“Affirmative action, however, met staunch opposition from Jews”
- NY Times
I just googled to find out what is the Jewish support for affirmative action to see if the Jews support it in higher or lower numbers than other whites. I was literally stunned to find out that The Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress that all filed briefs in support of Bakke, on the side of a white medical student applicant who challenged the racial quota-based affirmative action system at the University of California in 1977.
In the more recent case against University of Michigan affirmative action policies, ADL similarly filed a brief and its chairman Abe Foxman issued a statement against affirmative action, but AJC declared that it is opposed to quotas but supports a less clear-cut affirmative action. (I actually think that straight up quotas is better than what AJC supports. Also, their position in trying to cut the baby in half will not win it any support from either blacks or whites.)
A Jew Nathan Glazer led the first assault against affirmative action with a series of articles that began as early as 1964, culminating with the 1975 publication of “Affirmative Discrimination: Ethnic Inequality and Public Policy.” However, he reversed himself in 1998 and now supports affirmative action.
According to David Kelsey, 54% of Jews are opposed to affirmative action. His claim, however, was not sourced. Another blog mentioned that 46% of Jews and 45% of whites support affirmative action, but again, no citations. I wasn’t able to find any statistics on that, but there are some very interesting stats:
- By the late 1970s, Jews were more anti-black than other whites;
- A 1978 Harris poll concluded that (unlike 10 years earlier), “it is fair to say that as a group, Jews are not today in the vanguard of non-black people pressing for integration for integration”, describing it as “the largest swing of Jewish loyalties since 1932.”
- Jews are less likely than other whites to favor residential racial integration (39% to 46%);
- Less likely to favor “full racial integration” (25% vs. 35%);
- Jews are less likely than other whites to want their kids to go to school with blacks (21% vs. 32%) and more likely to say that they actually don’t want it (21% vs 14%);
- Every Orthodox Jewish community voted for Ronald Reagan by a ratio of 2:1 (I’ve spoken to several of them and all were ardent race realists.);
Since the early 1970s, few issues have been more salient on the Jewish community’s domestic public-affairs agenda. Clearly–almost tautologically, inasmuch as race-based affirmative action deals with race–the Jewish stance on affirmative action has had profound implications for the relationship between Blacks and Jews.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Black-Jewish relations over the past decade have had very little to do with anti-Semitism in the African American community, and almost everything to do with public-affairs issues, especially affirmative action. The affirmative-action controversy stemmed from the long-standing Black-Jewish coalition, and subsequently led to fault lines in the coalition.
JIM LEHRER: Senator Lieberman is to be specific, is anti-affirmative action in some respects. Is that consistent with orthodox Jewry positions?
KENNETH WALD: Well, affirmative action is probably the one issue among American Jews in general where they part company with their allies in the liberal coalition.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/religion/jul-dec00/orthodox_8-9.html
“If we support affirmative action, we only encourage self-destruction.”
- Martin Weitz (I don’t know who he is, but must be somewhat important if he’s quoted as the voice of the Jews in this book. Am I wrong? Can someone clarify who he was? I tried googling his name, but there are too many people with this name.)
Like I said before, it makes no sense for anyone classified as white to support affirmative action. It makes even less sense for people who are most likely to get scores that qualify you for admission to the Ivy League or med/law/PhD programs.
I actually thought Jews were more suicidal than what I found, though it beats me how even one Jewish or white person can ever support affirmative action. The utter lack of common sense is mind-boggling.
I get that people may not want to oppose it in public. But what exactly stops you from voting against AA-supporting politicians when you are standing alone in the voting booth?
Comments critical (or supportive) of the Jews and Jewish organizations will be accepted.
Comments by people who want to convince me of their psychotic delusions that there’s an all-encompassing Jewish conspiracy will not.
“though it beats me how even one Jewish or white person can ever support affirmative action. ”
I recently discussed affirmative action with a liberal friend of mine (I’m talking hardcore liberal). The first word out of his mouth: “Slavery”. That’s when you know arguing is futile.
Hmm. Interesting post.
If indeed Jews enmasse are in staunch opposition to affirmative action, why then do they continue to support the Dems?
O
GW-
I’m as stunned as you are. But I shouldn’t have been. It makes sense for Jews to be against AA. And it makes sense for them not to advertise it, too.
