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Schvartze (from שוואַרץ, shvarts, 'black'; cf. German: schwarz; OED) is a racial slur for black people in the Yiddish language.^[1]^[2]

Etymology

Schvartze is derived from the Yiddish word schvarts, which means "black".^[3] The term was rare prior to the 20th century. An article for the Washington Jewish Week refers to it as "the S-word".^[4]

About

The term schvartze has been described as "the Jewish N-word" or "the Yiddish N-word".^[5]^[6]^[7]^{[failed verification]}

Among white South African Jews, the term has a history of being used to describe Black South Africans, as well as Indian South Africans and Coloured South Africans.^[8]^{[better source needed]}

Black Jewish writer Michael W. Twitty noted in 2017 a handful of public instances in which the term was used. He notes that he had never heard the term used in earlier stages of his life and spoke against a return of the word's use, comparing it to the term "kushi".^[9] Black Orthodox Jewish rabbi Shais Rishon rejected the notion that the term is not meant to be offensive and racist, writing that

It is not merely a 'color' word...American Jews do not say 'Pass me my schvartzer jacket' or 'Today I'm wearing my schvartzer hat', adding that term "was thrown around quite often in my youth, even more so toward my fellow African-American Jews who went to yeshiva, and always in lieu of an actual name. In short, in the exact same context that 'nigger' was used in the 1960s.^[10]^{[better source needed]}^{[undue weight? – discuss]}

Responses

In 1991, the stand-up comedian Jackie Mason was criticized by African-American organizations including the NAACP, when he called New York City mayor David Dinkins "a fancy shvartze with a moustache";^[11]^{[failed verification]} Mason later apologized.^[12]^{[failed verification]} In 2009, Mason referred to Barack Obama as a shvartze during one of his stand-up routines, which prompted members of the audience to walk out.^[13]

In 2021, the Republican Jewish Coalition and other Jewish groups in North Carolina urged Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson to apologize for antisemitic comments, including a Facebook post that said the film Black Panther was created by an "agnostic Jew" and a "satanic Marxist" in order to extract "shekels out of your Schvartze pockets." Robinson refused to apologize.^[14]^[15]