American Judaism and Racism

This article was posted a couple Martin Luther King Jr. Days ago. The article itself is interesting; the comments are fascinating, involving a lengthy exchange between the author and an American Jew who sees no racism in American Judaism.

I think it's fairly obvious that segregation definitely exists; I attend a multi-thousand family synagogue (I mean, most of them don't go regularly), and I can count on one hand the number of non-white congregants I see on a Friday night. And I live in a diverse metropolitan area. I personally know one family who chose not to join our congregation because they did not think it was racially diverse enough for their half-Asian children (and honestly, I tend to agree).

That does not mean, of course, than any individual Jew is a racist, but that many Ashkenazic Jewish organizations don't do much to encourage racial diversity.

Anyway, the article and comments go into much more detail with much more basis than I can do here. Go forth and read.