Although Jews are often considered white by mainstream American society, the relationship between Jews and the concept of whiteness remains complex, with some of them preferring not to identify themselves as white. Prominent activist and rabbi Michael Lerner argues, in a 1993 "Village Voice" article, that "in America, to be 'white' means to be the beneficiary of the past 500 years of European exploration and exploitation of the rest of the world" and that "Jews can only be deemed white if there is massive amnesia on the part of non-Jews about the monumental history of anti-Semitism". African-American activist Cornel West, in an interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, has explained: