It is very depressing...

I have recently read two books that would seem to have nothing to do with each other, "The Foot of Pride" by Malcolm Hay, published in 1950, and"African Women" by Mark Mathabane, published in 1994. "African Women" tells the story of three women, mother, daughter, granddaughter in a black township outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, and "The Foot of Pride" tells the story of the anti-Jewish (anti-Semitic) attitudes of the Catholic church throughout its history. What could they have in common?

The Catholic church, for reasons both political and economic, determined (consciously or not) to make the Jews the theological bad guys, the most dangerous elements in society, and enemies of Christendom. The results were predictable. The Jews were persecuted (with short term lapses) incessently. The South African all-white ruling classes determined, for reasons both political and economic, that the black South Africans were the social bad guys, the most dangerous elements in society, and the enemies of civilized society. The blacks were persecuted incessently.

But there is also a difference. The persecuted Jewish community was persecuted because of its belief system, and this belief system remained by and large in place, avoiding Jew vs. Jew violence. The persecuted black community did not have a coherent belief system to hold it together, so it fragmented. One of the most serious aspects of this fragmentation, brought about by and large as a result of economic pressures, was the disintegration of male-female relationships.

Today, the Catholic church has dropped many of its theological anti-Jewish positions, and the South African government is by and large in the hands of the formerly persecuted blacks. Clearly, Catholic countries still have anti-Semites, and there are still South African whites who are prejudiced against blacks. But times have changed, presumably for the better.

I am not sure I am saying anything very profound here, but looking at the terrible problems these three African women had with the men in their lives (and I mean terrible problems), I saw a commonality with the problems that the Jews had in Catholic Europe. Being treated as something less than human. And being helpless to do anything about it.

Maybe, persecution is persecution, wherever it occurs. It is the result of politics and economics, and it is the same, whether its victims are the Jews of Catholic Europe, or the black women of apartheid South Africa.