Ashkenazi/White Jewish Privilege Checklist

“I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.” — Peggy McIntosh

Donning tefillin. Copyright © 2008 Tamu Ngina

The Ashkenazi/White Jewish Privilege Checklist was developed by Corinne Lightweaver, Sasha King, and members of the Jewish Multiracial Network online discussion group, 2006–2009, to teach about the white privilege conferred upon Ashkenazi Jews by the Jewish community. It is an evolving document that builds on the work of Peggy McIntosh, the author of the widely-used Unpacking White Privilege Checklist. You are welcome to distribute the Ashkenazi/White Jewish Privilege Checklist, use it in workshops, and add to it.

Ashkenazi/White Jewish Privilege Checklist
The following statements are examples of ways in which white Ashkenazi Jews have privilege because they are white. The privileges listed below are ones that many white Ashkenazi Jews may take for granted today, but which are not available to most Jews of color in the United States.

Please check all the statements that apply to you. At the end, try to list at least two more ways you have privilege in the Jewish community based on your race or ethnicity.

___    I can walk into my temple and feel that others do not see me as outsider.
___    I can walk into my temple and feel that others do not see me as exotic.
___    I can walk into my temple and feel that my children are seen as Jews.
___    I can walk into temple with my family and not worry that they will be treated unkindly because of the color of their skin.
___    I can enjoy music at my temple that reflects the tunes, prayers, and cultural roots of my specific Jewish heritage.
___    No one at my synagogue will attempt to assign me to a ethnicity to which I  do not belong (e.g., assuming all Jews of African descent are Igbo or Ethiopian).
___    I can easily find greeting cards and books with images of Jews who look like me.
___    I can easily find Jewish books and toys for my children with images of Jews that look like them.
___    I am not singled out to speak about and as a representative of an “exotic” Jewish subgroup.
___    When I go to Jewish bookstores or restaurants, I am not seen as an outsider.
___    I find my experiences and images like mine in Jewish newspapers and magazines.
___    I do not worry about access to housing or apartments in predominately Jewish neighborhoods.
___    My rabbi never questions that I am Jewish.
___    When I tell other members of my synagogue that I feel marginalized, they are immediately and appropriately responsive.
___    There are other children at the religious school who look like my child.
___    My child’s authenticity as a Jew is never questioned by adults or children based on his/her skin color.
___    People never say to me, “But you don’t look Jewish,” either seriously or as though it was funny.
___    I do not worry about being seen or treated as a member of the janitorial staff at a synagogue or when attending a Jewish event.
___    I am never asked “how” I am Jewish at dating events or on Jewish dating websites.
___    I can arrange to be in the company of Jews of my heritage most of the time.
___    When attempting to join a synagogue or Jewish organization, I am confident that my ethnic background will not be held against me.
___    I can ask synagogues and Jewish organizations to include images and cultural traditions from my background without being seen as a nuisance.
___    I can enroll in a Jewish day school, yeshiva, and historically Jewish college and find Jewish students and professors with my racial or ethnic background.
___    People of color do not question why I am Jewish.
___    I know my racial or ethnic background will not be held against me if I  attempt to join a minyan in prayer.
___    I know my ethnic background will not be held against me in being called to read the Torah.
___    I am not discriminated against in the aliyah process as a Jew of my particular ethnicity.

Text not copyrighted. Developed for educational purposes by the Jewish Multiracial Network, 2006–2009. Please distribute and add to the checklist. For more information about the Jewish Multiracial Network, visit www.jewishmultiracialnetwork.org.

It’s Elementary and Beyond: More Resources for Maize Day

The following are just a few of the many high-quality online resources available to broaden and deepen school curricula for Maize Day and Thanksgiving, and throughout the year. In addition, this article includes suggestions for “conversation starters” and ideas for Classroom Activities. For more information, see my articles Maize Day: A Holiday for All Americans and Curriculum Resources: An Annotated Bibliography for Maize Day.

Online Resources and Organizations

STAR, Students and Teachers Advocating Respect, seeks to bring the image of Native Americans into the present and support the well being of Native children in schools. STAR offers a “tribally-approved” wish list for school libraries and classrooms and provides links to lesson plans and curricula.

