No More American Jews

Chinese Americans, Italian Americans, Irish Americans, American Jews. These particular groups are referred to in this manner. What does it say about the United States?

My focus is on the sequence of the words. In the phrase "Chinese American," Chinese is the adjective. It describes the type of American that this individual is. Of course, Chinese Americans are often racialized as the "other" despite their ancestors' time in the United States, which dates back to the very beginnings of this country in some cases. Chinese Americans are often confused as Chinese Nationals, even if their family has been in the United States for 150 years. This is definitely not right, but, notwithstanding this racism, Chinese Americans still enjoy being described with the noun "American."

However, very rarely are Jewish Americans described as such. We are referred to as American Jews. "American" describes what kind of "Jew" we are. This insinuates that our loyalty lies with the Jew component, whereas other groups are American. The implicit suggestion by the term "American Jew" is that our allegiance first and foremost is located with the state of Israel, even above our place of residence. No other group faces this suspicion. My point is not to ignore the prejudice that other groups face however. It is simply to expose this form of discrimination, which is unique in the United States to Jews. The danger in the suspicion that our allegiance is to Israel is that we can be considered "outsiders" within the United States at a moment's notice, because the foundation has already been accepted in our country's discourse.

There are Jews who perpetuate this apparent allegiance to the state of Israel. My personal allegiance is with the Jewish people ourselves and not with any modern nation-state. I want what's best for my people and that is peace. How does the state of Israel help Jewish people if the state is synonymous with the religion's followers, and continuously creates animosity against its neighbors? An Israeli-Arab alliance is what's best for Jewish people. Arabs have a much greater stake in the success of the land that both groups share than the United States and its band of Christian fundamentalists that run the country. Of course, an Arab-Israeli alliance is more unlikely than me performing a Josh Smith-like dunk on a ten-foot hoop. But this Israeli-initiated animosity isn't helping Jewish people's safety one iota.

Back to the point of the so-called "American Jew," this is a term that we must change to "Jewish American" to fully be American citizens and resist the possibility of becoming an "outsider," which occured in Germany in the 1930s.