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July 1, 2003 I seem to remember some years ago it was declared illegal for employers to ask about race. Since that declaration, on every form for any application, the race box always comes up. I have noticed recently that there is now a new category: Middle Easterner. I have always had a problem with these catagories. As a Jewess, I have never considered myself as a white person, or Caucasian, even though Jewish is listed in some dictionaries as part of the Caucasian race. Growing up, white people never considered me part of their group. Hitler never considered us part of the white race. White people to me were WASPS: White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. What is this new category of Middle Easterner? Personally, I have always considered Jewish people as part of the Levant, or what is on old maps, Asia Minor. Even the Japanese consider Jews as Orientals, or as they have told me, Orientals with high bridge noses. So now do I fit into that category? Or is it to identify Arabs, whether they are Christians or Muslims or Jews? I find it so offensive to be whited out. I feel as if Hitler's work of eliminating the scourge of Jews from the world is now being done without shedding any blood. In fact, all this categorizing is offensive. I usually just answer "other". If there is a box to explain what that other is, I put human. That is really the category I feel most comfortable with. I belong to the human race. Caesar was a brilliant man. I even studied him in Latin. His idea of divide and conquer is probably the most effective way to rule a mixed population such as we have in the United States. In spite of the fact that we have the right to congregate, to mix freely with whomever we want, it is an illusion. Blacks, or rahter African Americans, hate the Whites, still; Whites still hate the Blacks; and everyone hates the Jews. When I first came to the South, there were several things I noticed. Lots of churches. Lots of veterinarians. And a thick, almost palpable, invisible wall separating people. It was almost as if the Civil Rights Movement never happened. True, people were working together. True, more people who had no access to higher education and advanced careers, now had access. I've met Black American bankers and businessmen, educators, doctors and other professionals that I never would have met some forty years ago. Nevertheless, that wall just seems to stand, stronger than ever. This is the only place I have ever been considered White, by Black people. I am still considered "other" by Whites. This division serves to control the nature and quality of people's relationships. It becomes internalized to such a degree that it is almost impossible to overcome. For example, one of the first weeks I was in my new neighborhood, I contacted someone in the music industry who was recommended by a friend of mine from New York. I was on my way to meet him at a local church where his office was located. I rolled through a stop sign; the street was deserted, so I rolled. As I pulled into the church's parking lot, a police officer came up behind me. Rolling stops had never been a problem in New Jersey, especially on a deserted street. This police officer ticketed me. I found out that the area surrounding the church was a high drug trafficking area. The only reason a " White" person would be there would be to buy drugs. To add insult to injury, the contact said to me that as a Jew and a "White" person, I owed the community. A next instance occurred when I was waiting for my boyfriend. We didn't meet at his mom's, but nearby. As I was waiting, a special unit came up to my car. I wasn't doing anything except waiting in my car. I had to explain what I was doing, why I didn't meet my boyfriend somewhere else, that we didn't have an ordinary relationship and so on. While I lived in NYC, I went everywhere: Harlem, Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho, Alphabet City. Everywhere. Until and unless someone saw you actually dong something, no one approached you. Ever! Crime and drugs were everywhere. If you weren't apparently doing anything, you were free to go about your business whatever it was. But this was a Black neighborhood and I was "White". My last example is the most disturbing. I love Reggae music and had become friendly with some locally famous Reggae musicians. The neighborhood where many meet is adjacent to mine. This area is under heavy surveillance: lots of police presence on land and in the air. I have often thought that the helicopters were using infra red to spy on everyone. They do use it to track the homeless! As a Licensed Massage Therapist I often treated people there. I also enjoyed the company, the conversations, the music, the energy. Recently, fear has dominated the atmosphere. As a " White" person I am now seen as a threat. After all, what would a "White" person be doing socializing with Rastafarians? I hate the human race. The next time I fill out a form that wants to know what I am, if there is a space to explain "other", I am going to put ALIEN! ------------ About the author: Risa Roberts' poems have recently been published in a table top edition of the International Library of Poety called "Letters from the Soul", as well as received Judge's recognition in an anthology by FamousPoets.com. She graduated Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ in 1970. She worked and traveled in the Far East and the Middle East. For the past eight years, South Florida has been her home. Risa is a Licensed Massage Therapist as well as active in the art community of Broward County. Email Risa: risa008@yahoo.com Comment on this column in the forum. Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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