an amazing book i need to recommend - Ace of Spades by David Matthews

[movehalfaninch]

this is my first posting. hello! my name is sarah, and i'm half black half jewish. my mother is jewish.

A friend of mine recommended a book called 'Ace of Spades' by David Matthews (you can find it here: http://tr.im/iGsu), and I love it so much. I'm half way through it and I can't believe how great this book is. It's so funny and personable.

Comments

[snowowl]

Why do they call him white if he is clearly Jewish? He isn't even half-black by Jewish standards, since his mother was Jewish.

http://www.jewfaq.org/whoisjew.htm

[movehalfaninch]

well, when you meet someone, typically they don't wonder if you're white or jewish. but they can see if you're black or white -- most of the time. the point of the book is his struggles in this identity issue.

this is what he looks like, btw:

[snowowl]

It's fine if you're simply talking about his experiences with people on the street who don't think about that -- but I'm responding to the review from The New Yorker, who surely knew better. I don't think Jews would appreciate it if a major news publication called someone Jewish who is not in the least, but for some reason the media has no problem doing the reverse. It's weird.

[movehalfaninch]

i dont really understand what you're talking about.

A person can be jewish and white.
A person can be white and jewish.
David Matthews is as much black as he is jewish. he wasn't raised with ANY jewish influences, but his black father -- a very major black activist -- raised him and so his black influences are strong. furthermore, a person's melatonin doesn't necessarily mean that they're not a certain race.

[snowowl]

Perhaps we are talking about two different things. I am talking about race. A person who is not racially Jewish can convert to Judaism, and a person who is racially Jewish is not necessarily religiously Jewish.

A person who is racially Jewish is not white. Just because they are light skinned does not make them white, anymore than an Asian person who is light skinned from Laos or what have you makes them white. Race is much more about melatonin, and it's much more than the "influences" you were brought up with. Most Jews would feverently disagree with your assertion that Jews are white, as would biological anthropologists.

It's simply not accurate to call Jews white when they themselves insist that they are not. Do we call Native Americans who can "pass" for white people white? Would a major news publication make that mistake when said person wrote a book specifically about how people are confused by his racial heritage?