'Most oppressed' not a competition

I disagree with much of what Philip Kurian said in his Oct. 18 column "The Jews." I think it is bad form to try to foster competition between minority groups to see who is "the most oppressed."

So, apparently, the Jews are the "most privileged," least oppressed minority group. Just because the color of my skin is white does not mean that I can easily "denounce my difference by taking off my yarmulke."

Unfortunately, I have spent a portion of my time at Duke trying to run away from my Jewish identity, and yet I still find it there, staring me in the face. First, my name is pretty much the most Jewish name ever, so upon any introduction, the secret would be out.

And second, as the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I carry with me a legacy that can't easily be shaken off. Despite my grandparents' whiteness, they were still illiterate immigrants who came to live in South Carolina, not exactly a bastion of liberal acceptance. I'd think that because Kurian grew up in Charleston, he would be aware of the repeated exclusion of the Southern Jewish community from the white Christian majority. Just a few months ago, anti-Semitic messages were spray-painted on the sign of a Jewish candidate for County Council. Inez Tenenbaum, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, has renounced any association with the Jewish community for fear of not being elected. It's not so easy to be a Jew in the South.

I do agree that the American Jewish community often blindly supports Israeli policies and uses its past experiences with discrimination as a justification. But, let us try not to assume what it is like to be in the skin of another race, culture, religion or ethnicity and let us try not to pin groups against each other to see who is more oppressed.

Leah Greenberg

Trinity '05