How Jews Became White Folks

In this article by Karen Bodkin it talks about the assimilation of Europeans and the struggles they faced in trying to be apart of the society. The Jewish population did work extremely hard to get a better life for themselves after all they were not treated as well as Nordic or Anglo-Saxon race. There was much Anti-Semistism in the United States throughout its history but its not the only racism involved. African Americans, Native Americans, and Mexicans experienced forms of racism. But as soon as World War II ended the same people that were calling Jews an inferior race now were calling for the assimilation of Jews with particular policies to help them. This policy did help a huge segment of the population and it helped the author family but it also was a segregated policy because it did not cover or include African Americans. They were excluded from going to college, finding decent jobs, being able to own their own home. African Americans even though they participated in World War II and fought for their country were still treated like second class citizens. The author mentions how it was hard for his family but they were able to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and be productive members of society.
There were many publications in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century that stated Jews and other Europeans that came to the United States were inferior because of the way they carried themselves. They treated other people outside their race with great disregard and people of different races had to watch their backs because the Euro-race might kill them.
The GI bill witch brought about great economic opportunity for a great segment of the population also was a form of discrimination because it did not include for the most part African Americans. You also had many homeowners who were discriminated against because the executives in charge did not like a certain segment of the population.
Was the GI Bill a good idea or a bad idea? I believe the bill was a good idea because of the great opportunity it brought to people after the war. People that normally would not have gone to college did and people that would not have gotten a particular job got the skills they needed in order to attain that job. People were owning homes at a record rate which led to greater prosperity for the United States but it also was a discriminatory bill that when administrated brought less prosperity for African American people.
This was a very interesting article to read. It brought you great incite into the struggles people who came to this country faced. One group of people found it hard at first to assimilate to the society but after the war found it easier because of their whiteness and another group of society was still being discriminated against even though they went through the same hardships as the Jewish population. When you have people that have a certain stereotype of a certain race that are in charge it makes it extremely difficult for a population to have universal prosperity.