, contains images of other works similar to Claire and Jacob (though not necessarily of Jewish students), under photographs: class pictures.
For a great lesson on Jewish identity, I used the story of Senda Berenson (Ì¢âÂÒMother of WomenÌ¢âÂã¢s BasketballÌ¢âÂå) from the JWAÌ¢âÂã¢s Ì¢âÂÒThis Week in HistoryÌ¢âÂå (http://jwa.org/thisweek/Mar/22..., along with a New York TimeÌ¢âÂã¢s story about Drew Lovejoy, the seventeen-year-old three-time winner of the all-Ireland dancing championship (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03.... My seventh graders loved it!


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How to Keep the 'Chreasters' Coming: Experts Say Preparedness and Follow-Up Are Key
While Churches Look to Make Converts for Christ on Easter Sunday, Many Fail to Make a Connection
As Christians gather this Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, many churches are pulling out elaborate props and Easter presentations in an effort to grow membership and make converts out of those "Chreasters," their friends, coworkers, family members and neighbors who attend service only on Christmas and Easter. But, according to experts, some congregations are woefully unprepared when it comes to connecting and keeping contact with their biannual guests.
Easter 2012 saw Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, use a live lion and a lamb on stage during his open-air Sunday service, which drew a bit of criticism from local animal rights activists. This year, Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Wash., plans to hold a record 42 services across his 14 campuses in four states and expects a huge number of converts to come to faith in Jesus Christ.
As an electrified Driscoll explains in a recent video announcement about Easter 2013, "Easter's coming. It's our biggest Sunday of the year! We get so excited for Easter Sunday. It's where we see the most people meet Jesus, the most people attend the church, the most people get baptized. So it is the day we are the most excited."
Yet the excitement surrounding Easter Sunday and the presentations and props used to help convey Christian beliefs about Jesus' resurrection often lose their "awesome" and "epic" flavor once the following Sunday rolls around. It is quite common, actually, for some pastors to find themselves wistfully watching the doors and hoping that at least one or two of the previous week's guests return with the intention of giving Jesus, or at least church, a try.
"You would be amazed at how few churches actually experience an increase," Yvon Prehn, founder and director of Effective Church Communications, told The Christian Post. "I have been teaching church communications for over 20 years and that's one of the biggest responses that I get – unless people are intentional about it – that they did not get the response that they thought they would."
Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Rearch, an expert in church planting and church growth and lead pastor at Grace Church, said in an email Wednesday to CP that, "Easter is an opportunity, but it has to be seized."
"More people will hear the message on this Sunday than any other of the year. If it is worth preparing a well-done service and great message, it is certainly worth following up with each and every person who attends."
Stetzer noted, however, that one of the biggest mistakes some churches make is failing to do just that.
He said that "churches need a way to gather names and contact info from people willing to give it, a plan to follow up those names with several points of contact (phone call, letter, invite card to come again), and a plan to connect them into a smaller group if they return."
Church communications consultant Prehn, who describes her work as helping churches to carry out the Great Commission by providing practical training in print and digital communications, has done dozens of seminars for Christian communities and leaders interested in making an impact on the unchurched during seasonal celebrations. The Southern California resident echoed Stetzer when sharing with CP her list of at least three things churches ought to consider to make a lasting connection with visitors, primary of which is making follow-up a top priority.
Prehn suggested a connection card that intentionally invites people to share their contact information.
"One of the best ways to do this is to just say, 'You know, we would just love to pray for you. We would consider that a privilege,'" suggested Prehn. "A very simple card. You don't want their life's history but just something where you can follow up. That's really important."
Second, she emphasized that churches should be upfront about how services are usually run – when the lion has been returned to the zoo and the 42 services are cut down to three. For this, Prehn said a bulletin insert should do the trick.
"Most churches totally space out on this," she said. "Some churches have a petting zoo or they have pre-lattes or they have a brunch, they do all this special stuff. Well, they don't do that every week. People bring a lot of friends and kind of the unspoken assumption is that if they like the church and they think we're cool and we really impress them and they love the worship music, they'll just come back next week to Sunday school and bring their kids."
Organizers should check that assumption since most Easter visitors, likely the unchurched, have no concept of church, she said.
"I strongly recommend something that says 'Here's what we do when it isn't Easter. We've got this for your kids, we've got a single's ministry here, we've got this stuff for women and here's our regular celebration services. You know something just really simple and upbeat that says 'When it isn't Easter, this is what we're doing,'" explained Prehn.
Finally, churches should encourage holiday visitors to ponder the meaning of the Resurrection Day message long after the service is over. Prehn suggested handouts for this as well, which she said should include URLs for "really good evangelistic websites" as well as a church contact or information about Bible study times.
"If you do those kinds of things, you form a link with people that can continue in the future," she said.
The overriding theme, said the church communications expert, is to remember that information and direction are most effective in helping new visitors feel at ease and get acclimated – which may mean altering or simplifying the traditional liturgy on this special day of the year.
"The [churces] that do things really well explain what they're doing as they go along. They don't assume that everybody knows the whole story. Churches that are so into their traditions...do things that are really confusing and don't explain them," said Prehn.
"Most churches have got it down these days on their music, their multimedia. It's the little things that are really frustrating and confusing to seekers," she added.
Both Stetzer and Prehn agreed that size doesn't really matter when it comes to making a lasting impact. Whether a megachurch or smaller congregation chooses to go for maximum sensory overload or decides instead to keep things simple, preparedness remains the key.
"It's basically about getting 'ready for company.' If you are having new people over, you make sure everything is ready. Well, lots of churches will have company on Sunday and churches of all sizes are getting ready," said Stetzer.
