Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep 8: Oppression Olympics, Intergenerational Trauma, and Shared Liberation
QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW
Even more than other episodes, you'll find yourself eavesdropping on this conversation. April and Tracie unpack the deep and intergenerational effects of shared trauma and oppression, and the ways either/or and hierarchical thinking can get in the way of healing.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
All of our episodes have closed captioning.
Click here to access the audio version and transcript on Buzzsprout.
Tracie kicks off the episode by talking about the “Oppression Olympics” where different experiences of oppression are compared hierarchically. How does this idea of the “Oppression Olympics” sit with you? When are times you’ve played along or seen it happen and how does this make you feel?
Tracie and April continuously are mindful of the times in which they perpetuate “either/or” thinking, which white supremacy culture requires and instead switch to a both/and mindset, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of a complex world. What are the ways in which “either/or'' thinking manifest in my life and impact my decisions?
April reflects on the different reactions to antisemtic and racist attacks in each community respectively and what gets lifted up in that reaction. Keeping April’s thoughts in mind, when acts of anti-semitism and racism arise, how do I react? How do I process it?
Tracie and April discuss the ways in which antisemitism and racism are linked and interconnected within white supremacy. Think about how you would express this in your own words? How would you explain this to someone else? What do you need to learn more about to better articulate this link?
What are the gaps in my knowledge as it relates to the history of chattel slvery in the United States, the history of the global Jewish diaspora, and other marginalized groups?
April imagines if social workers had stepped in and pointed out the behaviors that a targeted group (ex Jewish people) developed in an oppressive, traumatic environment in order to survive, but in our present, no longer serve to protect us. What are some of those behaviors, both for your community (Jewish, Black, and/or otherwise)?
The podcast closes with a discussion on holding both the perspective needed to see and honor both our own pain and someone else’s, which isn’t always easy. What work do I need to do to be able to hold these truths together?
INSIGHTS FROM THIS EPISODE
“Does that mean that you can’t have benefited from white skin privilege, because you also suffered from antisemitism? It’s not either/or.”
“It’s gonna take courage and organization and alliances across lines of difference and solidarity, but we actually do need to push it, because that same oppression is tied to racism. That is white supremacy”
“The same systems that cause trauma of Jews through systemic antisemitism cause trauma of Black folks through systemic anti-Black racism.”
“With education, support, and courage, it actually is possible to reclaim your identity in an anti-racist, Jewishly-proud manner, and also acknowledge other communities’ pains, and the specificity of it, what’s similar, and what’s different.”
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?
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