Jews Talk Racial Justice - Ep. 81: Middle Agent Status, Alternatives to Whiteness, and Radical Imagination

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Tune into this episode and read the full shownotes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts!

QUICK EPISODE OVERVIEW

We cover a LOT of ground in today’s conversation, where we get curious about what prevents some folks and groups from accessing joy. We talk about Black joy, the whiteness of white Jews and what often makes embracing joy difficult (and the impact of the historical middle agent role), individual and collective safety, and imagining our liberated selves and living into that. What would it look like for white Jews choose the side of liberation over whiteness?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Find the audio version with the full transcript here.

  1. April starts the episode by positing that joy is more out of reach for members of the Jewish community and she attributes this to the middle agent states that Jews have had historically. What do you think about this? Do you agree? 

  2. April compares Jews’ (white Jews in particular) difficulty accessing joy with Black joy, which she characterizes as “taking full ownership of one’s experience, even in the worst of circumstances.” How can one find joy, even in the midst of oppression? Do you also think that one needs joy, even or especially in the context of oppression?

  3. Tracie’s wonders whether Orthodox Jews have a similar problem to non-Orthodox Jews (in an American context) and posits that unlike the non-orthodox, they didn’t trade whiteness/access to whiteness and class status for access to joy. What do you think about this? Do you agree? What is the relationship between assimilation and access to joy? 

  4. April thinks that “the distance from joy is a byproduct of the Jewish middle agent status and Jews having a conditional designation of whiteness.” What does this mean? 

  5. April says that being in “a middle agent role is psychologically and spiritually fraught.” What does this mean? What does this look like?

  6. April’s recounts her experience living in Senegal and feeling closer to liberation. Is there a space or a community where you feel similarly yourself? What effects does this have on a person?

  7. Tracie brings up the conversation with her daughter about the police. 

  8. Tracie talks about the myth that she has believed that joy is just something that you will achieve. Is this something that you have ever believed or been taught about how joy manifests? What does the experience of joy look like to you? 

  9. How do you resonate with what April says about her experience with joy (that joy is more like riding a horse). 

  10. April and Tracie statements like “good vibes only” or “positive vibes only.” Why is this often problematic? What do sentiments and statements like this miss?

COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS?

Let us know in the comments below!