The Hill News

In Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance â€" And Why They Fall, by Amy Chua â€" that Tiger Mom in an age of penguins â€" I was struck that in the introduction, she referred to her husband as a “Jewish American.” I was an “Irish-American” in the days of Geraldine (“It’s my turn!”) Ferraro, an “Italian-American” who was Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984. There were Afro-Americans and WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) and Newyoricans (playwright Miguel Pinero and Justice Sonia Sotomayor), but Jews were just Jews. I’d only heard the expression “Jewish American” once before, years back when a congresswoman awkwardly referred to some of her constituents as “Jewish Americans.” Commentator David Brooks got a laugh out of it, saying, “I used to be a Jew. Now I’m a ‘Jewish American.’ ”

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