By Ilana M. Horwitz
In the summer of 2020, a friend and I were deep in conversation about race. It was the summer of reckoning following George Floyd’s murder, igniting discussions on race across the country.
“Why does color have to matter so much?” my friend asked.
This question lingered with me. As a sociologist studying American Jewry, I was curious about how this community — lauded for its progressive stances on social justice — was navigating the national debate on race.
One point of division stood out regarding the perception of racism. According to the Pew Research Center, Jewish Democrats are nearly four times as likely as Jewish Republicans to believe that Black people face significant discrimination (71% vs. 18%), with a similar gap in views on discrimination against Hispanic people.
This polarization within a community known for advocating equality left me wondering: What’s behind these divergent perspectives? In the fall of 2020, I had a unique opportunity to find out.
At the time, I was interviewing Jewish parents in the Philadelphia area about how they were coping with the economic setbacks of COVID-19. Philadelphia was also a focal point for racial protests.
Toward the end of each interview, I asked about their views on the protests, whether they participated and what shaped their views on the 2020 presidential election. (This study, co-authored with Ilana Spencer and Landon Schnabel, was published this year in Contemporary Jewry.)
I found that nearly half of my interviewees supported the Black Lives Matter movement, while others were indifferent or opposed. This divide was often shaped by political and religious affiliations, with many politically and religiously conservative respondents expressing views that sociologists describe as the discourse of “colorblindness.”
Proponents of “colorblindness” try to ignore race altogether. They suggest racial issues come from individual behavior instead of bigger, systemic problems. Several people I spoke with described Floyd’s death as simply the result of “bad officers,” or as one woman put it, a case of “a few bad apples.”
Critics of colorblindness call it a subtler form of racism, entrenching inequality by rationalizing the existing racial hierarchy. Proponents of colorblind rhetoric argue that acknowledging race perpetuates division and discrimination.
Some also embraced a “post-racial” view, believing that racial barriers are relics of the past. “We elected a Black president,” said one person. “How would that happen if the majority here are racist?”
Some people shared personal or family stories — especially ones about Jewish struggles with discrimination — to make sense of racial issues. They asked why Black Americans couldn’t do the same.
In contrast, those who supported BLM — mostly liberals and independents — saw systemic racism as a pervasive problem needing urgent action.
After my research, here’s what I would say to my friend who asked, “Why does color have to matter so much?”
For some Jewish Americans, I’d explain, color shouldn’t matter at all. Many conservative Jews see racial issues as personal problems, not systemic ones. If everyone is treated equally under the law, any disparities come down to individual effort and responsibility. This “colorblind” view aligns with Republican ideals of personal accountability, emphasizing fairness through equal treatment.
But this perspective can overlook how structural inequalities shape outcomes for marginalized groups, making it easy to attribute disparities solely to personal choices rather than larger issues.
On the other hand, liberal Jews take a different view of fairness. They believe that ignoring race doesn’t make inequality go away — in fact, it makes it worse. For them, fairness means actively addressing the barriers that keep certain groups at a disadvantage. They see true equality as something that requires policies and reforms to break down the accumulated effects of discrimination. From this viewpoint, pretending race doesn’t matter only serves to reinforce the same inequalities that many are trying to dismantle.
While my study cannot definitively determine whether political affiliation or Jewish values primarily drive attitudes on race, it reveals the correlation between denomination and political ideology, suggesting a dynamic relationship where the two likely reinforce each other.
The deep divides over race and inequality within the Jewish community — and across the country — are still here. These divisions reveal just how differently we understand what fairness and justice really mean. 
Ilana M. Horwitz is assistant professor of Jewish studies and sociology and the Fields-Rayant chair in contemporary Jewish life at Tulane University. This column was provided by the JTA global Jewish news source.
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