RSS
‘Origin’ story: How Ava DuVernay’s new movie connects the Holocaust, slavery and caste
(JTA) — Early in the new drama “Origin,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning Black author Isabel Wilkerson (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) calls her cousin from Berlin to share that, as part of her research into American racism, she intends to learn more about the Nazis’ treatment of Jews.
Her cousin is unimpressed.
“Leave Jewish folks alone,” Marion (Niecy Nash) advises Isabel. “They don’t need you. Write about us.”
But this movie’s version of Wilkerson can’t abide by that. In her mind, the fates of Jews and Black people are connected by the hidden system of “caste”: arbitrary societal hierarchies that encourage cruelty and subjugation. This is the thesis undergirding “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” the 2020 bestseller by the real-life Wilkerson, which deems Nazism and American racism — alongside India’s own rigid caste system — as the caste systems that have “stood out” the most “throughout human history.”
And “Origin,” the new film by Ava DuVernay now in theaters and based in part on this book, is devoted to making those connections plain.
Here’s a Jewish guide to what “Origin” has to say about the Nazis and their connection to Wilkerson’s broader thesis.
What is ‘Origin’ about?
Written and directed by DuVernay (“Selma,” “When They See Us”), “Origin” is a dramatization of the writing of Wilkerson’s “Caste” that uses historical recreations and the author’s own family story to capture the book’s cerebral tone.
The film opens with the 2012 murder of Black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida, later recreating Nazi-era Germany, the Jim Crow South and other moments it connects through the idea of caste.
Well-regarded 20th-century Jewish texts make up some of the onscreen Wilkerson’s research process, including a quote by Holocaust survivor Primo Levi and glimpses of the 1956 anthropological book “Israel Between East And West,” by Raphael Patai. Palestinians are also name-dropped at one point, with a scholar from the Dalit caste — the “untouchable” lowest tier of India’s caste system — telling Wilkerson he feels a kinship with them as well as Black people.
The book “Caste” itself has sometimes been attacked in recent years as an example of “critical race theory,” an academic analysis of racist structures that conservatives say amounts to indoctrination and have sought to ban from classrooms. Wilkerson’s book is one of about a dozen at the center of an ongoing lawsuit involving a Texas public library that had tried to remove a selection of titles against the wishes of some residents; another is the picture book “In The Night Kitchen,” by the Jewish author Maurice Sendak.
“Caste” is also being targeted by a Texas Republican state representative as one of 850 books that he says “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”
Jim Crow and the Nuremberg Laws
One Nazi-era event dramatized in “Origin” is the 1935 drafting of the Nuremberg Laws, the race-purity strictures that declared Jews to be racially inferior and outlawed relations between them and Germans.
The film emphasizes the fact that the real-life Nazi officials who came up with the laws drew heavy inspiration from the Jim Crow South’s segregation laws, which made it a crime for Black and white people in the South to enter relationships, attend the same schools or share the same public spaces.
Wilkerson’s book notes that the Nazis could not understand why the Americans hadn’t included Jews in their race laws “when it was so obvious to the Nazis that Jews were a separate ‘race’ and when America had already shown some aversion by imposing quotas on Jewish immigration.” The film’s version of Wilkerson tells a relative at one point, “The Jews and the Nazis were the same color,” emphasizing that caste isn’t necessarily about skin color.
In a famous photograph of German shipyard workers in 1936 delivering the “Heil Hitler” salute, one man in the photo is standing with his arms folded, apparently refusing to pledge his loyalty. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)
‘The man in the crowd’
Another Nazi-era event DuVernay dramatizes is a famous photograph of German shipyard workers in 1936 delivering the “Heil Hitler” salute. One man in the photo is standing with his arms folded, apparently refusing to pledge his loyalty.
It’s an image that has gone viral in recent years and that Wilkerson included as an opening anecdote in “Caste” to illustrate the power of being a lone voice against injustice. In the years since the photograph was taken, the man has been identified by a living relative as August Landmesser, a one-time Nazi Party member who had fallen in love with a Jewish woman the year before the photo was taken.
“Origin” imagines the courtship between Landmesser and his Jewish lover, Irma Eckler, as playing out in secret, via clandestine meetings in jazz clubs, defying the Nazis’ caste structures. Eventually, the couple have children and try to flee across the border but are arrested for violating the Nuremberg Laws, which forbade “pureblooded” Germans like Landmesser from romancing Jews.
In real life, according to a family history authored by one of the couple’s daughters, Landmesser was sent to prison and then drafted to fight for the Nazis in 1944, declared missing in action and believed dead before the war ended. Eckler was sent to a concentration camp and sent her last recorded letter in 1942.
A view of “The Empty Library,” Berlin’s memorial to books burned by the Nazis, Aug. 27, 2008. (חזרתי via Creative Commons)
Nazi book bans and Remarque
Perhaps inspired by recent book-banning efforts in the United States, DuVernay’s film also heavily emphasizes the Nazis’ own book-burning practices. A segment showing Wilkerson’s research visit to Berlin lingers on the city’s book burning memorial, “The Empty Library,” an underground illuminated sculpture of empty white shelves. Designed by the acclaimed Israeli artist Micha Ullman, the sculpture’s image in the film is given more screen time than even the city’s more famous Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, and is accompanied by flashbacks of a public Nazi book burning taking place.