STAR’s project Changing Winds Advocacy Center aims to raise public awareness of the stereotyping, discrimination, racism and other unique situations facing Native Americans through presentations, classroom sessions, curriculum, fund raising, charitable works, and multi-media efforts.

Oyate “is a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly, and so that all people will know our stories belong to us.” Purchasing books through Oyate rather than mainstream channels is another way to support Native-owned organizations. Oyate provides book recommendations, as well as a list of books to avoid.

Debbie Reese’s American Indians in Children’s Literature offers a wealth of information. She also has also has a blog on Images of Indians in Children’s Books.

Conversation Starters

Using topical articles can be helpful in starting a conversation with your students or peers. Look for timely news stories, particularly those that may be of specific or local interest to your community.

Plimoth Plantation, a bicultural museum created through extensive research on the Wampanoag People and the Colonial English community in the 1600s, provides free articles, essays, and recipes online. In addition, the Plimoth Plantation online shop is another source for books and other items.

Thanksgiving a loaded holiday for many American Indians
Melanie Conklin, Wisconsin State Journal
November 26, 2008

Remembering Two-Spirits This Thanksgiving
Reverend Irene Monroe, LA Progressive
November 24, 2008

Claremont parents clash over kindergarten Thanksgiving costumes
By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times
November 25, 2008

Classroom Activities

• Ask your students to write pros and cons lists about how and whether to celebrate Thanksgiving. Assign teams to debate the issues.

• Challenge your students to read original source materials about the First Nations and to describe the “First Thanksgiving” or another historical moment from the viewpoint of indigenous people.

• Ask your students, “What are the economic issues that keep the country invested in the ‘traditional Thanksgiving’ myths?”

• Divide each class into small student groups and have each group present one “myth and reality” to the class. For examples, see American Indians: Stereotypes & Realities by Devon A. Mihesuah (Atlanta, Georgia: Clarity Press, 1996).

• Assign research projects at the appropriate grade level to learn about local indigenous people, past and present. What did their homes look like? What did they eat? How did they dress? Where are they now? How do present-day indigenous people live in your area? Some of your students may be of Native American heritage; avoiding “us and them” language can pave the way toward all the children feeling included and help all your students to acknowledge the commonalities among people of different heritages, even within your classroom.
Copyright © 2008 Corinne Lightweaver.

Curriculum Resources: An Annotated Bibliography for Maize Day

This annotated bibliography accompanies my article “Maize Day: A Holiday for All Americans.” It is the same article published at garretandstudio.wordpress.com on November 26, 2008, but this time I have added tags for the article before publishing it so that it will be easier to find on search engines. I have also added direct links for most of the books recommended.

Finding a new way to approach your Maize Day or Thanksgiving celebration can be challenging, but here are some resources to get you started. It is better to use one high-quality resource than dozens with inaccurate information and offensive portrayals of American Indians and other indigenous people of North, South, and Central America.

One of the first books I bought seemed like an obvious choice at the time. It’s called Corn is Maize: The Gift of the Indians, written and illustrated by Aliki. But once you have done a little research, you’ll know that the corn was not literally a gift but was in fact stolen and that the title is only one of numerous inaccuracies in the book.

To the untrained eye, differences may seem subtle, but a subtle difference can have a powerful impact—for better or worse. Books such as Through Indian Eyes and Pact’s Multicultural Resource Guide explain errors in some popular books and provide guidelines for evaluating children’s books in particular.

References

Chase’s Calendar of Events 2009 (paperback + CD-ROM). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Maize Day is listed on page 567 of the 2009 edition of Chase’s Calendar of Events, an authoritative guide for librarians, marketers, journalists, and other professionals to special occurrences, holidays, anniversaries, religious observances, sporting events, and more from around the world.

The Teacher’s Calendar School Year 2008–2009. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Maize Day is listed on page 84 of this edition. Geared to K-8 teachers, librarians, and other educators, The Teacher’s Calendar offers classroom ideas for every day of the year from August 1 to July 31. The book includes suggestions for class activities, bulletin boards, and school calendars. Fifty sidebars highlight specific dates and provide curriculum ideas, lists of appropriate books, and related websites. Written by the in-house staff of Chase’s Calendar of Events with contributions by writers specializing in child education. (Note: I have not seen what activities or books Chase’s recommends for Maize Day.)

