Jewish professor pretended to be black - and now apologizes.

[alhoon]

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/black...211534969.html

The gist: A White Jewish woman, history professor and political activist, pretended to be black and has now revealed the falsehood and apologized. Reactions are ... not good.

There are a few things to unpack here:
- While (I think) it's undeniable there's systemic racism in USA when it comes to the police, in academia it's a bonus to be black. That's why Jessica A. Krug lied about it. Much easier to succeed as professor of African American History if you pretend to be black. There would be fewer voices that you didn't put enough work in your published papers and research if you're black and a woman (whether it is true or not there are always naysayers) because some on the other side would be afraid to make such allegations in order to not be labeled racists or misogynists. Etc.

- Sure, she was a fraud. So... not that big of a deal really. I can understand academics being pissed off because she cut the line taking advantage of the flawed system that rewards someone for being born with black skin and female genitals. I can understand people that knew her and trusted her being shocked and dismayed by that deception.

I don't understand why it is considered that bad by ordinary black people she probably never even met, let alone sideline.
I don't understand her own words of "doing so is the very epitome of violence, of thievery and appropriation, of the myriad ways in which non-Black people continue to use and abuse Black identities and cultures"

No, it's not. Shooting a black man on the street because he's running is violence, not the epitome of what black people had to suffer, but it is. Taking every natural resource you can grab from the Caribbean is thievery.
Pretending to be black? It's just cutting the line more or less like Elizabeth Warren did.

How does a professor pretending to be black harm a random black person that never met her?

- I don't understand why it is politically correct to accept that person's gender is a social construct, that someone born with male genitalia and XY chromosomes should be treated as a woman if that person says so... but lo and behold! If you say you're black while you're white, then you're a monster. Especially towards black people.
The woman has mental issues but somehow, when it comes to race, that's not enough to give her a pass.
And yet, "Caribbean Black culture" is a social construct by definition of being a specific culture!

- According to someone proclaiming to be a friends of her in twitter, she didn't speak up because her guilt became unbearable, but because she was found out and would soon be exposed.
I am not sure whether this is the case but it seems the most plausible explanation.

- "I don’t believe that any anti-Black life has inherent value."
Give me a break... Aside of "this sounds like BS crap that progressives shout, especially white ones" and "Doesn't that sound like black supremacy? Try changing black with white and see how it sounds" there's also the issue that the "inherent value" of a life cannot be distilled to any single issue and you cannot say that any sentient life is devoid of value else you enable the killing of perceived racists.

- She was an associate professor with three publications! No, seriously, RG also has just those 3 papers!
Her ratings with the students are a bit iffy too...

[antaeus]

Pretending to be black aside... I'm fairly sure that the work of an academic who pretends to be someone else probably needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. A lie before ink has even been put on paper.

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at here tho. Are you pulling some sort of dog whistle about black privilege? I hope you are.

[Cope]

She was only pretending.

[Gromovnik]

So, a person lied about her race. OK, I guess.

[sumskilz]

"My heart goes out to any Black person who invited Jessica Krug into their sacred space under the assumption that she was Black too." lol

The only real crime here is that this woman is being bullied into cancelling herself by a mob of anti-trans bigots. If she identifies as black, she should double down.

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at here tho. Are you pulling some sort of dog whistle about black privilege? I hope you are.

There was a half black guy in one of my graduate level anthropology courses who successfully argued that he shouldn't be required to write the term paper that was the basis for the grade in the course because "African peoples were not historically literate". Instead he (and he alone) was able to turn in an art project, which consisted of images from the internet printed on a color printer and glued to poster board, digital printing and glue sticks evidently being technologies more traditionally associated with "blackness". Same guy used to douse himself with watermelon scented spray before going into any faculty member's office to make one of his unreasonable demands, with the idea that the faculty member would be so unnerved by his/her own racist thoughts that he/she would agree to almost anything just to end the uncomfortable situation. Which is obviously not fair to the other students, yet I still managed to find it hilarious.

As far as the other dog whistle, it's not coming from alhoon. You see, it's very important to some people that Ashkenazi Jews be considered white, for essentially the same reason that this guy must be a white Hispanic:



White people are bad... On the other hand, if you're someone who thinks being white is exceptionally good and that being non-white is bad, then it is important that Ashkenazi Jews be considered non-white.

In reality, if white = ancient European ancestry, then Ashkenazi Jews are about as white as Obama is (that is half).

[Jurand of Cracow]

Why there's "jewish" in the title of the thread? Why not "white", or "American", or "history" (professor)? Is the issue about religion or colour of skin? Why does the religion matter in this context?

[Cope]

Jewish identity extends beyond religion.

[Aexodus]

What next? Jewish professor pretends to be white? White politician pretends to be native american?

It’s sad indeed that BAME victim status is valuable enough that people will lie to get it. This is not the first time I’ve seen someone want to be black. It’s either because black people are celebrated, or non blacks feel demeaned.

[alhoon]

Why there's "jewish" in the title of the thread? Why not "white", or "American", or "history" (professor)? Is the issue about religion or colour of skin? Why does the religion matter in this context?

