The anti-immigrant and anti-refugee actions taken by the current administration have provoked protests across the country.
Many protesters have been invoking the memory of Jewish Holocaust victims, especially those turned away from the United States because of immigrant quotas only to be murdered in Europe.
When it’s coming from the families of victims and survivors, from Jews and Romani who were targeted by the Nazi regime, I don’t have a problem with it. We mean it when we say “never again.”
But when that imagery comes from others, I start to have questions. Are you the same people who justify anti-Semitic attacks with shouts of “but Israel—” as if every Jewish person in the United States is responsible for the actions of a foreign country?
Are you the same people who left the Jewish people out of your lists of minorities who would be negatively affected by the current administration?
If you are going to invoke the memory of our genocide, you need to stand with us now. You need to be speaking out against the anti-Semitism that is alive and well in our country.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the White House purposefully left out language recognizing Jewish people as one of the main targets of the genocide.
Yes, other groups were targeted by the Nazis. Yes, International Holocaust Remembrance Day should recognize and remember all of them. But not mentioning the group that made up more than half of the victims of the Holocaust is erasure.
Last month there were three waves of bomb threats against Jewish community centers around the country, including in North Carolina. Fortunately, there haven’t been any bombs yet, but these kinds of threats must be taken seriously.
Unfortunately, I haven’t heard many non-Jewish voices condoning these threats. A like on a Facebook post made by a Jewish person doesn’t count.
My freshman year there was an instance of racist, sexist and anti-Semitic drawings on a residence hall whiteboard.
Then, I saw Nazi salutes outside of Smith residence hall at night.
I’m grateful that I haven’t heard of any other instances of anti-semitic bias on campus since then, but I highly doubt that means it’s not happening.
So please, march against immigrant bans and mosque attacks. Take action to help refugees. Fight fascism in all of its forms.
But if you aren’t Jewish and you’re going to invoke the horrors of our history today, you’d better be standing with American Jews tomorrow.
Learn about the rich history of the Jewish people around the world. Read a book about contemporary Jewish experiences by a modern Jewish writer.
Learn about some of the other times we have been refugees (don’t worry, you don’t have to memorize them all). Jewish people exist outside of the context of the Holocaust. We exist today, we are targeted today and we need you to be our allies now, too.
So when anti-Semitic hate crimes continue to not magically disappear, we’ll expect you to be condemning them.
As neo-Nazis project their platform into increasingly mainstream media, we’ll expect you to be speaking out against them.
Come out and stand with us on April 23 for Yom HaShoah, the day for remembering Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Show that you respect the memories of the people whose experiences and deaths are being used in your protests.
Don’t be a hypocrite and say ‘never again’ while ignoring modern American anti-Semitism.