The Forward: “Fellow White People” Meme = Antisemitism

In the Jewish Daily Forward, Sam Kestenbaum writes on “The Latest Anti-Semitic ‘Alt-Right’ Meme: ‘Fellow White People’”:

One relatively new, particularly anti-Semitic, meme known as “fellow white people” requires some unpacking. It’s not new but has recently bubbled up to the surface again in recent weeks — and it promulgates the belief that Jews are merely “masquerading” as whites as a way to tear down the white nation from the inside…

The meme is meant to highlight what the “alt-right” sees as the “shapeshifting” and ultimately non-white nature of Jews. Jews, the thinking goes, call themselves white when they want to appeal to “fellow whites” — and call for things like immigration reform or civil rights — but also call themselves members of a minority class when it suits them.

The broader debate around Jews and whiteness is fraught and breaks out within the Jewish community every few months.

That last sentence is completely at odds with the piece’s overall dismissiveness. Very strange.

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