Jewish like me in Malmö

John Howard Griffin famously enlisted the assistance of a dermatologist to have his skin darkened so he could pass as a black man traveling in the deep South for six weeks in late 1959. He reported his experiences in Black Like Me. Based on the journal he kept, the book has sold more than 10 million copies and remained continuously in print since its publication in 1961.

Swedish journalist Petter Ljunggren had a similar idea, though he didn’t have to go to Griffin’s lengths to conduct the experiment. Replicating the experiment conducted by journalist Patrick Reilly in October 2013, Ljunggren donned a kippah and a Star of David to walk the streets of Malmö, Sweden, with its large Muslim population. Captured with a hidden camera, the experience depicted is not horrible, but rather unpleasant and threatening (at 17:50 and 29:30 or so in the video below).

The Algemeiner reports on the results of the experiment here. Elder of Ziyon follows up here.

The related television documentary has been uploaded to YouTube here; I’m posting the video below. The comments at YouTube indicate that accurate English subtitles are forthcoming; the current English subtitles were generated automatically via Google. They have the quality of Ezra Pound’s translation of Anglo-Saxon poetry into modern English without the imposing rhythms or alliterative lilt. You sort of get the drift.

The final ten minutes of the video include an interview with a couple of local politicians and are worth sticking around for. Long story short: life isn’t going to be getting better for the Jews of Malmö.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses