Justice
“Who can protest an injustice but does not is an accomplice to the act” ~ The Talmud
And I refuse to be an accomplice.
Hate crimes in this country have increased dramatically in the last year or so, and even more since early November.
The victims? Muslims, people of color, Latinx, LGBTQ, Jews...anyone who is not white and Christian.
What was once in the shadows, hidden under hoods (both figurative and literal) has now come to the center. The fringe element has now become the mainstream.
I will not stand silent.
I once looked hate in the face...
Eight years ago, my synagogue was vandalized. The hatemongers used spray paint to deface the outside walls of the building with swastikas and horrible phrases. The damage was done either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
When I drove over to the synagogue Sunday afternoon to see what had been done, the hateful graffiti had been concealed by huge sheets. As I sat in the parking lot, staring at the sheets, trying to get my mind around the fact that someone had done such an awful thing to us, I was joined by a guy in a pickup truck. He asked me if I was Jewish, and when I said "yes", he told me he felt sorry for me because he hates Jews. The detectives with the Hate Crimes Unit thought he must have been the perpetrator.
That incident shook me to the core. And it was nothing in comparison to what others have faced.
I will not stand silent.
And I refuse to be an accomplice.
Hate crimes in this country have increased dramatically in the last year or so, and even more since early November.
The victims? Muslims, people of color, Latinx, LGBTQ, Jews...anyone who is not white and Christian.
What was once in the shadows, hidden under hoods (both figurative and literal) has now come to the center. The fringe element has now become the mainstream.
I will not stand silent.
I once looked hate in the face...
Eight years ago, my synagogue was vandalized. The hatemongers used spray paint to deface the outside walls of the building with swastikas and horrible phrases. The damage was done either late Saturday night or early Sunday morning.
When I drove over to the synagogue Sunday afternoon to see what had been done, the hateful graffiti had been concealed by huge sheets. As I sat in the parking lot, staring at the sheets, trying to get my mind around the fact that someone had done such an awful thing to us, I was joined by a guy in a pickup truck. He asked me if I was Jewish, and when I said "yes", he told me he felt sorry for me because he hates Jews. The detectives with the Hate Crimes Unit thought he must have been the perpetrator.
That incident shook me to the core. And it was nothing in comparison to what others have faced.
I will not stand silent.
Your story gave me chills. I can remember coming home to my apartment in the Bronx (where I grew up)when I was young, to find my Mom, crying, scrubbing off a swastika that had been drawn (in paint or chalk, I can't quite remember) on our apartment door. They had known we were Jewish, I'm guessing, from the mezuzah on our doorpost. I am not religious; I do not belong to a congregation. I can no longer stay silent, either.
ReplyDeletedid I ever mention my mom grew up in the Bronx?
ReplyDeleteI can feel your mother's pain, I'm sure I would have cried too.