Saturday, August 3, 2013
Color & the PC police
In an op-ed in the Times of Israel, Malynnda Littky, a 2007 olah from the U.S., took umbrage with David Lau, the new Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel.
Lau referred to black basketball players as "kushim." If there was anything "negative" about it, I suspect Lau was complaining that Israel "imported" non-Israeli players to score a win. On that - not importing non-Israelis - I support Lau.
Kushi, kusheet, kushim for many years and until fairly recently referred to black people.
To the Israeli mind, black people originated in a land called Kush, ergo "kushim," people from Kush.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
Nothing positive.
Nothing negative.
As Jack Webb intoned as Sgt. Friday on Dragnet, "just the facts."
In the States, "The N Word" is forbidden except when one black refers to another. In a way I can understand that. It's like a Jew can tell a Jewish joke and the Jew's best buddy, who happens to be "something else," better not tell the same joke.
For awhile, blacks in America were negros, then they became "Afro-Americans." That gave way to black. (Or maybe just the reverse.) The "N word" and "negro" both are variations of very ancient words for black.
I don't capitalize "white"; I see no reason to capitalize "black. "Caucasian" with a capital "C" and "Negroid" with a capital "N."
There have been, and in some circles there remain, truly nasty, derogatory names for blacks, Irish, Italians, Jews, Latinos, Poles, Orientals, run-of-the-mill WASP. Did I miss you? Don't feel left out; I'm sure there is a derogatory term for your ethnicity, color, sex, sexual preference, whatever.
The point here is the "black," "kushi," "shvartzah," and "shori" are just descriptive terms. They are not by themselves derogatory. (Swartz, as a Sweet Young Thing of long ago told me, is German/Yiddish for black. Since she seemed proud of her family, I doubt there was any negatives attached to the surname.)
My daughter lives in Israel and disabused me of the term "kushi" for black people in Israel. It is not PC I was informed. Since when, I asked. She didn't know, but she's a relative newcomer; I lived there in the 70s.
Language is a living thing, even - maybe especially - Hebrew. To paraphrase a phrase, "Slang happens." Remember
"fi'nish-tee"?
But to banish a descriptive term seems foolish and PC to the extreme.
It's not WHAT you say but HOW you say it. That was true when I was a youngster and remains true today.
Some of my in-laws refer to me as "sheleg" - snow. The sun reflecting off my snow white legs can blind someone. PC? Probably not. I do have my non-caustic comebacks.
At synagogue I usually have an Egyptian on one side and a Turk on the other. We torment - albeit gently and sans rancor - each other about our heritage; no one take offense.
It seems to me that unless race is needed as an identifying matter, we should just ignore it. Of course then someone will complain "You left out my people" or "You grouped everyone together and my people's contributions were ignored."
It is impossible to make all the people happy all the time.
For all that, when I used the term "kushi" it was intended an a means of identification, sans any additional meaning. I suspect Lau used it in the same manner, although I confess I neither read or heard all his words.
I feel sorry for the Israeli kushim/shorim/blacks/whatevers if some Israelis use the terms in a derogatory fashion, but look at the crime black illegals have brought to Israel. (Israel has plenty of crime without importing new criminals.)
If a word is developing a negative connotation it is "haredi."
Like most kushim, most haredim are fine folk. But there are a few . . .
I would not like to be called a kike; I would take serious offense if someone made disparaging remarks about my mother or my legitimacy, but these are not descriptive terms. I'm mostly off-white and wear a white beard. My "fedora-type" hat is white straw. (No black hats; I'm not ready for "prime time." ) I could stand to shed a few pounds from my 5' 9"-and-shrinking frame. Those are descriptive words and I find no reason to take offense at them.
Call me "Whitey" or "Sheleg" without rancor and I will answer in an equal voice. That's what I am. I probably wouldn't like being called "Honky" - a black's derogatory term for whites, but I doubt I would get on my soapbox to rail about it.
My bottom line for Mrs. Littky is (1) consider the speaker's age and length of time in Israel and (b) get over it. "Kushi" does NOT equate to "The N Word," at least by those of Lau's generation. It's a descriptive term. Period. End of story.
yohanon.glenn at gmail.com