Prehn said every church should embrace its size and budget, adding that she believes "the Lord has all kinds of different churches."
"Just always be who you are and don't apologize for it," she added. "If you're a little church and you do things very simply, the Lord will draw to you people who want that. Not everybody wants these big, loud, flashing lights."
Despite it being quite common for churches to experience a "post-Easter bump," as Stetzer puts it, pastors nonetheless may find themselves nervous or afraid of seeing the congregation shrink.
The LifeWay Research president and missiologist added once more that a follow-up plan must be implemented if there is any hope, and there should be, of seeing repeat guests. He also stressed that churches should remember that everything doesn't happen at once and "that people do not move from being an Easter visitor to a growing disciple after one awesome Easter sermon."
"This is the start of a relationship with your church – and that needs to be cultivated," Stezter added. "Part of that cultivation is that they need to then hear about the gospel your churches preach. So, Easter is not a one-time deal. It is a step in the process."
Despite the odds of Easter guests returning to church the following week, statistics of which CP could not find, Prehn, not surprisingly, suggested that churches be prepared for that as well, perhaps with a follow-up sermon series that explains the Christian faith and answers questions possibly raised during Easter services.
But amid all the planning and presentations, Stetzer reminds pastors and their congregants to remain focused on the purpose of all their work.
"As pastors, it is so important that we don't get so caught up in the Easter work of the Lord that we forget the Lord of the work," said the LifeWay Research president.
Others, like Quest Church Pastor Eugene Cho, have added that instead of resorting to gimmicks to attract numbers, Christians should remember that, at the end of the day, the gospel is enough. And the primary concern among Christians, noted Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, should be making visitors feel loved more than "wowed."

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
John G. West
Darwin Day In America: How Our Politics and Culture Have Been Dehumanized in the Name of Science
Wilmington, Del.: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2007
The concept of white nationalism didn't exist one hundred years ago. There was no need. In 1910 it was unimaginable that an exploding non-white population could threaten white existence. Lothrop Stoddard's early warning of such a danger didn't come for another 12 years.[1]
By 1910 whites had created unquestioned standards of art, science, and technology and dominated most of the world. Expanding from Europe, they settled thinly-populated North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Siberia as well as vast open grasslands in southern South America and South Africa. In most of Latin America, then as now, they were at the apex of a racial caste hierarchy. In most of Africa and South and Southeast Asia they ruled directly as a thin cadre of administrators. China was then under their strong influence, and even the Middle East's Ottoman rulers, despite Asian origins, were significantly Europeanized during a long sojourn in and near the Balkans. The only significant non-white power at the time was Japan, which Westerners often still viewed as a quaint and child-like slavish imitator of their ways despite its recent victory over Russia.
In this rapidly accelerating encounter with human biodiversity whites were intellectually handicapped by entrenched universalist religious and philosophical doctrines that for centuries Eurocentrically assumed human sameness, except for distinctions between rulers and ruled. Lay observers noted obvious differences between major races, and by the American Civil War of the 1860s tentative efforts to explain them had been made. These little influenced educated decision makers, however. Both sides in a war begun because of diverse approaches to human difference ultimately relied primarily on universalist documents like the Bible and Constitution to justify their policies.[2]
The Darwinian Revolution
Soon after the war, however, Charles Darwin's work in England finally provided a full scientifically acceptable explanation for biological differences, including those among humans. He acknowledged different levels of human societies, wrote frequently of savages and lower races intermediate between animals and civilized people, implicitly accepted a hierarchy of humans, and wove acceptance of that into his conception of races.[3]
Darwin nevertheless did not fully dismiss the possibility that Lamarckian evolution, the belief environment can immediately improve heredity without natural selection, might work for humans. Only Darwinian biologist August Weissmann's 1889 definitive demonstration of distinction between genotype and phenotype and thus heredity and environment finally disproved Lamarckianism.
The complementary impact of Darwin and Weissmann's work on human biology was so great that by 1905 Paul Reinsch wrote in the American Journal of Sociology:
The last few years have witnessed a great change of mind in matters of humanitarianism. . . . The absolute unity of human life in all parts of the globe, as well as the idea of the practical equality of human individuals wherever they may be found, has been quite generally abandoned. . . . [To treat all peoples] as if they were all alike, to subject them to the same methods of government, to force them into the same institutions, was a mistake of the nineteenth century which has not been carried over into our own.[4]
Unfortunately Reinsch's conclusion was premature.
By 1909 acceptance of such views in human biology was general but thin. At their peak between 1910 and 1915 they comprised no more than 5 percent of articles in professional social science journals.[5] They were also already under attack.
