"Calm in Controversy"
Yesterday I woke up late, went to work late, and stayed late so I could go to a meeting entitled "Calm in Controversy: Health Equity Implications of the Current Social Context" about the murder of George Floyd and the protests against police brutality. We were asked not to share specifics of the meetings contents, so I won't, and I just came to listen since I'm not directly affected by police violence against black people, but it did make me think of some things that I'm going to write about here instead.
One is about being Jewish, and one is about being a foreigner in Japan.
If you're going to be foreign in Japan, being a white man is the best thing to be, but I still wasn't Japanese. I remember people refusing to sit next to me on public transit, crossing the street to avoid me, watching me whenever![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
schoolpsychnerd and I went shopping at the shopping center, looking in our cart to see what the foreigners ate, being told that restaurants were full or being sat at the farthest seat from everyone else, sometimes having a surprise seat charge sprung on me that wasn't anywhere in the Japanese menu I could find, etc. schoolpsychnerd had clothing shop attendants tell her to leave as soon as she walked in and was told there was no room at a mostly-empty rest stop on Mt. Fuji.
None of this was police brutality, fortunately, but there are currently protests in Tokyo about police brutality, so. And the major difference between all of this and being black in America is that if it had worn on us too much, if it had become intolerable, we could have just left. None of this happens in America, and we could have avoided all of it by moving back. None of this has happened to me since I did.
The other thing I thought of during the meeting was the relationship between Jews and the police. Antisemitism means that major Jewish events often have police protection, and historically we've relied heavily on the authorities to protect us from the people around us. But last year, after the Tree of Life shooting, there were several pieces that came out about how the increased security didn't actually make all Jews feel secure. Jews of color aren't going to look at a bunch of cops and think, "Oh thank G-d, now we're safe," they're going to wonder about their own safely, especially since they often have to deal with racism, antisemitism, and people assuming they aren't Jewish. Constant police presence is an obstacle to allowing Jews of color to feel included in Jewish communities.
That's a hard problem to solve, but with the police rioting all around the country it's obvious that the current police culture isn't going to solve anything.
Just yesterday I saw a quote from Pirkei Avot that's really relevant to this particular problem:
One is about being Jewish, and one is about being a foreigner in Japan.
If you're going to be foreign in Japan, being a white man is the best thing to be, but I still wasn't Japanese. I remember people refusing to sit next to me on public transit, crossing the street to avoid me, watching me whenever
schoolpsychnerd and I went shopping at the shopping center, looking in our cart to see what the foreigners ate, being told that restaurants were full or being sat at the farthest seat from everyone else, sometimes having a surprise seat charge sprung on me that wasn't anywhere in the Japanese menu I could find, etc. schoolpsychnerd had clothing shop attendants tell her to leave as soon as she walked in and was told there was no room at a mostly-empty rest stop on Mt. Fuji. None of this was police brutality, fortunately, but there are currently protests in Tokyo about police brutality, so. And the major difference between all of this and being black in America is that if it had worn on us too much, if it had become intolerable, we could have just left. None of this happens in America, and we could have avoided all of it by moving back. None of this has happened to me since I did.
The other thing I thought of during the meeting was the relationship between Jews and the police. Antisemitism means that major Jewish events often have police protection, and historically we've relied heavily on the authorities to protect us from the people around us. But last year, after the Tree of Life shooting, there were several pieces that came out about how the increased security didn't actually make all Jews feel secure. Jews of color aren't going to look at a bunch of cops and think, "Oh thank G-d, now we're safe," they're going to wonder about their own safely, especially since they often have to deal with racism, antisemitism, and people assuming they aren't Jewish. Constant police presence is an obstacle to allowing Jews of color to feel included in Jewish communities.
That's a hard problem to solve, but with the police rioting all around the country it's obvious that the current police culture isn't going to solve anything.
Just yesterday I saw a quote from Pirkei Avot that's really relevant to this particular problem:
הֱווּ זְהִירִין בָּרָשׁוּת, שֶׁאֵין מְקָרְבִין לוֹ לָאָדָם אֶלָּא לְצֹרֶךְ עַצְמָן. נִרְאִין כְּאוֹהֲבִין בִּשְׁעַת הֲנָאָתָן, וְאֵין עוֹמְדִין לוֹ לָאָדָם בִּשְׁעַת דָּחְקוֹJust as true now as it ever was.
Hevu zehirin barashut, she'ein mekarevin lo la'adam ella letzorech atzman. Nir'in ke'ohavin bish'at hana'atan. Ve'ein omedin lo la'adam bish'at dacheko
Be careful [in your dealings] with the ruling authorities for they do not befriend a person except for their own needs; they seem like friends when it is to their own interest, but they do not stand by a man in the hour of his distress.
-Pirkei Avot 2
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I must admit, I was surprised that the Japanese joined in on the police brutality protests.
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I still remember the stories I read about survivors of the Shoah who went to Israel and wept when they crossed the border because they were on Jewish land, guarded by a Jewish army--the first in two millennia.
It's interesting how common the image of tranquil, passive Japan is, because it's true that that's the case now, but Japan had a radical student movement in the 60s and 70s like so many other places did, with the same protests and riots and building occupations. It hasn't been peaceful and tranquil for long--nationalists driving by in black vans shouting from loudspeakers as the image of radicalism in Japan is a very recent development.
I did see an anti-nuclear demonstration in Kyōto, after the Tōhoku Earthquake.
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I still remember the stories I read about survivors of the Shoah who went to Israel and wept when they crossed the border because they were on Jewish land, guarded by a Jewish army--the first in two millennia.
I can only imagine how intensely overwhelming such emotion must've been.
I'm surprised that Japan would participate because--from what I have heard from blacks who have traveled there, including one of my own cousins who is considered "light-skinned" black--they really do not care for black people at all. That doesn't surprise me and I don't necessarily fault them for it, as I am aware that they have a very racially homogeneous society--living on an island will do that.
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Tōkyō has a large enough population and is more diverse than the rest of the country (which isn't saying much), and the cops there are bigger assholes, so it was probably easier to get a demonstration together. I never got stopped my police all my years in Japan, but I heard of friends in Tōkyō who would routinely get stopped and have the police check their gaijin cards for Walking While Foreign.
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I remember the summer I took Hebrew in college, the professor was a woman from Israel. At one point she started talking about how she didn't think it was racist not to want Black people in your neighborhood, because a lot of Black Jews had been moving to Israel lately, and she certainly didn't want them in her neighborhood. :/
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The Beta Israel get a ton of shit in Israel. They still have a priesthood and the Rabbanut is forcing them to get rid of it. It's disgraceful.
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