The readings this week, James Baldwin's “The Harlem Ghetto” and Wendell E. Pritchett's “Race and Community in Postwar Brooklyn: The Brownsville Neighborhood Council and the Politics of Urban Renewal,” both explored the relationship between African Americans and Jewish Americans. While Prichett focused on the past, present, and (seeming) future of Brownsville, Baldwin focused on Harlem and in turn, African Americans in New York. What is interesting is what brings these two groups together. Today, we consider Jewish Americans to be fully white, as we do Italians and Irish, but as history shows us, they have been treated as scapegoats and have been strongly discriminated against. Despite this, African Americans were, and still are, in a worse position. In Baldwin's piece, the second half or so focuses on the power dynamic between Jews and Blacks. What I found most striking was the conversation between the author and a "Negro college student" about anti-Semitism. The student exclaims at the end "Wait until later, when your friends go into business and you try to get a job. You'll see!" Although this makes for a very grim outlook on mankind, the fact that money can change everything is unfortunately true.

The stem of hatred towards Jews by the African Americans comes from a sense of disappointment. The mindset of African Americans was that since the Jews faced so much suffering, they should understand better than anyone, what the African Americans are going through. And yet, rather than show sympathy or feel any empathy, the Jewish Americans ended up exploiting Blacks for all that they were worth. But we cannot blame the Jews for doing so, for they were only living according to American standards. The inevitable power struggle between the minorities, in the place of unity, is a result of society's innate structure. In order to get ahead, we must ignore the suffering of others less fortunate than us. Indeed, it made no sense for the Jews to associate themselves with the Blacks, who were even more disliked. It seems that Blacks can never quite rise up, despite the claim that in America, anyone can experience social mobility. The power of skin color still exists today, which may explain why African Americans are perpetually at the bottom of the social ladder.