The Boasian Counter-Revolution
In the 1880s Franz Boas, a secular Jew, immigrated from the western edge of Germany to a United States where people were inordinately impressed by his accented English. Through gamesmanship and self-promotion more than scientific discovery, he had a stellar academic career, beginning as editor of Science, then and now the premier scientific journal in America, and eventually teaching at Columbia, its Manhattan publishing center's leading university. There he acquired great power by developing a largely Jewish cult-like following. Parroting his theories brought reward and promotion, the slightest disagreement ruthless criticism and exclusion. Throughout his career he showed an obsession with racial and ethnic sameness apparently developed while still in Germany. There he identified with the Enlightenment's radical universalism, which Napoleon had used to justify both emancipating Jews and the French conquest and subjection of Germans and other Europeans. The resultant culture war, marked by rising German patriotism that defined itself in opposition to all aspects of French hegemony, intellectual as well as political, generated a bitterness in Boas that probably influenced his American career.[6]
Boas and his followers steadily undermined the fragile edifice of Darwinian racial research by relentless nit picking and vast exaggeration of black accomplishment. His proposed program of eliminating races by encouraging their biological and cultural assimilation ultimately triumphed and remains American policy to this day, but its genocidal nature was recognized and effectively resisted by some non-whites. Boas' recommendations, for example, supported removing Indian children from parents and tribes to boarding schools that punished them for speaking their languages and practicing their cultures.[7] Similar Australian policies created what are now called "stolen generations" of Aborigine children.[8] The strong group identities of affected tribes enabled them to eventually end such destructive policies, but since whites lack such identity, they must individually protect their children from public schools, where Boas' policies are now universally established.[9]
By the middle of the twentieth century, Boas and his followers had achieved complete victory over Darwinian social science. This victory is attributable to social factors rather than better science or new information. Mulatto elites moving from the South to northern cities allied themselves with Jews, whose rapidly increasing political and financial power opposed British-descended traditional elites that had begun accepting Darwinism. The Great Depression simultaneously weakened confidence in the existing social order and popularized economic rather than biological explanations for inequalities. Finally, Germans began using Darwinism like the French had once used the Enlightenment, namely to justify an empire which treated even the fairest Europeans speaking non-Germanic languages as badly as, or even worse than, non-whites had been treated by European empire builders. Unsurprisingly, Darwinian social science failed to survive this perfect storm.[10]
Darwinism didn't die in this period, however. It survived and flourished as never before, shielded by the "two cultures" barrier in academia separating humanities from hard science. The social sciences are not in the strict sense humanities, but their subject is humanity. In America and later elsewhere they developed a culture distinct from science in general and biology in particular because of the Boas cult. Just when Darwinism was being driven from social science, a "Modern Synthesis" resolving previously perceived incompatibilities between Darwinism and Mendelian genetics provided a new paradigm that created modern biology but also subjected it to the unwritten rule that all living things except people were to be explained genetically.[11]
These consequences of Boas' influence were ultimately unsustainable, since Darwin's great achievement was to demonstrate that people are part of nature, not separate from it. It still created an academic furor, however, when E. O. Wilson, one of the world's greatest biologists, wrote the book Sociobiology[12] and broke the unwritten rule by simply stating we're part of nature and subject to its laws. Path-breaking work on race[13] and ethnic history[14] eventually followed, and even the human genetic code itself was finally unraveled.[15]
West's Religious Anti-Darwinism
Those seeking details of this intellectual history will find them in Carl Degler's In Search of Human Nature and other books noted here, but not in John West's Darwin Day in America, even though it purports to be about the same subject. Franz Boas isn't mentioned once in 495 pages. West's interest is elsewhere.
Most Christian denominations, including Roman Catholicism and mainstream Protestantism, have more or less come to accept that Darwinian natural selection is God's means of creating the world's living things.[16] Exceptions are those more attached to ancient Hebrew mythology than Creation itself. West's organizational affiliations are with the latter,[17] but he lacks the intellectual honesty to admit it in Darwin Day. Instead he recapitulates Boas' nit-picking methods by trying to link Darwin with as many causes unpopular with Left or Right as possible. He also tries to unlink him to a cause dear to his organizational sponsors.
In Darwin Day, West first introduces the concept of "scientific materialism." In his first chapter, he tries to give it an intellectual history. In his second, he tries to demonstrate that Darwinism is scientific materialism. It's soon evident, however, that West's scientific materialism conflates three very different concepts.
The first, philosophical realism, is the view that a mind-independent reality exists, and that a statement is true if it corresponds to said reality. Its opposite, philosophical idealism, claims that reality and truth are individual or social constructions.[18] Unfortunately the view that race is socially constructed is very much alive and well in academia.[19] West is right. Darwin was a philosophical realist.
The second part of West's scientific materialism is the view that man is not separate from nature. Its opposite is dualism, the view that man and nature are metaphysically different and even opposed to one another. Religious dualists like Augustine recommend that we escape from nature. [20] Secular dualists like Descartes recommend that we conquer and exploit it. The Enlightenment's inordinate elevation of human reason brought a Romantic reaction and renewed appreciation of nature to Western Europe in the nineteenth century,[21] but Augustine's pervasive influence was still evident in the American habit of naming its beautiful natural places for the Devil and Hell.[22] John Muir and others introduced the positive Romantic view of nature across the Atlantic only later in the century.[23] West is correct. Among Darwin's achievements was giving the unity of man and nature a firm scientific foundation.[24]
The third aspect of West's scientific materialism is reductionism, the view that wholes are merely sums of their parts and that living are things consequently just chemical machines. This view, associated with Hobbes and Descartes, is unfortunately also not unknown among scientists. Increasingly, however, they appreciate the importance of emergent properties unpredictable simply by summing up inputs.[25] The opposite of reductionism is holism,[26] and here West has it backwards. Darwin is among the first great holists.[27]
West's concept of scientific materialism is so vast and diffuse that it can be used to attack anything he dislikes, which includes science in general and biology in particular. That set up takes 42 pages out of 495. The rest of his book is a vast factoid dump loosely organized by theme.
Crime and Punishment
Crime is the theme of chapters 3 through 5, with the first focusing on scientific efforts to explain it. He clearly hopes hereditarian explanations from the pre-Boas era will annoy the left and subsequent psychological and socioeconomic explanations will annoy the right. Even West can't link the latter to Darwin, but he can call them scientific materialists. His prescription for crime is having criminals make better choices.