Books

American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions and Innovations. Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfield. New York: Facts on File, Inc. 2002. This comprehensive encyclopedia makes it easy to make “history” relevant for your family or students, highlighting American Indians’ numerous inventions, innovations, and contributions to modern-day medicine, languages, calendars, mathematics, agriculture, and more. In addition to an index, the book offers a glossary, a chronology, maps; a bibliography and suggested reading list, and useful lists in the following categories: tribes organized by culture area; entries by tribe, group, or linguistic group; tribes by geographical culture area; and entries by subject.

American Indians: Stereotypes & Realities. Devon A. Mihesuah. Atlanta, Georgia: Clarity Press, 1996. Clear, concise, and easy to use, this book directly addresses 24 stereotypes about Indians, provides do’s and don’ts for those who teach American history and culture, and offers curriculum guidelines, along with suggested projects.

Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition. Russell M. Peters. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Lerner Publications Company, 1992. Informative text and photographs show the life of a modern-day Wampanoag boy as he and his grandfather prepare a traditional meal.

Four Seasons of Corn: A Winnebago Tradition. Sally M. Hunter. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Lerner Publications Company, 1997. Using the true story of a 12-year-old boy of mixed American Indian heritage, the text and photographs depict the role of corn in Hochunk (Winnebago) tradition.

Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus: What Your History Books Got Wrong. James W. Loewen. New York: The New Press, 1992. Loewen examines the depiction of “America’s discovery” in 15 high-school and middle-school textbooks, sorting fact from fiction.

Native American Gardening: Stories, Projects, and Recipes for Families. Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 1996. An invaluable resource whether or not you actually plan to garden. Joseph Bruchac is a popular children’s book author.

Pact’s Multicultural Resource Guide. Pact: An Adoption Alliance. San Francisco: Pact Press, out of print. This “opinionated guide” rates children’s and adult books for accuracy and appropriateness using a five-point scale with accompanying summaries and explanations.

People of Corn: A Mayan Story. Mary-Joan Gerson. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1995. This beautifully illustrated retelling of the Mayan Creation Story explains to readers young and old the centrality of corn in the religion, diet, oral literature, and history of ancient and modern Mayans.

A People’s History of the United States: 1492–Present. Howard Zinn. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. See Chapter 1 for an altogether different account of the European invasion using Christopher Columbus’ own words, quoting from his captain’s log, reports to the Spanish government, and other original sources. Updated editions are available.

Through Indian Eyes: The Native Experience in Books for Children. Beverly Slapin and Doris Seale. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: New Society Publishers, 1987. This volume includes the very useful checklist “How to Tell the Difference” for evaluating children’s books, as well as articles, poetry, book reviews, a list of recommended books, and a resource section.

Yum! ¡MmMm! ¡Qué rico! America’s Sproutings. Pat Mora. New York: Lee & Low Books, 2007. The luscious illustrations that accompany Mora’s haiku about native foods make this book an excellent choice for reading aloud to young children. Longer text in smaller type gives more information for older readers.

1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving. Catherine O’Neill Grace and Margaret M. Bruchac. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2001. The authors provide an easily-accessible introduction for adults and children to the actual facts behind the traditional Thanksgiving story: “Generations of schoolchildren have imagined brave, peaceful settlers—the ‘Pilgrims’—inviting a few wild Indians over for dinner. In the myth, the Wampanoag side has been left out. The true story is a lot more complicated.”

Cookbooks

Spirit of the Earth: Native Cooking from Latin America. Martin Jacobs and Beverly Cox. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001.

Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking. Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs. New York: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, 1991.
Copyright © 2008 Corinne Lightweaver.

Maize Day: A Holiday for All Americans

This coming Friday, November 28, 2008, my family and I will sit around a large table to talk and eat together with 21 guests as we hold our fourth annual Maize Day celebration. Maize Day commemorates the First Nations of the Americas and the central role of corn in these cultures and cuisines. It is observed on the fourth Friday of November, a day on which many citizens in the United States are released from work and thus can be close to friends and family with whom they can celebrate.