This does make me second guess whether preAA discrimination against Jews was worse than current AA discrimination. I think you know more about the preAA discrimination so what’s your take?
==================================
Here is a recent Pew Research poll. Its worth reading.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1240/sotomayor-supreme-court-affirmative-action-minority-preferences
Fred,
Yea, but it still doesn’t answer my basic question: if Jews are so against affirmative action, then why do they continue to overwhelmingly support a political party that has affirmative action as a centerpiece of its platform?
Please explain?
O
Gee, Obsidian, maybe they also care about other issues besides affirmative action. Let me go call up the Emperor of All Jews and find out.
Why do you repeatedly ask such stupid questions?
Two things that make this nebulous antagonism to affirmative action useless:
The two jewish supreme court justices voted for affirmative action against Ricci just days ago.
80% of jews voted for the democratic party, whose platform includes affirmative action. More importantly, over 50% of the democratic party’s campaign chest is funded by jews.
Jews are therefore directly and indirectly responsible for affirmative action, when the rubber hits the road.
Younger Jews are becoming more Republican.
(Not that the Republicans are any good, mind you. I just point this out because whether someone is a Rep or a Dem is a very good indicator for where they will be on the ideological spectrum.)
Bush won 33% of Jews under the age of 40. McCain got somewhat less than 33% of younger Jews, but McCain did worse across all demographic groups compared to Bush in 2004.
http://www.shalomctr.org/node/689
Bush gained fully a third of the support of Jews under 40, while Kerry polled 59%; Jews ages 40 to 59 showed 25% support for Bush and 64% for Kerry; those 60 and older went 19% for Bush and 74% for Kerry. A separate poll of Russian Jews in New York showed majority support for Bush, Harris said.
Yea Mike,
And while w/the Jewish Emperor, riddel him this for me:
The GOP is firm in its support for Israel, yet MOST Jews continue to vote Democrat. Why? And, as GW notes above, no matter how one slices it, affirmative action has an effect on Jews, either directly, which isn’t likely, or indirectly, which is far and away more likely.
Looking forward to a good report, son!
O
Obsidian,
If Jews cared about their own intrests, I suspect they would vote Republican.
1. Lowest unemployment rates and highest income means Jews get the least and pay the most.
2. Most likely to get high scores, means most likely to get hit by affirmative action.
3. GOP is pro-Israel, Obama is even more hostile than Carter.
4. Reps less often anti-Semitic than Dems.
5. Jews more likely than most to run a business to the point where it gas become a stereotype. Business owners should hate liberal regulations.
Jews vote for Dems by inertia because so did their parents and everyone else around them.
Immigrant Jews (Israelis, Russians) vote Republican and have conservative views because they weren’t raised hearing that to be a good Jew, you must be a liberal, praying to the icon of FDR. (Also, Israel and Russia, despite their leftist past, are now deeply conservative countries, far more so than either EU or US.)
First of all, the leaders of both major parties support affirmative action, so there’s nowhere to go on that issue.
Second, the following quote is from Jerome Chanes (from Guy’s blog).
“Contrary to conventional wisdom, Black-Jewish relations over the past decade have had very little to do with anti-Semitism in the African American community, and almost everything to do with public-affairs issues, especially affirmative action.”
The man is absolutely full of shit. During the mid-to-late 1960s, vicious black-anti-Semitism was open and on a roll.
In the Ford Foundation’s experimental school district in Brooklyn, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, black supremacists turned competent, qualified, committed, veteran Jewish teachers into punching bags. And in those days, the media reported on it.
When the same black supremacists illegally fired the Jewish teachers (after the latter refused to simply surrender their jobs), New York City’s teachers went on a series of three strikes.
And that was just one dramatic case. All over America’s cities, blacks were engaged in ethnic cleansing against whites in general, and Jews in particular. Elderly Jews got it the worst.
Chanes sounds like a Jewish name. If so, I guess Mr. Chanes is a Jewish anti-Semite. He emphasizes affirmative action, rather than black anti-Semitism, because he wants to hide the truth, and make it look like the Jews were hurting the blacks.
“New York, NY, June 12, 1995…The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today hailed the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Adarand v. Pena as a “sea change” in the landscape of affirmative action. The decision casts doubt on the future of a wide range of Congressionally-mandated “set-asides” and other racial classifications.
In Adarand, the Court ruled in favor of a white subcontractor who lost business to a minority- owned competitor even though he submitted the lowest bid. Noting that race-based government actions jeopardize individual equal protection rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the Court held that racial classifications in set-asides and other federal programs must be narrowly tailored and serve a compelling state interest.
Commenting on the Adarand decision, which overruled previous Supreme Court decisions in this area which ADL had long opposed, David H. Strassler, ADL National Chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said, “A majority of the current Court has finally come to recognize what ADL has been arguing in amicus briefs for almost two decades: government preferences or benefits based upon the race, religious beliefs, or ethnic origin of individuals are as threatening to the American ideal as the historic discriminatory practices used to justify those preferences.”
Strassler and Foxman added that “ADL continues to support affirmative action as it was originally conceived — as an effort to level the playing field necessary because prior victims of discrimination have often lacked the education and training necessary to compete in a merit-based process on an equal basis. However, rather than providing equality of opportunity, many governmentally required set-asides serve instead to foster inequality and draw attention away from the factors which should be central to business decisions.”
The answer is that affirmative action is not quotas. In other words no freedom of association.
Desmond,
When I saw you quote the ADL, I thought you found some idiotic statement in favor of AA because I expect nothing but lunacy from the ADL.
But I really liked this statement. They came out for whites in the government set-asides case.
They furthermore sought to redefine affirmative action as equal opportunity rather rather equality if outcome.
That is a very nice trick, similar to those liberals use against us.
Americans want immigration reform to stop Third World immigration? The liberals define immigration reform as amnesty.
Americans are afraid immigration is ripping the country apart? Liberals define strength as diversity.
Blacks want AA? Why fight the term, let’s just redefine it as equality of opportunity. If blacks get higher SAT scores than whites, then they can go to college and we will call that affirmative action.
ADL is bad for whites in most cases, but I think it’s our ally when it comes to affirmative action. I must say, I never thought they would be.
Actually Guy, if there were a full blown racial quota system, it would benefit NJWs more so and is the reason why the ADL opposes quotas.
Looks like the General Social Survey backs Kelsey up.
I used the AFFRMACT variable for my row and the RELIG variable for my Column. Found that 59% of Jews (of which there were 201 in the survey) strongly opposed “preference in hiring blacks”. (I know this isn’t identical to “affirmative action” which can also apply to women, Hispanics, etc., but I couldn’t find any GSS variable that seemed more appropriate.)
Anyway, among the large religious groups Jews were most likely to despise AA. (Orthodox Christians, unspecified Christians, and Inter- & non-denominational folks have them beat but are smaller sample sizes.)
A majority of all religious groups except Muslims strongly oppose affirmative action.
Protestants, Jews, and Catholics have almost identical stats on this matter, but the Jews do have a small edge in pro-equality anti-AA sentiment. (I.e., only 58.6% of Protestants and 56.1% of RC strongly oppose.)
The interesting thing here is not that Jews are much more anti-AA than Xtians and the rest, but that their religious leaders are more in line with the rank and file than usual. AFAIK there aren’t any bishops, interdenominational high councils or any of that criticizing AA from the pulpit. The pastors, etc., who are doing so aren’t “on my radar screen”.
I would be curious to see if there’s a wider gap between religious leaders and the rank and file among Jews than among other religions. If anything I would expect less of a gap given the generally higher SES of the rank and file. But who knows?
Jews are afraid of conservative Christians converting them. If the Christians convert their kids, the kids won’t be Jewish and the Jews will be wiped out.
And, yeah, the younger ones are less knee-jerk. As time goes on, FDR and the Holocaust recede into history. Recall that pre-WWII, the Old Right was isolationist and frequently pro-German (not necessarily pro-Nazi per se). But time passes…
While I certainly don’t always vote Democratic, especially locally, I can tell you why I sometimes vote Democratic. And it certainly isn’t because of any love for affirmative action.
While I am concerned about reverse discrimination and immigration, I am also worried about environmental and energy issues. Such concerns are not treated seriously by and large by Republicans.
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Thanks,
it is very good post