West's next chapter departs completely from Darwin and even scientific materialism by delving into the legal history of diminished responsibility defenses like insanity. His concern again with the responsibility of criminals is out of touch with public desires for protection from them regardless of their state of mind.
The last chapter of West's crime series is about punishment and from its beginning exemplifies his worldview's distance from reality. Mary Letourneau, a white former teacher, internalized her school's multiculturalist dogma and consequently had consensual sex with a large but legally underage Pacific Islander boy in her class, the kind of negative outcome occurring when races maturing at very different rates are placed together.[28] You learn none of this from West, however, who portrays Letourneau as a violent child-raping sexual predator deserving much more punitive sentencing than she got. Of course Letourneau's culpability in race treason is no concern of either West or the criminal justice system. Later in the chapter West literally, not metaphorically, equates lobotomies with rehabilitation, which to the rest of the world means education and counseling for decreasing recidivism.[29] In West's "through the looking glass" world, however, it's all scientific materialism.
Wealth and Poverty
The theme of West's next four chapters is "wealth and poverty," but their subjects are diverse. Most of his book tries to link what he dislikes to Darwin, but chapter 6 is different. It attempts to separate him from laissez-faire capitalism, which West clearly likes, even though Darwin is often associated with Herbert Spencer, a contemporaneous defender of market economics whose ideas regarding survival of the fittest somewhat anticipated Darwinism.[30] The tradition of likening evolution to capitalism[31] may embarrass West, since a laissez-faire think tank, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, publishes his book and his employer, the Discovery Institute, is in the same conservative institutional galaxy.[32] ISI does publish a few books critical of markets,[33] but most reflect its Jewish founder Frank Chodorov's[34] reductionist view of humans as automatons motivated solely by greed and fear.[35] West's effort to distance evolution from capitalism is simplistic and unconvincing, but Darwin's holistic view of nature and humanity may ultimately be the best antidote to the reductionist tendencies pervading economic theory from Marx to Chodorov.[36]
In chapter 7, West's grand overture to the left, he rightly links Darwinism's popularity in the early twentieth century with its contemporary dramatic rise in white racial consciousness and belief in the potential for eugenic improvement.[37] One hundred years later, however, eugenics seems a quaintly utopian vision, as self-improvement is an unaffordable luxury for a race facing imminent extinction.[38]
West moves to psychology and its uses for engineering human behavior in chapter 8, but its main villain, despite his thesis, is the notoriously anti-Darwinian John Watson. American psychology's founder William James was a strong Darwinist who emphasized the important influence of heredity on human behavior, but in Boas' wake, psychological paradigms shifted to Watson's reductionist behaviorism, which considered people to be blank slates with no innate character and susceptible to infinite manipulation.[39] West understandably doesn't mention that behaviorist hegemony only ended, despite bitter resistance, when experimentalists like Harlow[40] as well as Darwinian sociobiologists rediscovered the innate.
Modern Architecture
Agreeing with West's critique of modern architecture in chapter 9 is easy, but his animus is again misplaced. As in psychology, the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century ascendancy of Darwinism brought renewed appreciation of nature and the desire to include it in architecture, resulting in works of lasting value by innovators like Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Widespread hyper-Enlightenment leftist ideology, however, inspired an International Style whose sterile buildings were intentionally cut off from place, race, and nature.[41] It's a sad story with still no happy ending, as new iterations of International Style horrors continue to blight the landscape.[42]
Religion and Science
The first two in the next group of four chapters are among West's longest and the crux of his argument. Chapter 10 claims science is anti-religious, but its evidence is just a long series of out of context quotes. Since science is a vast enterprise and does not require any religious beliefs, it understandably includes some militant atheists like Richard Dawkins. But many other scientists, including some of the greatest, are strongly religious and view science as a way of understanding God through his creations.[43] Close reading of the chapter's quotes indicates that many are attempts to defend science from the very sort of ad hominem attacks West makes in Darwin Day.
In chapter 11, West's long defense of Intelligent Design, it is evident he would rather be defending the Hebraic creation story but for some reason can't. That reason, which he never reveals, is Edwards v. Aguillard, the 1987 Supreme Court decision that teaching Hebraic creation in public schools violates the separation of church and state. Intelligent Design attempts to circumvent the decision by remaining coy about its ultimate religious commitments.[44]
Imagine that an indigenous religion like Asatru was established in Europe at the end of the Roman Empire rather than one from the Middle East. Modern civilization still developed, and most Asatru priests eventually accepted electrons as better explanations for electricity than blows of Thor's hammer. Still, a few fundamentalist holdouts claimed wires actually carry little Thor's hammers, until courts ruled this violated church/state separation. Their solution was to claim that there are still little hammers in the wires, they just aren't necessarily Thor's hammers.
This is essentially the position of Intelligent Design believers like West. There is no Intelligent Design science. It is only a vehicle for attacking real science,[45] exemplified by West's proposal for basing scientific decisions on lay public votes. Science is not democratic. Like its medical branches, it's a craft with a long apprenticeship. Democracy has its place, but it's not the operating room or laboratory. Since Intelligent Design can only nit-pick the work of Darwin, a scientific genius of the rank of Newton and Galileo, it is treated accordingly. Ironically, contrary to West, Darwinian natural selection is not just random but an amazingly efficient way of creating diverse organisms perfectly adapted to a diverse world,[46] which Intelligent Design claims to explain but doesn't.