One book in particular is frequently name-dropped in the film as a target of the Nazis, although its Jewish history is considerably more complicated: the World War I novel “All Quiet On The Western Front.” The book’s German author, Erich Maria Remarque, was frequently accused by the Nazis of being Jewish, though he wasn’t; his antiwar novel, which is heavily critical of Germany’s military failures, was seen by the Nazis as demoralizing, as was its initial 1930 film adaptation, directed by a Jew. The book was recently remade into a Netflix movie that was heavily decorated with Oscar nominations.
Subjugation vs. extermination
Also during Wilkerson’s Berlin visit in the film, she gets into an argument with a German academic over the efficacy of linking slavery to the Holocaust.
While slavery persisted for several generations and involved unspeakable suffering, the companion states, the fundamental aims were different: slavery was an arm of capitalism designed to exploit humans for profit, while the Holocaust was a project to exterminate all Jews from the earth.
It’s an argument that has often proved heated in the U.S. in recent years, as some Jews have fought against race-based history concepts that they claim prioritize Black suffering over their own. A Jewish leader in the right-wing parent activist group Moms For Liberty told JTA last year that she was inspired to campaign against public education after her daughter faced a quiz question in school whose “correct” answer was that slavery was worse than the Holocaust, which she said she considered “a Holocaust-minimizing question.”
Undeterred, the film’s Wilkerson continues to insist on the resemblance between the two on the basis of caste: that both institutions served to designate a lower class of people who could be mistreated by an upper caste as “an undifferentiated mass of nameless, faceless scapegoats.”
A late-in-the-film montage makes this point explicit, as it cuts between scenes of Jewish women and children being abused at a concentration camp; Black women being abused onboard a slave ship, and the murder of Trayvon Martin.
—
The post ‘Origin’ story: How Ava DuVernay’s new movie connects the Holocaust, slavery and caste appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
‘Squad’ Congresswomen Blasted For ‘Happy Hanukkah’ Messages
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) shares a fist bump with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) in Washington, DC, April 10, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Jim Bourg.
Left-wing, anti-Israel Congress members are receiving backlash online after posting messages in celebration of the start of Hanukkah.
On Wednesday, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) and Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) all recognized the start of the Jewish holiday on Twitter/X. Almost immediately, supporters of Israel pounced on the congresswomen, pointing out that they have spent the past year peddling antisemitism and attacking the Jewish state.
“Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish neighbors in Michigan’s 12th District and around the world. May you be surrounded by love this holiday. Chag Sameach!” Tlaib posted on X/Twitter.
“Sending warm wishes to our Jewish neighbors and friends as they celebrate Hanukkah. Chag Sameach!” Omar posted on X/Twitter.
“Chanukah sameach to all who celebrate in [Pennsylvania Congressional District 12] and beyond! May this season of light inspire us to stand for justice and work toward a brighter, more equitable world. Wishing you warmth, joy, and peace,” Lee wrote on X/Twitter.
“Wishing a Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate in Missouri’s First District and beyond! Sending hope and love to you and your families. Chag Sameach,” Bush posted on X/Twitter.
All four congresswomen are members of the “Squad”— an informal cohort of progressive lawmakers with left-wing views on issues ranging from foreign policy to economics. They are also among the most strident critics of Israel in the US government. In the year following Hamas’ Oct. 7 mass slaughter of roughly 1200 people in southern Israel, progressive lawmakers have repeatedly assailed the Jewish state, condemning it for supposedly committing a “genocide” in retribution for the terrorist attacks. Members of the “Squad” have also spearheaded resolutions calling for a ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist group and the implementation of an “arms embargo on the Jewish state.
In response to the posts acknowledging the start of Hanukkah, pro-Israel social media users took shots at the congresswomen, suggesting that they have used their platforms to advance ideas and political positions harmful to the Jewish community.
“The holiday of Chanukah celebrates the re-dedication of the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem – the holiest place on earth to Jews – in the Land of Israel. Thank you, [congresswomen], for acknowledging the holiday that connects Jews to the ancestral home of the Jewish nation” posted Joel Petlin, superintendent of the Kiryas Joel School District.
Simmering antisemitism among the ideological left has emerged as a hot-button issue over the past year. Anti-Israel sentiment has proven politically costly for some left-wing lawmakers in the past year, with Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Rep. Cori Bush losing their seats in primary battles earlier this year. As the “Squad” continues to shrink, some speculate that progressive lawmakers may recalibrate their messaging on Israel to avoid alienating Jewish constituents.
