@Elfblossom its a shame your earlier post was deleted as I feel like I’ve missed a big part of what you said? Oh well.
I understand what she's saying. A person will brown or black skin is never not open to hate or discrimination
So, you’re talking about immediate visibility, which is a very important topic, and I’ll tell you why it doesn’t make something not racist, and doesn’t mean people aren’t at risk.
Firstly I can’t speak for Irish people or Gypsy Travellers - it’s not my lane - but many Jewish people actually are visibly Jewish. Technically they could wear different clothing but to put it simply - why should they? Orthodox Jews live their lives by their faith and hiding their faith would be pandering to the hateful people (aka the racists/anti-semites). Also, the last time Jewish people were ALL ‘visibly Jewish’ they wore yellow stars. Let’s not go back to that is we can avoid it please.
Secondly - it wouldn’t make a jot of difference if Jewish people don’t “look Jewish”, or even if they’re a practising Jew - if Holocaust 2.0 happens (and it could happen) the anti-semites would be after Jewish people due to their bloodline not just their faith.
Thirdly, many Jewish people have had to change their surnames to something less Jewish sounding. Many Jewish actors have been told to do this otherwise they wouldn’t get work. I have read that Irish people in the 90’s changed their accent to avoid discrimination. This would not happen if racism against those groups wasn’t so prevalent.
Finally, it implies that to escape racism, Jewish people, Irish people and Gypsy travellers can or should hide their “true” self to avoid racism. But that would apply to no other minority group - you wouldn’t tell gay people to hide their gayness to avoid homophobia.
What Abbot has done in comparing these groups to redheads, and claim they don’t experience racism but discrimination is DEEPLY damaging in a world where anti-semitism at least is on the rise at alarming rates. She completely downplayed the racism Jewish people experience through the medium of “Racism top trumps”. Minimising racism is racist and she absolutely was right to lose her whip because we cannot have people in power who minimise racism even if they think it’s ‘other racism’.
David Baddiel, a Jewish atheist, explains it far better than I can if you wanted to read his column it’s very worthwhile https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/david-baddiel-whoopi-goldberg-antisemitism-holocaust-the-view-b980696.html
Do I agree with what she said? Not 100% but you won't care about that. You're not here for a sharing of opinions, to learn or be curious. You just want to be right.
Im really not out to get you. And I’m not outraged by your viewpoint, I just hope I can give insight into why it was wrong of her to say. I think on the surface it’s obvious the POC can’t hide their race/ethnicity and they experience direct discrimination as a result. But that does not mean others groups don’t experience abject racism, nor does it mean the racism they experience is less frequent or easier to handle.