Sex and Reproduction
West's hostility to science may make his claim in chapter 12 that Alfred Kinsey practiced "junk science" questionable, but this time he's on firmer ground. Failure to replicate Kinsey's findings might result from social change, but the destructive effects on society of his policy recommendations are plain. His messages that sex is more for pleasure than reproduction and that traditional morality is outmoded[47] ultimately contributed to a sexual revolution coinciding with a drastic fall in births among his predominantly white readers and their children,[48] an outcome desired by the Rockefeller Foundation funding his work.[49] West's alternative preference for traditional morality is unintentionally quite Darwinian, since moral standards that survived were those helping their practitioners adequately reproduce. It's ironic that many evangelical Christians attacking Darwin live more Darwinian lifestyles than their supposedly more enlightened academic cousins.
A program attacking the pesky screwworm (Cochliomyia hominovorax) illustrates the sexual pleasure principle's potentially baleful effect. Just when ex-entomologist Kinsey was harming humans by mainstreaming his sexual theories, entomologist E. F. Knipling successfully used a Darwinian technique to eradicate screwworms because they were harming humans. He released enough sexually active but sterile males to monopolize fertile females so they had lots of sex but not enough baby screwworms for the species to survive.[50]
West finishes the section with a chapter about how American sex education mainstreamed Kinsey's theories but fails to mention Boas' student Margaret Mead's contribution to the sexual revolution through her erroneous claim that cultures are sexually promiscuous in their natural state.[51]
He then detours into a brief two-chapter section on abortion, stem cells, and euthanasia before concluding. His claim here that life begins with zygotes is biologically accurate, but if they are aborted it makes a huge difference to white survival whether they result from sexually precocious blacks forcing themselves on white teen girls or white couples too busy with careers to bother reproducing. Those circumstances don't matter to West, of course. Anything on the human side of the line, whether rape-produced zygotes, stem cells, or babies born without brains, must be saved at all costs.
He is furious at Peter Singer, though, for valuing apes with small brains more than humans with none and consequently wanting to push civil rights protections for individuals across the human-animal divide. From the perspective of conservation biology and racial survival, however, group welfare counts more than that of individuals, so West and Singer are both wrong.[52] Unsurprisingly, West, who would save every human cell at all costs (but avoids discussion of the death penalty), would only save species if the bottom line pencils out (p. 361).
West concludes by describing how Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy's 1887 utopian fantasy of a better future, has failed to come true. He blames this on science in general and Darwin in particular. But Bellamy wrote during the first flush of Darwin's acceptance, when white civilization was unchallenged, and it was easy to believe things would keep getting better. Franz Boas was among those working to end Bellamy's dream, but he had lots of help, as explained by Carl Degler[53] and then by Kevin MacDonald[54] in far more detail. If West told that story, however, he'd have an enemy that, unlike science and Darwin, would put his institutional job at risk.
West and Boas have much in common in their nit-picking attacks on Darwinism and their claim that all people are the same (p. 365). Neither is good for white survival. Darwin once provided an alternative. He can do so again.
[1] Lothrop Stoddard, The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy (New York: Scribner's, 1922).
[2] George Frederickson, Racism: A Short History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002).
[3] Carl Degler, In Search of Human Nature: The Decline and Revival of Darwinism in American Social Thought (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).
[4] Degler, 25.
[5] Degler, 17.
[6] Kevin MacDonald, The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1998); George Mosse, The Culture of Western Europe: The Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, an Introduction (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1961).
[7] Degler, 77–78; James Wilson, The Earth Shall Weep: A History of Native America (New York: Atlantic Monthly, 1999).
[8] Graeme Davison, John Hurst, and Stuart MacIntyre, The Oxford Companion to Australian History, revised ed. (South Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998).
[9] Richard Kluger, Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education, the Epochal Supreme Court Decision that Outlawed Segregation, and of Black America's Century-Long Struggle for Equality under the Law (New York: Vintage, 1977); Raymond Wolters, The Burden of Brown: Thirty Years of School Desegregation (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984).
[10] Degler, ch. 8; Murray Friedman, What Went Wrong?: The Creation and Collapse of the Black-Jewish Alliance (New York: Free Press, 1994); William Tucker, The Science and Politics of Racial Research (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994).
[11] Peter Bowler, Evolution: The History of an Idea (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984); Degler, ch. 9; Ernst Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982); C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1962).
[12] E. O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975).
[13] J. Phillipe Rushton, Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction, 1995).
[14] Kevin MacDonald, A People that Shall Dwell Alone: Judaism as a Group Evolutionary Strategy (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1994).
[15] Kevin Davies, Cracking the Code: Inside the Race to Unlock Human DNA (New York: Free Press, 2001).
[16] David Livingstone, "Evolution and Religion," in Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis, eds., Evolution: The First Four Billion Years (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009).
[17] Eugenie Scott, "American Antievolutionism: Retrospect and Prospect," in Ruse and Travis, 370–99.
[18] Ted Honderich, ed., The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1995), 386–88, 746–48.
[19] Ruse and Travis, 821–24.
[20] Charles Freeman, The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason (New York: Vintage, 2005); Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History (New York: Viking, 2003). Eastern Christianity is friendlier to nature since it is free of Augustine's influence.
[21] Honderich, 778.
[22] George Stewart, Names on the Land (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1967).
[23] Donald Worster, A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
[24] Degler, 7–11.
[25] John Holland, Emergence: From Chaos to Order (Reading, Mass.: Helix, 1998).
[26] Honderich, 371–72, 750–51.
[27] Bowler, 321; Mayr, 66–67.
[28] Rushton, ch. 7.
[29] Franklin Zimring, The Great American Crime Decline (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
[30] Ruse and Travis, 866–69.
[31] Michael Rothschild, Bionomics: Economy as Ecosystem (New York: Henry Holt, 1990).
