When we visited the Rome ghetto, it was a powerful moment for me to see the buildings that the Jews were sequestered in and the gates that Jews were forced to stay behind. We can date discrimination against the Jews to events in much earlier eras, such as the Babylonian exile and the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans. However, the racial anti-Semitism of the previous centuries can be dated, in a way, back to 1492. The Spanish reigning couple, Ferdinand and Isabella, issued an edict of expulsion for the Jews of Spain. They wanted to have an all-Catholic nation. In yet another diaspora, the Jews spread themselves to neighboring countries; many of these Jews settled in Rome. This brings us to the scene of the Jewish ghettos in Rome in the 16th century. The impact of discrimination against the Jews in this ghetto was a terrible disconnect and division between people. This disconnect can be seen in today’s ghettos of Akron.
After seeing the 1555 Papal Bull in class that called for strict rules regarding Jews in the Roman ghetto, I was shocked. I was especially awed that the papal bull said that God would help the Catholics to enforce these laws. The Catholicism that I know today is so far from this discrimination, at least in the doctrine, if not fully in practice by the believers yet. This modern Catholicism is one of openness and solidarity, one that calls for a respect of the dignity of every human person. However, during the 16th century, the Church sanctioned discrimination against the Jews by forcing the men to wear yellow hats and the women to wear another form of yellow identification. The Jewish people, those on the inside of the ghetto, are forced to attend Sunday masses and their ears were checked to make sure that they had not been stuffed with cotton. Many other laws prevented the Jews from thriving, simply on basis of their religious beliefs. Christians, the people on the outside, probably feared that the Jewish religion would be competition for their own faith, so the Christians sequestered the Jews as a solution. The impact of the ghetto on the Christians is that it allowed the practice of discrimination and hate to breed in its religion. I reacted with disappointment at the dirty underside of my own faith when we visited the ghetto, while at the same time being immensely grateful for the interfaith dialogue of Pope John Paul II and the other popes to Jews today.
Some parts of Akron, Ohio, can be considered a ghetto. Downtown in Grace Park, many homeless people linger by church steps, on park benches, and in clumps of trees. At my high school, Walsh Jesuit, I participated in the Labre project. This really enforced for me the Catholic idea of social justice for every human being. This project involved passing out food and sharing fellowship with the homeless of Akron every Monday night. Some of the homeless here have committed crimes and cannot pursue jobs because they have a record, and some simply have mental problems or addictions. Whatever the case, this ghetto reflects the same discrimination as the Jewish ghetto of the 15th century. Even though this ghetto is not enforced by law and the people are free to move about, it is almost impossible for some of them to reintegrate into society. We have erected a gate of our own, an invisible fence of prejudice and hate. In this ghetto, many lack the basic rights of life that we all have: to have employment, to provide for one’s needs, to be a part of society, and to raise a family. The people outside here suffer from loneliness and a lack of acceptance, as well as poverty. The people outside, those of us who allow this to continue, are rendered slightly less human as we allow these injustices.
To be human is to recognize the inherent dignity of another person, according to the Catholic Church. This idea directly opposes the racism and discrimination of ghettos. Whether in the Roman ghetto or in today’s ghettos in Akron, we must strive to eliminate discrimination and promote connectedness between other humans.
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