Maize Day is a holiday for all Americans, no matter what your ethnicity. On this day, whether we are descendants of Europeans, Africans, or other immigrants, or Native Americans, we stop to commemorate the many ways in which indigenous Americans have contributed to, informed, and shaped the way we live today. Native people throughout the Americas have played a role—usually without any credit given—in our current knowledge of architecture, astronomy, agriculture, animal husbandry, cartography, dentistry, government, language, linguistics, mathematics, medicine, science, technology, textile arts, and more.

Desert Wind, Corinne Lightweaver, 1998. Pastel on paper.

Maize, or corn, is a common denominator between most First Nations peoples from the tundra and taiga of North America to the tip of South America. In addition, many popular foods, such as tomatoes, are erroneously attributed to other cultures. Accordingly, my family’s Maize Day menus feature ingredients used by the First Peoples of the Americas. These foods include maize, hominy, winter squash, summer squash, beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, salmon, quinoa, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, mesquite, piñon nuts, chiles, cactus, prickly pear, persimmons, honey, yerba maté, and chocolate.

Items we haven’t used yet include juniper berries, sunchokes, strawberries, cranberries, rose hips, and wild hyacinth. I am still looking for sources for cattail flour and acorn flour.

This holiday began as a small research project through which I intended—with my family—to commemorate the United States holiday of Thanksgiving through the viewpoint of the indigenous people. The indigenous story of Thanksgiving, however, is one of heartbreak and while this story is an important one to tell, I began to understand more clearly that—instead of focusing on the ills done to native peoples—I wanted to create a holiday to focus on the wonders and victories of Native Americans. What mattered most to me was that these cultures be celebrated as living cultures.

The culture of the Wampanoag people, who first met the English immigrants on the Atlantic Coast in 1621, is rich with stories. In addition, for any family (or family of friends) who wants to celebrate Maize Day, researching the local indigenous culture or that of one’s hometown can make the holiday especially relevant. I attended University High School in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, never knowing that “the Warrior,” the school’s offensive logo, came from the fact that the school was built on the sacred site and springs of the Tongva (Gabrielino) people. A portion of the school campus has now been reclaimed by the Tongva as a sacred site, which I have visited with my family.

We also celebrate the culture of the Maya K’iche’ people from whom my daughter is descended. On Maize Day, we make it a point to read Mayan stories and talk about Mayan culture, values, and foods. My daughter looks forward to Maize Day all year round.

When my sister comes from Tucson, Arizona, to join our holiday celebration, she brings traditional foods and stories of the Tohono O’odham people, who cultivated 10,000 acres in Southern Arizona with traditional floodwater methods, and who today are actively reintroducing traditional crops.

Bringing Maize Day to the schools is one of my dreams. My daughter’s preschool teacher lovingly embraced the holiday and incorporated it into her curriculum. At the public school where my daughter now attends first grade, Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday of the year. I see a daunting task ahead of me, as the school holds a major feast with the children attending in the stereotypical costumes they have made in their classrooms.

At this time last year, I was recovering from a cancer diagnosis and bilateral mastectomy, and consequently was in no shape to argue with the school about the kindergarteners making construction-paper feather headdresses and paper grocery-bag “Indian” vests. I do find the practice unacceptable, however, and hope to find allies among other parents and teachers at the school who might join me in making a positive change in the school community and culture by addressing the racist stereotypes and false history promoted by traditional Thanksgiving celebrations.

As President George W. Bush leaves office, I have found one act I can thank him for: On October 8, 2008, President Bush signed into law a resolution that establishes the fourth Friday of November as Native American Heritage Day. With a staunch Republican leading the way, perhaps there can be an agreement on both sides of the aisle that the correction of the “Thanksgiving” curriculum in U.S. schools is the prudent, politic, and patriotic path to the future.

A note to my readers: Many non-Indians have told me they thought my last name is Native American. When I selected my chosen name more than a quarter century ago, it was never my intention to give that impression. I listened to my heart and followed the feminist traditions of the 1970s and ’80s. In the invitations I send out at Maize Day, I always clarify that point with the following message: “Hosted by the Lightweaver-Peyer Family, a Jewish-K’iche’-Mayflower-descendent-First Nations-Eastern European-Guatemalan American Family.”
Copyright © 2008 Corinne Lightweaver.

Coming up:
• An Annotated Bibliography for Maize Day
• How Can We Bring Maize Day to the Schools?