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paying3tuitions · 05-04-2008, 07:32 PM

I still haven't recovered from reading the book written by Alice Munro's daughter, Rebecca Walker. Alice Munro has ZERO credibility with me, even though I support Obama and liked some of Munro's books, including The Color Purple.

In "Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self," Alice Munro's biracial daughter Rebecca Walker Levine (born from a white Jewish dad who came to her state as a Civil Rights Movement lawyer in the l960's) represents her mother as an emotionally oblivious and absentee mother. Even as she ramped up her inquiry into Black identity and heritage, the mother (Alice) did nothing to help educate, expose or guide her daughter to Jewish community. No Sunday school, no books, nothing is represented in that home to help her own biracial/bi-religious child understand both sides of her self.

In the quoted article, Alice Walker just threw off that unbalanced one-liner about Israel and the Palestinenas because, I suspect, based on how she BEHAVED for 30 years towards her own daughter...she harbors no respect for the Jewish culture or civilization that is also her daughter's birthright to explore.

Following her divorce, Alice Walker moved cross-country to San Francisco to find more like-minded friends, women who would nurture her as a writer. She and her husband arranged a bizarre and self-serving custody arrangement that required Rebecca to begin a new school on either coast every two years throughout middle and high school.

Rebecca's father remarried a Jewish woman who tried to be a positive stepmother to Rebecca, but by then the extremely rebellious teen wouldn't have any of her, finally throwing the stepmother against a mirror to ensure her ejection from that middle-class, bourgeois household. Finding herself pregnant at age 14, the most helpful thing Rebecca says her mom Alice did for her during those turbulent times was to set up an abortion in San Francisco.
Much of the time, according to her daughter, mom Alice travelled or absented herself from their two-bedroom apartment so the mom could write without distraction.

No, Alice Walker impresses me not at all.

I currently support Obama, and will support either Democrat who takes the nomination that Obama deserves. But as a Jew, I want to point out to fellow Obama supporters that this article by Alice Walker, which I've now read 6 times from my leftwing friends, is extremely unsettling to read. She picks out no other political example except Israel, and continues to demonstrate her cold disinterest in Jewish future, including within her own flesh-and-blood daughter.

One reason I do support Obama is he was the first candidate to call for improved relations between American Jews and African Americans, who used to know how to communicate better 40 years ago than today. Alice Walker must be missing the memo from Barack that we're going to try to bridge gaps between communities. Please let's try.

05-04-2008, 07:32 PM	#24
paying3tuitions Moderator Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: suburb of buffalo Gender: Not Saying Threads: 59 Posts: 2,833	I still haven't recovered from reading the book written by Alice Munro's daughter, Rebecca Walker. Alice Munro has ZERO credibility with me, even though I support Obama and liked some of Munro's books, including The Color Purple. In "Black, White and Jewish: Autobiography of a Shifting Self," Alice Munro's biracial daughter Rebecca Walker Levine (born from a white Jewish dad who came to her state as a Civil Rights Movement lawyer in the l960's) represents her mother as an emotionally oblivious and absentee mother. Even as she ramped up her inquiry into Black identity and heritage, the mother (Alice) did nothing to help educate, expose or guide her daughter to Jewish community. No Sunday school, no books, nothing is represented in that home to help her own biracial/bi-religious child understand both sides of her self. In the quoted article, Alice Walker just threw off that unbalanced one-liner about Israel and the Palestinenas because, I suspect, based on how she BEHAVED for 30 years towards her own daughter...she harbors no respect for the Jewish culture or civilization that is also her daughter's birthright to explore. Following her divorce, Alice Walker moved cross-country to San Francisco to find more like-minded friends, women who would nurture her as a writer. She and her husband arranged a bizarre and self-serving custody arrangement that required Rebecca to begin a new school on either coast every two years throughout middle and high school. Rebecca's father remarried a Jewish woman who tried to be a positive stepmother to Rebecca, but by then the extremely rebellious teen wouldn't have any of her, finally throwing the stepmother against a mirror to ensure her ejection from that middle-class, bourgeois household. Finding herself pregnant at age 14, the most helpful thing Rebecca says her mom Alice did for her during those turbulent times was to set up an abortion in San Francisco. Much of the time, according to her daughter, mom Alice travelled or absented herself from their two-bedroom apartment so the mom could write without distraction. No, Alice Walker impresses me not at all. I currently support Obama, and will support either Democrat who takes the nomination that Obama deserves. But as a Jew, I want to point out to fellow Obama supporters that this article by Alice Walker, which I've now read 6 times from my leftwing friends, is extremely unsettling to read. She picks out no other political example except Israel, and continues to demonstrate her cold disinterest in Jewish future, including within her own flesh-and-blood daughter. One reason I do support Obama is he was the first candidate to call for improved relations between American Jews and African Americans, who used to know how to communicate better 40 years ago than today. Alice Walker must be missing the memo from Barack that we're going to try to bridge gaps between communities. Please let's try. Last edited by paying3tuitions : 05-04-2008 at 07:43 PM.