Whoopi Goldberg isn’t the problem. I’m worried about Nazi marches and Colleyville hostages

January was a traumatic month for American Jews. Four Jewish hostages were taken in Colleyville, Texas. Two Nazi marches were held in Florida in broad daylight that included taunts of antisemitic slurs. “Maus,” Art Spiegelman’s graphic novel about the Holocaust, was banned in a Tennessee school district. Every time I check Twitter, “Jews,” “antisemitism,” “Nazi,” or “Holocaust” is trending.

And then Whoopi said the Holocaust was “not about race” because the Nazis and the European Jews they murdered were both “white.” I disagree. But I listened, and I understand why she said it. Race is a social construct, defined by people in a time and place. In most of America, in 2022, white Jews are seen as white. In Nazi Germany, in 1939, Jews were persecuted as an “inferior race.”

I was not shocked when a Black woman, with first-hand experience of racism, on a show called The View, expressed her view on Monday that Jews are not a race. Are Jews a race, ethnicity, religion or “people”? We are diverse in opinion and background. While people of Ashkenazi Jewish origin descend from a small number of individuals, there are Jews of every skin color and degree of observance. There is no simple answer to this question.

But Whoopi was both incorrect and deeply insensitive to remove the context of hateful Nazi doctrine about race. She apologized later the same day. The next day, she and Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League opened a nuanced and challenging conversation on the show. Then it was shut down. After significant backlash, ABC suspended Goldberg from The View for two weeks.

Honestly, I am more concerned that Colleyville and the Nazi marches — truly terrifying — came and went in the news, but a debatable comment on a TV show got so much attention. I was most offended, and frightened, by the initial FBI statement that the Colleyville attack was not about antisemitism. This demonstrated a lack of understanding of what antisemitism is, not just from the general public, but from our main law enforcement agency.

The ancient, deadly antisemitic trope of the globalist Jewish “puppet master” did not die in the bunker with Hitler. It motivated the hostage-taker in Colleyville who believed American Jews secretly pull the strings. He spoke twice with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl of Manhattan’s Central Synagogue (raised at Tacoma’s Temple Beth El) because he believed she could get a prisoner released with a phone call. He was willing to kill Jews to make it happen.

This should be an opportunity for a difficult conversation, and to surface harmful stereotypes and conspiracy theories about marginalized groups that remove their humanity. Instead, the rhetoric is treading dangerously close to “Jews rule the world, so don’t cross them.”

As always, Jewish reactions to the comments are varied (“two Jews, three opinions”). No one speaks for all of us. There is no Pope, no king, no president of the Jews.

I hope we can take a breath and use our critical thinking. Admit that we do not walk in others’ shoes. Understand that two apparently contradictory things can both be true. White American Jews can be both privileged and also at great risk.

Bonnie J Becker is an Associate Professor at UW Tacoma and a member of Temple Beth El in Tacoma. Her opinion does not represent the views of either organization.

This story was originally published February 6, 2022 at 5:00 AM.