My wife Robin is Jewish. She is also very ethnic looking. I bring this up because of a couple stories she has shared with me over the years. One is that as a young girl she sometimes felt like she was black. In her childish mind she felt an affinity with them due to discrimination and feeling like she did not belong to the larger society. She also tells the story of moving to a north St. Louis suburb as a young newlywed. Due to her ethnic appearance a lot of her neighbors thought she was Italian. She allowed them this belief as it was easier to deal them than if they knew she was Jewish. At least that was her feeling.
I will admit anti-Semitism is something I do not understand. For obvious reasons it is something I have pondered on over the last few years. I have done some minor research on the issue. While I have some vague understanding of its roots, the vehemence with which it is has come down through the generations to us mystifies me.
I have a dear friend, Leon, a black man a few years older than myself. He lives in Jackson, Continue reading “Break a Little Bread”
It is not that I am such a staunch Democrat. I have a lot to not like about that party. And like most politicians when they get elected their brains turn into mush.