The post ‘Squad’ Congresswomen Blasted For ‘Happy Hanukkah’ Messages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Cori Bush Bashes AIPAC On Her Way Out, Says Pro-Israel Group ‘Cheated’ St. Louis Voters
US Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) raises her fist as US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses a pro-Hamas demonstration in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters/Allison Bailey
Outgoing Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) blasted the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) during a radio interview, accusing the foremost pro-Israel lobbying firm engaging in practices that “cheated the people of St. Louis”
While chatting with St. Louis Public Radio on Dec. 23, Bush argued that her August election loss was the result of a rapid influx of pro-Israel money.
“The amount of money that was spent against me made my race the second most expensive House race in U.S. history. You know, not in the last decade. Not, you know, several years. In U.S. History,” Bush said.
“So, the fact that they spent 15 times as much—people like me have to understand this. I spent around $1.4 million when I unseated my predecessor, $1.4 million. And I won by a little less than 5,000 votes,” she added.
She lamented that AIPAC reportedly spent a staggering $15,000,000 against her “to win by 6,800 votes.”
“So this is the thing that really bothers me about this. If someone wants to run, I have no problem with that,” she said, conceding that political opponents might have better “ideas” than her.
However, Bush fretted that her opponent, U.S. Representative-elect Wesley Bell, supposedly entered the race out of frustration over her anti-Israel positions. She suggested that AIPAC hand-picked Bell to run against her because she called for a “ceasefire” between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 slaughters in the Jewish state.
“He came out and said that the reason why he was running against me was because I called for a ceasefire. That was initially what he said. But never once did any of their ads say anything about Israel, Gaza, ceasefire,” Bush said.
The congresswoman pointed out that ads funded by AIPAC focused primarily on “ridiculous things” like her legislative record and issues more proximate to the people of St. Louis, such as contamination in the city’s drinking water.
“They lied about my record. They spewed disinformation and misinformation about my work,” she said, accusing AIPAC of helping Bell win by spreading “lies” and “fabrications.”
Bush lost her reelection campaign to St. Louis attorney Wesley Bell in August while making her opposition to Israel a key talking point of the race. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) flooded the race with a staggering sum of money to secure her defeat.
Bush’s conduct in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s’ atrocities on Oct. 7 drew widespread condemnation from pro-Israel leaders and convinced AIPAC to intervene in her primary contest. Only nine days after the massacre, Bush called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. As the war dragged on, her rhetoric toward Israel sharpened, with the congresswoman accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “apartheid” in the West Bank. Bush has also accused Israel of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza without providing evidence.
Bush’s anti-Israel stance incensed the St. Louis Jewish community, causing a cohort of 30 local rabbis to write a letter repudiating Bush and endorsing Bell. In the letter, the rabbis slammed Bush for “continually fanned the flames with the most outrageous smears of Israel, accusing the Jewish state of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘genocide’ as it has fought to defeat the terrorists.”
The post Cori Bush Bashes AIPAC On Her Way Out, Says Pro-Israel Group ‘Cheated’ St. Louis Voters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Treasure Trove remembers how Jewish Canadians reached out to rebuild poor neighbourhoods in Israel
Canadian Jewry should be proud of the support it has given to Israel during this very difficult time in its history. The outpouring of love and support is nothing new: it is something we have been doing since long before Israel was born.
To cite one example, this is a street sign in Jaffa that reads that the street is dedicated to the Canadian charities that donated funds to rehabilitate the neighbourhood.
The neighbourhood is Jaffa Dalet, which was built in the 1950s for new immigrants. By the 1970s it was a down-and-out area, one of the poorest in Israel, which had streets with numbers and no names.
Jaffa Dalet was one of 160 distressed neighbourhoods throughout Israel that prime minister Menachem Begin announced in 1978 would be rehabilitated in a joint project between the government of Israel and world Jewry. Named “Project Renewal”, the Jewish Agency joined as a partner, and undertook to twin Jewish communities around the world with specific neighbourhoods in Israel.
Jaffa Dalet was twinned with Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon, and it is the support from these communities, and donations from other Canadians, that is memorialized in this street sign. Other Canadian Project Renewal twinnings were Montreal with Yerucham, Toronto with Beit Dagan, and unfederated communities in Ontario and the West with Or Yehudah.
Today, Jaffa is a mixed community of Jews and Arabs and includes many Falash Mura who arrived from Ethiopia about 20 years ago. The area is again going through a phase of urban renewal (Pinui Binui in Hebrew, literally “evacuation and construction”) in which old apartment buildings are being demolished and replaced with more modern and larger buildings. The process allows existing residents to enjoy new and more spacious apartments without having to leave their neighbourhood, while the area’s infrastructure is updated and more residential units are built.
Jewish Canadians responded when the call came from Israel in the 1970s to help build the country. There is much rebuilding required now as a result of the wars Israel has fought since Oct. 7, 2023, and no doubt Canadian Jewry will continue to respond to the call. Our actions today will long be remembered, whether in the name of a street or in the knowledge that when help was needed, we were there.
Here’s hoping that 2025 finally brings a quick return of the hostages, safety for Israel’s soldiers, comfort to those who have lost so much, and peace for Israel and the entire region.
The post Treasure Trove remembers how Jewish Canadians reached out to rebuild poor neighbourhoods in Israel appeared first on The Canadian Jewish News.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login