[32] Bruce Frohnen, Jeremy Beer, and Jeffrey Nelson, eds., American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia (Wilmington, Del.: ISI Books, 2006).
[33] F. Roger Devlin, "The Family Way" (review of Third Ways by Allan Carlson), The Occidental Quarterly 8, no. 3 (2008): 99–108.
[34] Frohnen et al., 145–46, 436–39.
[35] Frank Chodorov, "Old and Right" (excerpted from The Rise and Fall of Society), The American Conservative vol. 8, no. 6 (2009), 22.
[36] Geoffrey Hodgson, Economics and Evolution: Bringing Life Back into Economics (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993).
[37] Degler, ch. 2.
[38] George McDaniel, ed., A Race Against Time: Racial Heresies for the 21st Century (Oakton, Va.: New Century Foundation, 2003).
[39] Rebecca Lemov, World as Laboratory: Experiments with Mice, Mazes, and Men (New York: Hill & Wang, 2005).
[40] Deborah Blum, Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection (Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Publishing, 2002).
[41] Paul Johnson, Art: A New History (New York: HarperCollins, 2003); Tom Wolfe, From Bauhaus to Our House (New York: Washington Square Press, 1981).
[42] James Howard Kunstler, The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993).
[43] Francis Collins, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (New York: Free Press, 2006); E. O. Wilson, The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth (New York: W. W. Norton, 2006).
[44] Scott, "American Antievolutionism," 374–76.
[45] Scott, "American Antievolutionism," 375–85.
[46] Mayr, 519–20.
[47] James H. Jones, Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private Life (New York: W. W. Norton, 1997).
[48] David Allyn, Make Love, not War. The Sexual Revolution: An Unfettered History (Boston: Little, Brown, 2000).
[49] John Harr and Peter Johnson, The Rockefeller Conscience: An American Family in Public and in Private (New York: Charles Scribner's, 1991).
[50] Jorge Hendrichs and Alan Robinson, "Sterile Insect Technique," in Vincent Resh and Ring Carde, eds., Encyclopedia of Insects (Amsterdam: Academic Press, 2003), 1074–79.
[51] Derek Freeman, Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Anthropological Myth (Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, 1984) and Judith Reisman and Edward Eichel, Kinsey, Sex, and Fraud: The Indoctrination of a People (Lafayette, La: Lochinvar-Huntington House, 1990).
[52] Bryan Norton, Why Preserve Natural Variety? (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987); Sam G. Dickson, "'Salus populi, lex suprema,'" The Occidental Quarterly 8, no. 3 (2008): 3–10.
[53] Degler, 200–202.
[54] MacDonald, The Culture of Critique, ch. 2.
Source: The Occidental Quarterly, vol. 10, no. 1 (Spring 2010)
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5 comments
rhondda says:
While there is much to commend science, there is alot to condemn too. What price do we pay for knowledge? Particularly, it is okay for scientists to cut the vocal cords of animals so that they don't have to hear their howl of pain while they do their experiments? Do we accept the pollution of water with pharmaceuticals because people need their Prozac and birth control pills and urinate the excess? I don't see that as holism, but exploitation and profound ignorance. Not to speak of the global warming hoax which avoids all the real problems in favour of computer models and tinkering with carbon credits. Science also avoids completely any spiritual racialist distinction; There may be different races, but we are all the same inside which has got to be a contradiction in terms. Perhaps natural selection is deselecting us. I wonder why? We do our magical rituals. What's the problem?
That much knowledge was obtained through torture of animals, and so on, doesn't mean this information couldn't have been obtained otherwise. The more civilized and intelligent we are, the more we want to know how things work, so the greater is our propensity for cruelty. Of course, we also recognize our faults in these areas, at least some of us, anyway.
Not to say that noncivilized tribes are not cruel, only that we should not be praising ourselves for our wonderfulness when, really, maybe we've been fooling ourselves all along.
00Not to harp on about the "science" of animal research rhondda but some excellent books on the topic are 1000 Doctors Against Vivisection, Beals The Drug Story and especially for today with all our mental health issues, Ellen McClay's Bats in the Belfry Medical care is a future issue for Counter – Currents to look at.
00Donar van Holland says:Interesting article. When the author talks about sex he is on slippery grounds, however.
To posit that Kinsey is a major influence on the declining birth rates for whites is nonsense. All through human history we have seen many efforts to separate the joy of sex from procreation. The Egyptians already tried their hand at contraception (no pun intended). And then finally the contraceptive pill came along in the 1960's…
Kinsey is of course mainly (in)famous for his propaganda for deviant sexual behaviour. He probably exaggerated his findings for political or personal reasons. However, compared to the gigantic impact of the pill, the effect on white birth rates of deviant sexual behaviour (tactfully compared by the author to the sexual behaviour of sterile screwworms) is quite negligible, I am sure.
As an aside, we might remind ourselves that if we humans are fully part of nature, we also have inherited our natural share of deviant sexual behaviour. Masturbation, homosexuality, pedophilia, incest, rape, sadism… almost any wide-spread sexual variation found in humans can be found in the rest of the animal world. Even bestiality.
Instead of fussing about this, we might better simply agree that white nationalists should accept as their first duty the siring of white children. After this, any other inclination might be engaged in, provided it is in a playful form that is not hurtful to others.
Following Huizinga in "Homo Ludens" I see serious play as the civilized way for humans to engage their natural, bestial side. Or as Oscar Wilde put it: 'The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one has as yet discovered.'
I am sorry if the above seems rather off-topic, but I have the impression that in the discussion about nature versus culture sex always looms large in the background.
