You’ve likely heard about Whoopi being suspended, but watch the full clip above first/again. I’m sure the ongoing discussions, explanations and apologies will continue, but it’s often best to see how things began. Be honest… Did you watch it fully? If not, do not continue reading until you have watched the clip in it’s entirety.
Now, that you have watched/rewatched the full clip, here are some questions to consider: is what Whoopi said factual or not, hateful or not, hurtful or not?
The words: race, ethnicity and nationality often get used synonymously and erroneously, and it’s normally not that much of a concern. Yet, there are other times when it becomes a major concern, especially when people feel forced to choose a race or go along with a common definition for their racial group. This article brings some points of this dilemma to light: https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-census-poses-a-dilemma-for-jews-are-you-white-and-what-are-your-origins/amp/
Here are a few excerpts that hit on the point which Whoopi might have been trying to address:
“Kopp, 53, abandoned the form for a while before returning and checking “white.” He entered “Eastern European Ashkenazi Jew” in the origins box.”
“Jeff Weintraub, 72, an academic who lives in the Philadelphia area, said he thought the race/ethnicity/national-origin questions on the census form “were a little bizarre.””
“Marks, 31, said she thought the question could help shatter the sense of privilege among other whites. “It’s important for me to identify as white because I benefit from white privilege and am perceived as white,” Marks said. “When you are forced to dig deeper, to go beyond the just ‘I’m white,’ you’re put in the same boat as other people.””
The Ashkenazi Jews, quoted above, chose to say that they are white, which seems to agree with parts of what Whoopi said. When Whoopi made her oversimplified opinion, saying what the Jewish Holocaust was about, she said that the Jewish Holocaust “is not about race… it’s about man’s inhumanity to man” she also said “…but these are two groups of white people”. Are the Ashkenazi Jews above, in error for saying that they are white, or are they racially white? The questions again: is what Whoopi said factually true or not, hateful or not, or hurtful or not? And another question, should Whoopi now be labeled as being anti-Semitic or not?
Merriam-Webster says this is the “Essential Meaning of anti-Semitic: feeling or showing hatred of Jewish people”. Does Whoopi present herself as being hateful to Semitic people?… Do the Ashkenazi Jewish people who called themselves white?
Here’s an article which may help or add further confusion to the usage of race & ethnicity https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/difference-between-race-and-ethnicity
As for us, bloodline Hebrew Israelites who are still scattered to the 4 corners of the earth, still in the lands of our captivity, we are awakening to who we are, being called out of the darkness, confusion and doubt, and we have no question nor dilemma about who we are:
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people for a possession, that you should proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light,”
Kĕpha Aleph (1 Peter) 2:9 TS2009 https://bible.com/bible/316/1pe.2.9.TS2009
What Is He Brewing? 