Sara(h), You’re the Poet in My Heart…
The rarely-used comments feature on the Daily’s website is getting quite a workout from the “snobs” “parody” article, with calls for an apology to the Jewish community, accusations of political correctness and speculation over whether Jewish girls spell their names “Sarah” or “Sara.”
For the record, we are both a snob and a slob.
When I lived in Michigan, I seemed to remember a lot more casual anti-semitic comments, etc., as opposed to other places that I have lived. (This wasn’t jsut in Ann Arbor, so it can’t be attributed entirely to rich kids from Ann Arbor. Larry’s dad, who was one of my teachers at MSU, touched on this in a History of Michigan calss I took from him, mentioning the charming antics of Henry Ford and Father Coughlin, housing discimination in suburban Detroit, etc.) I don’t undertand why a state that is more liberal than most should have this attitude, but it may just be another mystery of Michigan.)
posted by Lucky Jackson on February 2nd, 2004 at 8:43 amMy problem with the article wasn’t that it was racist or un-PC, it’s that it really wasn’t funny. At all. And that went for every other piece in the humor issue.
posted by Reagan on February 2nd, 2004 at 10:04 amIt seemed more a parody of 90’s Hip Hop culture than a true racist front, but the underlying bias was there…I can see where the sensitive would be offended. But I wonder if the writer was Jewish?
Some comments mention that this kind of humor should be kept “Private”. but that’s Midwestern racism’s problem: it’s not out in the open where it can be seen and discussed and dealt with - like in the South.
Moving here as an observer from the South, racism takes on a more hidden air. People around here gasp (alarmingly) when they find out about my wife’s Jewish (and Southern) heritage.
Ford’s history is scary…and still kind of hidden from public view - again, like MidWestern racism.
posted by Leighton on February 2nd, 2004 at 10:19 amReminds me of a black comic’s riff about the difference between racism here and in the south. Down South, he says, when your car breaks down, you just don’t bother going to the house full of white people to use their phone, because you know they’re gonna shout “Nigger!” and shoot at you. Up North, you go to some white guy’s house and he says, “Sure, you can use the phone… It’s in the basement.”
posted by js on February 2nd, 2004 at 11:04 amjs
LJ, didn’t realize you knew my father.
The Detroit area had Henry Ford and the raving Dearborn Independent, and Father Coughlin, the Radio Priest, filling the airwaves with hate, but in those days Minneapolis was dubbed “the capital of antisemitism.” It wasn’t until later that the Midwest came to be regarded as liberal and tolerant.
I don’t think Ford’s history is hidden, really, but Michigan Jews have forgiven Ford Motor Company. A past president of our synagogue was a Ford exec. Henry Ford II did a lot to make up for his grandfather’s actions.
posted by Larry Kestenbaum on February 2nd, 2004 at 4:33 pmI just think it’s really weird. I’ve never seen this kind of tension anywhere. The Israel/Palestine stuff doesn’t surprise me, but I can’t believe that anyone still says “JAP” and means it.
I have one Jewish parent and I’m from the Midwest but not in-state, so I guess that should put me in the middle of this.
posted by ann arbor is overrated on February 2nd, 2004 at 11:01 pmOh, and if you go back and check the comments, there’s one purporting (I suppose it could be fake) to be from John Cotner, who says he’s a Michigan alum and the father of a Daily writer, who I assume would be Steve Cotner. He expresses a hope that his son “did not have a hand in writing this article.”
posted by ann arbor is overrated on February 2nd, 2004 at 11:11 pmI never noticed any real Jewish/midwestern (is that even an appropriate dicotomy?) tension. I did notice some in-state out-of-state tension, however. There are definitely differences between the two groups. For one, you have to have more money to attend UM as an out-of-state undergrad than as an in-state undergrad. But second, you also have to have performed better in high school and have better scores, since only 30% (?) are allowed to be admitted from out of state, and that puts people in 49 other states in competition for a small number of slots. Parts of NY tend to have very good schools (particularly parts of LI and Westchester), so a large number of NY students are competitive in the admissions process. To the extent that naive folks believe that everyone from NY is Jewish, maybe people have framed it that way instead of in/out-of-state? That’s the best I can do; the whole thing seems really weird to me, too.
posted by Anna on February 2nd, 2004 at 11:34 pm