Get Out Of The Kitchen, Jackie

Such happy memories I have of “Highlights” magazine and my two little children at bedtime, snuggled up and eagerly waiting for Mommy to read the latest adventures of the TimberToes, Gufus and Gallant, and ”Oh, boy! The Hidden Pictures!”  And finally, on the back cover, What’s Wrong With This Picture ? “Fun… …with a purpose!”

Oh, look, kids!  What do you know?!  They have a picture of Mommy and Grandma from a few years ago, sitting at Mrs. Berta’s kitchen table.  Mrs. Berta is our friend and she is getting old now.  The Nazis did some very bad, terrible things to her and to Grandma when they were young.  I remember the very day this picture was taken.  We were at her house to plan the Yom Hashoah program, so that people know they must never ever treat each other that way again.  Mrs. Berta was telling us she used to live in New York for awhile when she first came to America, but she didn’t like it there so she came to Chicago.  She said there were too many schwartzes in New York.

But, let’s see, what’s wrong with this picture, sweetheart?  It’s almost time for bed…

My kids never figured out what was wrong with that picture, because, in fact, I never told them the last part of that story until they were much older.  “Schwartzes” was a word I never used, and one my mother never considered uttering because it is derogatory, perhaps not on the same scale as the hateful “n” word, but about like hearing people complain they were “Jewed” out of their money by an unscrupulous salesman.  It serves only to categorize one ethnic group with all of their stereotypical “flaws,” and only to segregate one culture from another.

Sadly, it must have been in common usage among some circles in the Jewish community.  That day in Mrs. Berta’s kitchen, I was aware of the spirit of author Art Spiegelman’s father, ranting a similar rant, much as he rants in the Pulitzer-prize winning  “Maus.” While we would like to imagine a silver lining was there all along to be discovered by the victims of Nazi persecution, Spiegelman denies us any feelgood opportunity in that comic-book frame.  Horrific events happen for no divine purpose and absolutely no good comes from them.  They are unredeemable, and we are required to make a concerted effort to avoid them.

“My father bleeds history… ”

Perhaps the elder Spiegelman and Mrs. Berta were too old, too long from another time and place to be able to analyze the conflicting ideas they entertained.  But, comedian Jackie Mason’s justification of his recent reference to President Obama as a “schwartze,”  on the grounds that it is a traditional and casually used Yiddish term, should satisfy no one.   At 72, Jackie is too young to indulge in such intractable notions.  Plus, as a born and raised American, his refusal to understand the destructive force of such terms, especially when used repeatedly by highly visible figures, boils down to just plain hostility.  This is not his first assault, and I don’t believe he’s innocently had his head in the sand all these years.

I know you’re tired, honey, but Mommy wants to show you one more thing in this picture.  Here is Mr. Mason yelling something about his freedom. Does that mean he has a right to say what he wants?

Of course, Mommy, everyone knows that!

Does it mean he is a good and thoughtful man when he does?

Zzzzz…..

Sleep tight, my little ones.  We’ll look at more pictures tomorrow.