00Fibbles says:George Hocking is a great writer who contributes scientific rigor. I believe he wrote "Toward a Secession of the Mind", one of my favorite essays, which is the first reading I give to people I want to convert to the dark side.
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Dir: Steven Soderbergh. US. 2013. 105mins
Director Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven trilogy revelled in its nifty cons and elegant double-crosses, but those films' duplicity is rather tame compared to the outlandish twists and turns of Side Effects, a movie that starts of as a psychological thriller about a deeply depressed woman but soon goes off in other directions, not always successfully. Increasingly ludicrous but also nasty fun, Side Effects is ultimately too clever for its own good, but if you can accept the film's pokerfaced absurdity on its own terms, you'll appreciate Soderbergh and his cast's cool confidence.
For a while, the movie's wild unpredictability — all filtered through Soderbergh's usual sharp, detached effortlessness — is its own reward, leaving us to wonder precisely where the story is headed.
Opening February 8 in the US, this Open Road offering will get some commercial bounce from stars Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Rooney Mara and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But without a clear saleable hook, Side Effects may prove to be only a midlevel performer, especially when the betting is that word-of-mouth will be decidedly mixed for a film that consistently subverts expectations. In other words, don't look for grosses to rival Soderbergh and Tatum's last effort, Magic Mike.
Emily (Mara) ought to be happy since her beloved husband Martin (Tatum) has just been released after a four-year prison sentence for insider trading. But his return only reactivates her long-suppressed debilitating depression, which causes her to harm herself and wind up in the hospital, attracting the concern of Jonathan Banks (Law), a sympathetic psychiatrist. He recommends that she try a new antidepressant, Ablixa, which has immediate positive results — that is, until it starts to provoke frightening side effects.
Side Effects proves to be a slyly appropriate title for a movie in which unexpected consequences keep forcing the characters to re-evaluate their situation. Soderbergh works again with writer Scott Z. Burns, whose knotty script for The Informant! should serve as fair warning for the plot surprises and character twists that await the viewer here. Consequently, it's recommended to know as little as possible going in to Side Effects, allowing Soderbergh to establish his film's upscale Manhattan setting and thoughtful, realistic characters so that he can then proceed to screw with our heads.
What can be revealed is that Mara, fresh off her Oscar-nominated turn in the US remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, is arresting as Emily, a woman whose outward show of strength during her husband's incarceration quickly evaporates once he's freed and her inner demons begin to consume her. Without resorting to melodramatic quirks, Mara externalises the emotional pain of Emily's depression, her quietly anxious face suggesting the desperation of this suicidal young woman.
But just as important to the film is Law's performance as a well-meaning doctor trying to provide a comfortable living for his new wife (Vinessa Shaw) and stepson. Once Ablixa's terrible repercussions kick in, the movie becomes Banks' story as much as it is Emily's, and Law does some of his best work in recent years. In Banks, the actor has crafted a character whose confidence in his skill as a psychiatrist slowly gets stripped away and his own world starts to fall down around him.
Because the first few reels do such a compelling job of setting up Emily's anguish and Banks' patient attempts to help her, it can be jarring to see the different paths in which Side Effects soon travels. Recalling David Mamet's puzzle films, Side Effects has a ball messing with our preconceived notions of who these characters are. (This is especially true with Zeta-Jones, who plays Emily's former therapist with such icy intelligence that one simply assumes she must be hiding something.)
For a while, the movie's wild unpredictability — all filtered through Soderbergh's usual sharp, detached effortlessness — is its own reward, leaving us to wonder precisely where the story is headed. But despite the smooth storytelling — which finds time to make glancing references to the greed of drug companies and the terrifyingly competitive class system in New York — Side Effects eventually runs aground due to a desperate attempt on the filmmakers' part to keep one-upping the narrative surprises.
As of now, Side Effects is supposedly Soderbergh's final fully theatrical release before he retires from filmmaking. (A Liberace biopic, Behind The Candelabra, will air on HBO in the States but in theatres internationally.) If that's the case, he ends on a minor but enjoyable note. Hopefully his next plot twist will be to reveal that his retirement plans were only a hoax.
Production companies: Endgame Entertainment, di Bonaventura Pictures
Domestic distribution: Open Road, www.openroadfilms.com
Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Gregory Jacobs, Scott Z. Burns
Executive producers: James D. Stern, Michael Polaire, Douglas E. Hansen
Screenplay: Scott Z. Burns
Cinematography: Peter Andrews
Production design: Howard Cummings
Music: Thomas Newman
Website: http://sideeffectsthefilm.com
Cast: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vinessa Shaw, Ann Dowd


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Also new for 2013 are Artist Custom Signature series models for John Sebastian and Isreal "12" Kamakawiwo''ole
Nazareth, PA (January 20, 2013) - C. F. Martin & Co. will celebrate its illustrious heritage with several outstanding new instrument series at the 2013 Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim, California January 23-26. The iconic acoustic guitar-maker will unveil their new guitar series, the New Authentics. They also will be showcasing their recently introduced Retro series, both paying homage to the brand's long and storied history while showcasing its continued craftsmanship and technical innovation.
Amongst the other guitars that attendees visiting the Martin Guitar booth in Hall B at booth 5454 will also be able to preview are the stunning new D-180, in honor of the brand's 180th anniversary in 2013, and the popular Custom series, including two new Artist Custom Signature models from John Sebastian and Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole.
Martin is expanding its Authentic Series with five brand new guitars that will transport fans to a bygone Golden Era! Guitar enthusiasts will love the new enhancements and attention to detail matching the originals and the unique tonal properties.
