ne of my very favorite sayings is that “One Never gets a second change to make a first impression”  This is saying is somewhat of an overstatement, as sometimes (albeit ever so rarely) it is possible to correct the initial first impression.  Just so, the statement reflects the indisputable truth that first impressions make an absolutely extraordinary difference.  It is in this context of making a first impression that many Jews might want to understand some of the negative sentiments that presently stem from the black community towards Jews.  I shall address the issue of antisemitism on Wednesday.

Are there physical features or mannerism (or both) that might incline us to say of an individual that she or he is Jewish?  Absolutely.  I was in the metro yesterday on my way to a meeting when a man got on who struck me as unquestionably Jewish; and when he started reading an English newspaper, I entertained the thought he was the new Jewish member, whom I had not yet met, of the group to which I belong.  As it turns out, he wasn’t that person, but I would have been willing to wager a lot on money on the fact that he is Jewish. 

I could have been wrong, though; and had we struck up a conversation, he could very well have said “Yea, I know.  Everyone mistakes me for a Jew.  But nothing could be farther from the truth.  On both sides, I come from a very long line of Christians”.  Had he responded in that manner, it would obviously have been silly to have countered with “Well damn, I am just going to think of you as a Jew, anyway”. 

Jean-Paul Sartre, in Anti-Semite and Jew, spoke of features and mannerisms that reveal that a person is Jewish.  But I suspect that Sartre did not get things exactly right.  The way in which Sartre was able to recognize a Jew is rather like the way in which I or anyone can recognize that an American black is from the “hood”, as we now say.  Barring one extraordinarily extreme make-over, there is nothing that I will ever say or do that will incline the typically informed person to think that I am from the “hood”. 

Mannerisms and attire go a very long ways in revealing who a person is; and time was when these things all but served as a very loud announcement that a person is Jewish.  That is increasingly not the case except of course with Orthodox Jews.  Better: ultra-Orthodox Jews.  Or to put a finer a point upon things, it is increasingly the case that one pretty much has to be a Jew in order to have any confidence in recognizing one, where this is not just a matter of relying upon the name.  Although the truth is that not everyone whose last name is Cohen is Jewish, the statistical odds remain very much in favor of the possibility that such a person is.  For many a non-Jew, it has become increasingly true that the last name is just about the only indication that the person in question is Jewish unless one has considerable familiarity with Jewishness—something which the typical non-Jew simply lacks.

This brings me to the tension between blacks and Jews.  To state the obvious, we know from the very outset, in the typical case, that a person is black, whether or not we can ascertain if the individual is from the “hood” or not.  There is a social component to being this or that kind of black, but there is no social component at all to being black.  And it is this consideration that brings me back to the point regarding first impressions.

The issue is not whether antisemitism is real.  There is no question that it is.  Likewise, there is no question about its viciousness.  And in a very antisemitic environment, a bunch of Jews together being Jewish can be very much a liability for the Jews in question. 

Nowadays, though, there is this.  A black—whether well-off or not—walking alone down the street minding his own business will be first seen a black, no matter whatever else is true.  By contrast, a Jew—whether well-off or not— walking alone down the street minding his own business will not be first seen as a Jew, no matter whatever else is true.  In the typical case, especially for most Ashkenazi Jews, the person will be seen as white.  And in terms of the attitude that is held by the person who is beholding the black or the Jew, the significance of this difference is, in way to many cases, as far apart as the North Pole is from the South Pole.  In the typica case, there is always a very loud announcement that one is black, regardless of attire and comportment.  By contrast, there is not in the typical case always a very loud announcement that one is Jewish, regardless of attire and comportment.  And this very loud announcement speaks very different messages in the case of Jews, on the one hand, and blacks, on the other. 

One of the great stories of my life took place at Bowling Green State University (Ohio), where I was visiting for a conference at which I one of the speakers.  Being tired of sitting, I was walking in the hallway adjacent to the conference room looking at the various bulletin boards.  I turned only to see 4 members of the campus police rush pass by me.  They were looking for a would-be-criminal.  Not seeing anyone who looked like that, they then spoke to the white cleaning lady (who had called the police), who pointed them to me.  There I was wearing gray slacks, a light blue shirt, and a tie; and I was holding a very dark blue sports-jacket in my hand, as well as my brief case.  But that cleaning lady had somehow managed to draw the conclusion that I was looking to break into an office. 

To the credit of the officers, they spoke to me in order to appease the woman and then left.  As I said, they rushed right pass me initially.  After all, they were looking for a black man who might be trying to break into an office (as that was the description given by the lady); and there was nothing about my attire or demeanor that inclined them to think that, which is why they had rushed passed me initially.  It is this aspect of racism that seems to have no parallel with antisemitism: the negative visibility factor from afar, as I shall call it.  There are aspects of antisemitism that have no parallel with racism.  And I shall discuss these on Wednesday. 

It is very important for Jews generally to grasp this truth about racism.  Doing so does not diminish the wrong or viciousness of racism.  Nor, a fortiori, does it diminish the evil of the Shoah.  And Jews must not be so eager to affirm the wrongs of the Shoah that they cannot affirm the wrongs that others suffer. 

American Jews masterfully acknowledged that wrongs of American racism at the level of visible violence.  And this is very much to their credit.  However, they have been slow to acknowledge the subtlety of racism in terms of what I have called the negative visibility factor from afar.  For this aspect of racism is seen as competing with antisemitism.  This is because one of the defining features of antisemitism is the attribution of all sorts of horrendous character traits to a person because he looked like a Jew.  Indeed, it was the supposition that Jews are irredeemably evil that was seen by the Nazi regime as a reason for exterminating Jews.  For many Jews, the idea that racism has a like aspect to antisemitism hits too close to home.  Thus, precisely where the black expects understanding on the part of the Jew, he is often greeted with incredulity.  If I am right the motivation to regard the Shoah as unique is part of the explanation for this blindness. 

As I argued in Vessels of Evil, there are two ways of thinking of the Shoah as unique.  One is that is the very worst of all evils that could possibly occur.  The other is that there is nothing like it.  The latter most certainly is true of the Shoah.  It is also most certainly true of American Slavery. 

The negaqtive visibility factor from afar takes nothing away from the suffering of Jews, just as the way in which antisemitism really manifests itself takes nothing away from racism against blacks.  Yet, in a society that imbues differences in skin color with all sorts of moral and intellectual differences, the negative visibility factor from afar is anything but trivial. 

As I have characterized it, the negative visibility factor from afar has nothing whatsoever to do with the black’s actual character or social upbringing.  It has to do with merely the fact that one can be seen as black from afar.  This, after all, is how the phenotype of skin color manifests itself, whatever color it is.  In a society that privileges some skin colors and not others, the visibility factor from afar will be an advantage for some and a disadvantage for others.   Acknowledging this truth takes nothing away from antisemitism.  At this point in time, it is disadvantage for the typical black in a way that it is not a disadvantage for the typical Jew.  And that difference is not a trivial one.  If tomorrow, blackness was associated with excellence of character and enormous intellectual acumen, then the visibility factor would not be a disadvantage for blacks.  But that tomorrow would seem to be way too many sunsets away from today.  And the exceptions on all sides prove the rule. 

A final comment: There is a group in France called l'Amitié-Judéo-Noire.  One of the things that impresses me most about the Jews who are a member of this group is that their sensibilities in this regard are far greater than the sensibilities of  the typical American Jew.  If this is rigtht, then there is much that American Jews can learn from this very extraordinary group.