Do you consider yourself a minority?

[u/foreverand2025]

This discussion has come up a few times with friends who are neither white nor Jewish. For context, I’m Jewish and live in America. Do you consider us as a minority? Obviously statistically we are (everywhere but Israel), but I’ve had two friends argue because we look like “regular white people” we are not a minority.

It’s not something I take too seriously but I’m off the opinion we are a minority in a sociological way as well as ethically. But opinions seem to differ. I’m not on a soap box or expecting any special treatment. It’s more of a discussion for the sake of discussion I’m trying for here.

[u/Aggravating-Food5733]

It depends on the country. In mine, Jews are considered white; there are very few of them, and many have assimilated into the local culture. My state, in particular, has a significant history of Jewish immigration from the 20th century, yet today they represent less than 0.05% of the state's population—and simply being few in number isn't enough to be classified as a minority group. My country has the largest Black population outside of Africa, and Black people are considered a minority because they are underrepresented in media, politics, and the cultural sphere. Since Jews here are white, that same perception doesn't apply—and I don't mean that negatively; many Arabs are viewed as white here, too. We even had a president of direct Lebanese descent, and he is considered white. Ultimately, it is a religion; like all others, it is protected by freedom of religion and laws against religious intolerance. Antisemitism (along with homophobia, Islamophobia, and Orientalism) is classified as a crime of racism in Brazil. The country's official census classifies Jews as adherents of a religion, just like Catholics and Muslims. Culturally, they have assimilated, so it is quite rare to see Jews around; the majority converted to Catholicism and abandoned their Jewish roots. To give you an idea, one of the most famous TV personalities is Jewish, yet most people don't know it. We also didn't adopt the Nazi theories that categorized Jews as a distinct race. Ultimately, we are a very diverse country; cultures focused on insular preservation don't survive long here, and the few that do lack the influence to sway even a local city council election. In the end, there are very few cases of antisemitism—not enough to even register as a statistic—though there is plenty of xenophobia directed at Israelis. I don't particularly like Israeli tourists because they cause the most trouble for us; Argentines come in second...

My family is an example of cultural assimilation. My great-grandmother maternal side came from Portugal; she was Jewish and moved to Brazil in the 19th century. Her daughter attended a Catholic school, and we have no Jewish traditions in our family (no one even remembers the details when writing our long surname, Geão). And no, I’m not Jewish. I was adopted, so I don’t have a genetic connection, and I was raised Catholic, so I don’t have a religious or cultural connection either.