The Martin design team created a new tool to identify key features and differences to aid in better quality replications of the originals. All five models will feature historically accurate specifications such as thinner pegheads, fingerboards, center strips and bridge plates, as well as hand contoured bridges. Shell inlays are closer replicated in shape, size, dimension and location. Other standout details include hide glue construction and cloth side strips inside each body.
-D-45S AUTHENTIC 1936 (12-Fret): This model features a 12-fret large body, hand-engraved tuning knobs, solid shell inlay, and Brazilian rosewood. (MSRP: $59,999)
-D-28 AUTHENTIC 1931 (12-Fret): Based on the first guitar named D-28, this new model features an ebony truss rod, no decal, and a logo stamp on back of head. (MSRP: $8,499)
-D-28 AUTHENTIC 1941: This model features a T-Bar truss rod and rear-ward shifted X-bracing. (MSRP: $7,999)
-D-18 AUTHENTIC 1939: This model features T-Bar truss rod and rear-shifted bracing. (MSRP: $6,749)
-OM-18 AUTHENTIC 1933: This model features an ebony truss rod. Silk screened-inspired decal and an unique shaded Adirondack top. (MSRP: $ 6,499)
The new series features four models: D-18E Retro, D-45E Retro, HD-28E Retro, and OM-28E Retro. Stylistically and sonically reminiscent of the iconic classic Martin guitars of the 1930's and 40's, they feature traditional non-cutaway Martin guitars incorporating significant advancements in plugged-in sound reproduction. The series exquisitely captures a sought-after sound, melding traditional models with state-of-the-art technology, and will appeal to musicians and guitar aficionados alike. Martin designers dove back into the rich history residing in the Martin museum and chose world-class examples to use as "tone donors." These guitars include a 1942 D-45, a 1941 D-28, a 1937 D-18 and a 1934 000-28 (long-scale) on loan from Vintage Instruments. (MSRP: D-45E Retro $11,999, HD28E Retro $4,499, OM-28E Retro $4,499, D18E- Retro $3,399)
The popular Artist Custom Signature series unveil two stunning new models from legendary artists John Sebastian and Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole:
-MARTIN DSS JOHN SEBASTIAN CUSTOM SIGNATURE EDITION (14-FRET):the famed singer/songwriter and frontman for the iconic folk/rock band The Lovin' Spoonful pays tribute to his lifelong passion for roots music through his exquisite namesake dreadnought sloped shoulder guitar. Limited to just 44 instruments (for his birth year, 1944), the DSS John Sebastian offers a unique combination of premium tonewoods and appointments personally selected by Sebastian. It is comprised of superb solid tonewoods, including the scalloped 5/16-inch braces and an Adirondack spruce top, and back and sides made of rare, highly figured koa. Koa blends pleasing bass, strong midrange and crisp trebles, and this honey colored, flame figured koa looks as spectacular as it sounds. The 1930s style belly bridge is black ebony. The well-appointed details include a Style 45 blue paua pearl rosette combined with fine herringbone top purfling, rosewood bindings, and a special amber sunburst top to complement the koa back and sides. Fine black/white purfling encircle the back, which is bisected by a fine herringbone center strip. "When I first heard Martin's new CEO-6, I called Martin to ask where'd they'd been all my life," said Sebastian. "Being a longtime fan of the slope shouldered Dreadnoughts, Martin's instrument has become my primary acoustic. Just play an E chord and your socks will roll up and down!" (MSRP: $7,999)
- MARTIN 1T IZ COMMEORATIVE CUSTOM ARTIST TENOR UKELELE: Beloved in life, Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo'ole has become even more so since his death in 1997 at the too-young age of 38. His beautiful voice and elegant ukulele accompaniment – as showcased in his hit "Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" – have enchanted people everywhere and helped spark a renaissance in traditional Hawaiian music. For much of his career, Israel – or IZ, as he is affectionately known – cherished a vintage Martin tenor ukulele, which he played at recording sessions and in concert. After he died, his body and his treasured uke were cremated together, and their ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean off Oahu in a ceremony attended by thousands. To honor his musical legacy, C.F. Martin & Co. introduces the Martin lT IZ Commemorative Custom Artist tenor ukulele. Inspired by Martin 1T tenor ukes from the 1940s and 1950s, the lT IZ features rare tonewoods, handsome inlays and distinctive appointments that capture the unique spirit of the man whose name it bears. The crowning glory is the headstock. East Indian rosewood provides the backdrop for beautiful inlays; "IZ" in Hawaiian koawood and a hibiscus flower (symbolic of Hawaii) in pink awabi pearl. Both inlays are nestled under the familiar gold C.F. Martin & Co. logo and are flanked by unique black geared violin-style "PegHeds®" tuners. Delivered in an embroidered protective "Next Generation" bag, each 1T IZ Commemorative Custom Artist tenor ukulele bears an interior label individually signed by Marlene Kamakawiwo'ole, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's wife, and numbered in sequence without total. (MSRP: $1,999)
Also on display at NAMM will be the company's brand new line of Tony Rice Signature Strings made with Monel. The sound engineers at Martin Guitar worked hand-in-hand with Legendary Bluegrass artist, Tony Rice, to bring back to life his favorite sound – Martin Monel Strings. Tony played Martin Monels loyally on Clarence White's 1935 D28 until they became unavailable and he has been missing them ever since. When the new formula was perfected, Tony said his old D28 sounded just like it did in the sixties – just like it should. Tony's favorite thing about Martin Monels is that they don't change the timbre of the instrument. The compound, nickel-based alloy mellows very quickly to allow the natural, woody sounds of the guitar to pour from the sound hole, unaltered, from the very first strum.
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