Jews of Color: A Critical Appraisal

The persistent use of scientifically meaningess, poorly understood, and hierarchical ethnocentric categories sich as race or color to classify Jewish populations raises certain perplexities. Recent debates about Jews of Color have exposed the contradictory state of mind og many of those who deal with such charged topics. Virtually eveyone wanted to express their sense of empathy with those citizens exposed to discrimination and duress - mostly Black, be they Jewish or non-Jewish. The problem of racism and anti-Black discrimination has long signaled one of the outstanding weaknesses of American dmeocracy. In spite of many decades of in-depth analyses about possible determinants and consequences, of growing public awareness, and of policy interventions amed at mitigating or even extirpating the extant manifestations of lack of equity, the problem can hardly be declared as solved. The political ups and downs and tribulations of the U.S. Presidency during the second decade of the 21st centurt perhaps more than anything else eloquently demonstrated the resilience of this fundamental sickness in the body of the Amwrican nation. Taking the move from the more recent tensions that occurred in the U.S. on racial grounds, this paper reviews sevral main categories used to classify populations iun censuses ans ruevys - such as race, color, origin, and ethinicy. Some critical weaknesses of these concepts are outlined in the context of the scientific study of Jewish populations innthe U.S.