Schwartzes

Schvartze (from ; cf. German: ; OED) is a racial slur for black people in the Yiddish language.

Etymology

''Schvartze'' is derived from the Yiddish word ''schvarts'', which means "black". An article for the Washington Jewish Week refers to it as "the S-word".

About

The term ''schvartze'' has been described as "the Jewish N-word" or "the Yiddish N-word". Upper-middle class Jews during the 1800s and 1900s often used the term to describe their black servants because it was assumed they wouldn't understand the word.

Among white South African Jews, the term has a history of being used to describe black South Africans, as well as Indian South Africans and Coloured South Africans.

Black Jewish writer Michael W. Twitty noted in 2017 a handful of public instances in which the term was used. He notes that he had never heard the term used in earlier stages of his life and spoke against a return of the word's use, comparing it to the term " kushi". The Black Orthodox Jewish rabbi and writer Shais Rishon has objected to the term as offensive and racist, saying that "It is not merely a 'color' word...American Jews do not say 'Pass me my schvartzer jacket' or 'Today I'm wearing my schvartzer hat', adding that term "was thrown around quite often in my youth, even more so toward my fellow African-American Jews who went to yeshiva, and always in lieu of an actual name. In short, in the exact same contest that 'nigger' was used in the 1960s."

Controversies

In 1991, the stand-up comedian Jackie Mason was criticized by African-American organizations including the NAACP, when he called New York City mayor David Dinkins "a fancy shvartze with a moustache"; Mason later apologized.Thomas S. Hischak (2003)
''Enter the Players: New York Stage Actors in the Twentieth Century''
/ref> In 2009, Mason referred to Barack Obama as a ''shvartze'' during one of his stand-up routines, which prompted members of the audience to walk out.

In 2021, the Republican Jewish Coalition and other Jewish groups in North Carolina urged Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson to apologize for antisemitic comments, including a Facebook post that said the film Black Panther was created by an "agnostic Jew" and a "satanic Marxist" in order to extract "shekels out of your Schvartze pockets." Robinson refused to apologize.

See also

* African American–Jewish relations
*Cushi
*Jews of color
*Racism in Jewish communities

References

{{Reflist

External links

Letter to the Editor: To Yiddish Speakers, 'Shvartzer' Isn't Hateful
The New York Times

African American–Jewish relations
Anti-African and anti-black slurs
Anti-black racism in Canada
Anti-black racism in South Africa
Anti-black racism in the United States
Yiddish culture in Canada
Yiddish culture in the United States
Yiddish words and phrases