Because that's how the article said it.
I guess it was written that way in the article to differentiate her from the Anglosaxon white protestants.

White politician pretends to be native american?

Do you mean Warren?

White politician pretends to be native american?

It’s sad indeed that BAME victim status is valuable enough that people will lie to get it. This is not the first time I’ve seen someone want to be black. It’s either because black people are celebrated, or non blacks feel demeaned.

I think it's because in Academia, it helps being a minority or woman (since women are actually the majority in the population...)
I also know of a student of mine that considered lying about his sexual orientation to get a higher chance to be accepted in a prestigious English university.

[Muizer]

Well I think people are angry because it's a kind of fraud analogous to an able bodied person pretending to be disabled in order to claim benefits. No amount of arguing how much you identify with disable people, or how long and how convincingly you kept up the pretense, that won't go down well when it's exposed.

Mind you, there's probably also people who would find the pretense alone reprehensible, even if she got all the drawbacks and none of the perks. Now there's an ideological tightrope. Try to walk that without slipping into full-on racism.

[Aexodus]

So Muizer, what benefit in this analogy did this Professor want?

[alhoon]

Well I think people are angry because it's a kind of fraud analogous to an able bodied person pretending to be disabled in order to claim benefits. No amount of arguing how much you identify with disable people, or how long and how convincingly you kept up the pretense, that won't go down well when it's exposed.

Mind you, there's probably also people who would find the pretense alone reprehensible, even if she got all the drawbacks and none of the perks. Now there's an ideological tightrope. Try to walk that without slipping into full-on racism.

That's exactly what I try to discuss here.
Yes, I understand why people that were fooled by her are angry and why people that were sidelined by her because she has taken advantage of benefits that were for minorities when she was not black.

But I want to better understand this "there's probably also people who would find the pretense alone reprehensible, even if she got all the drawbacks and none of the perks"
Personally, I find that opinion somewhat weird.

I am also confused as why identifying with a different culture (drawbacks and perks aside) is reprehensible to some progressives but identifying with a different gender is fine.
If anything racial culture is a social construct.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

I'm not Muizer, but she lied about being black to improve their credibility in their academic field to sell more books and earn more prestige in the Academia, as she can claim to have more practical experience by being grown up in a black family.

Which book would you trust more a book about mining, which was written by someone with practical experience or some one with only theoretical experience?

I guess the answer is clear.

[alhoon]

I'm not Muizer, but she lied about being black to improve their credibility in their academic field to sell more books and earn more prestige in the Academia, as she can claim to have more practical experience by being grown up in a black family.

Which book would you trust more a book about mining, which was written by someone with practical experience or some one with only theoretical experience?

I guess the answer is clear.

I understand and I agree with all that. I also understand why people she directly fooled are angry at the deception.
I don't understand those that say that benefits aside, lying about being of a different skin color is horrible.

Yes, I can see how the deception was hurtful for her circle of acquaintances and how it helped her promote her career. I don't understand why many people think that this duplicity was so (emphasis on the "so" as in "very") offensive to black people.
I can see why it is "a bit" offensive to the average black person or how it may have a tiiiny bad effect on the average black student that will face a biiiit more scrutiny because of this incident. But a several people post as if she had undermined years and years of effort.

[Muizer]

Yes, I understand why people that were fooled by her are angry and why people that were sidelined by her because she has taken advantage of benefits that were for minorities when she was not black.
But I want to better understand this "there's probably also people who would find the pretense alone reprehensible, even if she got all the drawbacks and none of the perks"
Personally, I find that opinion somewhat weird.

I am also confused as why identifying with a different culture (drawbacks and perks aside) is reprehensible to some progressives but identifying with a different gender is fine.
If anything racial culture is a social construct.

I suppose you need to find one of those progressives to answer your question.

[Morticia Iunia Bruti]

If you belong to a minority, this minority is also your psychic anchor, which gives you solace, strength and encouragement. I guess some black people felt tricked, as they gave her their empathy too and now felt robbed from an empathy vampire.

Feeling being hurt must not always been mere physical.

[nhytgbvfeco2]

She was only pretending.

It's just a prank bro.

Personally I think that she should do a 23 and me, maybe she'll find out that she's 1/1024th African.

[Heathen Hammer]

So Muizer, what benefit in this analogy did this Professor want?

Because in cult-like circles that used to be American Academia generations ago, being of certain racial background gives you additional credibility.

[alhoon]

I guess some black people felt tricked, as they gave her their empathy too and now felt robbed from an empathy vampire.

Nope, doesn't make sense.

[sumskilz]

Nope, doesn't make sense.

Now put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you met some woman passing as Greek, she said all the right things about how you guys are always getting screwed over by the Turks, how you guys suffer systemic discrimination on Total War Center, how everything cool was invented by the Greeks, etc. Imagine that you let her into your sacred space based on the assumption that she was Greek too, only to find out she was just some covetous Jew who wished she was a Greek.

!!!Transphobic Trigger Warning!!!
(Proceed at your own risk)

The woman is obviously mentally ill and/or desperately seeking attention (also she uses ToS violating words):



lol