Jew-ish

WILL to Lead Blog: Jew-ish

The earliest historical documentation of anti-semitism that I learned about was the Spanish Inquisition in the 1300s-1400s. Spain had reconquered their country from Arab control and decided that a part of their reconquered country would be a country free of all Jews and Arabs.

Jewish people have a long history of being kicked out of countries, blamed for things (like the black plague), and being generally made fun of. Until the most recent generation, we were considered to be a separate race of people. This transition should be considered a good thing, yet it has come with some of the same discrimination as before. Only now, antisemitism comes from both sides of the political and social action spectrum: the far right and the far left.

I want to get a few things out of the way before I go into this further. First, it is clear that there are Jews, particularly from Ashkenazi background, that have clear white privilege. I am not negating that systematic privilege, simply offering a layer to go on top of that.

As early as 4th grade I have distinct memories of antisemitism directed towards me:

  • In 6th grade someone told me I was a Jew and they were a Nazi and they were going to take me to a concentration camp.

  • In middle school someone threw a penny at me and yelled “Pick it up, Jew!”

  • All throughout high school I heard people call other people Jews for picking up change off the street.

  • Freshman year of college someone wrote “heil hitler” on the whiteboard hung up outside my door.

  • Recently I had someone spit at my feet when I was wearing my “Jewish Rockstar” shirt.

  • That’s not even counting the amount of Holocaust jokes, grammar nazi jokes, microaggressions, and more, that I have been the brunt of.

While I may have systemic white privilege, I have experienced being marginalized for my identity. When you look at statistics that show religiously motivated hate crimes, Jews receive the overwhelming majority of them. According to the FBI, 57% of these hate crimes in 2016 were against Jews.

Antisemitism is something that’s often glossed over. It’s gaslighted. There are two kinds of anti semitism that I want to highlight. The anti semitism on the far right that is pure hatred for anything different and the wish to eradicate Jewish people from the earth, and the anti semitism on the far left that pushes Jewish people out of social justice spaces.

After the results of the election, there was a huge escalation in hate crimes and swastikas and “heil hitlers” spray painted on cars and jewish community centers (JCC). JCCs around the country received countless bomb threats and were forced to increase much of their security.

Richard Spencer was announced to be speaking at the University of Cincinnati at some point in the foreseeable future. He is reviving the Nazi party in the United States, and promotes hate speech to any form of minority. The last time he spoke at a university, white collar khaki wearing college graduates marched in the streets shouting, “Jews will not replace us” and “blood and soil” (a nazi propaganda slogan). The media that talked about this event didn’t say anything about the fact that these people were defending a statue of a slave-owning racist historical figure, or the fact that the white supremacists were explicitly calling for the eradication and killing of all Jews. They threw around terms like “white supremacist” and “nazi” without showing the depth of what those terms mean to the people affected.

One man was interviewed by the washington post and he said that his republican values were: 1. Standing up for their ‘white identities’ being challenged 2. Free Market and 3. Killing Jews.To be honest, I keep coming back to this hoping I’ll have some insight to it. But I don’t, it just hurts. Have you ever woken up and been told that there are hundreds of people shouting that you be killed for who you are? That is what this was. Hundreds of people in this world shouting that they don’t want you here. It’s terrifying. That’s honestly all I can say about it.

 

I don’t want to only show this side of anti semitism. That sort of situation is easy to condemn. It’s easy to see how harmful that can be. But there is another kind of anti semitism that is creeping through the far left social justice world. It’s the kind that stems from anti-zionism but is taken out on Jewish people specifically. This kind of anti semitism is shown in situations like the Women’s March on Washington, where every speaker went through lists of religions they support, and everything was mentioned, except Judaism.

In June of 2017 (pride month), a group of Jewish women were kicked out of the Dyke March in Chicago for having a rainbow flag with a Star of David on it. One of the women defended it saying it was not an Israeli flag, but a Jewish pride flag. The people at the march would not hear it. She kept insisting she was there as a Jew, and her views on Israel had nothing to do with this. The organizers said that the Jewish pride flag looked too much like the Israeli flag and it made people feel unsafe and triggered. There are untrue rumors that these women altered chants and would not back down on their Zionist beliefs. These women wanted to be Jewish publicly and were told that they were not allowed to do that. The situation the organizers created by forcing Jewish people out of the march and shouting at them and making them feel unsafe was not realized by the organizers.

First of all I would like to address the misconception that being Jewish is the same as supporting Israel or being Israeli. The majority of American Jews do not support the situation of Israel and Palestine right now. Judaism is a religion and an identity (and some would argue a race). An Israeli is someone born in Israel. There is a difference.

The thing about policing social justice spaces is that “it’s all well and good until your existence is built on oppressing others”. Jewish people do not exist as an oppressor. We can debate if Israel is or is not, but Jewish people are not the people in Israel hurting Palestinian people. In the same way that Muslim people are not the people coordinating massive terror attacks. And if you’re policing of social justice spaces to Jewish people, you are a hypocrite. Because you are exploiting Jews to be able to further your own person gains.

Lastly, the Star of David has been a symbol of Jewish pride for literally centuries. That symbol itself only has connections to Israel because Israel is a Jewish state. The star of david is not Israeli, it is a symbol of Jewish pride.

 

I’m scared. Really, genuinely, terrified to show people that I’m Jewish. I’m afraid that I’m not good enough to be a social justice advocate because of it. I’m afraid that I’ll be kicked out of spaces for being proud of it. I’m afraid to show I’m vulnerable because the alt-right will take advantage of it. I’m completely terrified to be so deeply connected with my religion.

The really hurtful part of this is that they are both anti semitism. Both of these situations are oppressing a minority group based on their religious beliefs. It’s hard to say which is more harmful. On the one hand, kicking jews out of social justice spaces takes away possible allies, and even other people in marginalized groups (such as the LGBTQ community). Jewish people have been involved in social justice throughout their entire existence. Our core values center around tikkun olam, or repairing the world. Jews marched beside Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. On the other hand, one is outright discrimination of a marginalized group in such a way that can turn violent. Both forms of antisemitism are harmful and hurtful.

There is a way to support Jewish people. It’s easier than you think. We are still a minority group. Treat us like any other marginalized group. Show that you care, and that you want to involve us in your activism. Help protect us and defend us from things like the alt-right, because we are fighting for you, too. Ask questions, and do your own research.

Honestly, for the social justice people reading this, just focus on this tweet:

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Elliot Draznin