How Jews Became White Folks

How Jews Became White

In Karen Brodkin’s chapter 4 entitled “How Jews Became White Folks” the process of Jews earning power in America. Brodkin claims that Jews became white because of the GI bill. Brodkin mentions that most people think that Jews became white because of ability. People think that Jews are smart and save money and that that is the only reason they were to overcome their oppression. Brodkin says that some Jews are smart, however, “the removal of powerful social barriers “ is the reason why. Jews became white in America after WWII because of economy. This is one claim made by people. Back to the GI Bill. The GI bill was made to help soldiers get back on their feet after the war. It provided money for housing and school. The reason this helped Jews and not blacks is because most blacks were given dishonorable discharge from the army so did not receive the money.

So why do white people take power of other white people based on religion and ethnicity. I do not know the answer to this question. That is why I took ethnic studies. I wanted to learn why people can think they are better than a group of people based on race. I think that if someone is better than you, he or she is better than you. Simple.

I felt that this chapter was very boring. I do not know any Jewish people so I can not relate to the topic. When I do not know the topic, it will be hard for me to understand. I think that there were too many statistics in the chapter for it to be an easy read. I do not like to read through statistics looking for interesting material. I would rather have the statistics explained with words. If there was a topic about how people who wrestle are oppressed, I would be very familiar with the subject, although there isn’t that much oppression but there is a little.