Days after Kanye West proudly proclaimed that “Hitler was right,” a teacher in Los Angeles, CA joked to his class, “Doesn’t Ye know that the Jews own the media?”
Days after Holocaust Remembrance Day, a teacher in Naples, FL joked about sending a Jewish student “back to Auschwitz.”
Days after the worst single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, a teacher in Alexandria, VA joked to her class, “Jews have always been slow learners.”
Insensitive.
Ignorant.
Crass.
But antisemitic?
These comments aren’t funny, nor are they crimes. They are a dangerous part of interconnected cogwheels in a hate machine each acting as a perpetual force on the others.
Historians once called the years between WWI and WWII the “high tide” of antisemitism. We are making history again as we witness a new high tide of antisemitism being created in real-time.
Even before October 7, we were well on our way to setting new records of hate. According to the 2022 Hate Crime Statistics Report released by the FBI in Oct 2023, hate crimes against Jews increased by 37% in 2022, and antisemitism accounts for over half of all reported religion-based hate crimes in this country.
As the conflict between Israel and Hamas rages on, the increase in antisemitism has evolved into threats, intimidation, and brazen displays of antisemitic symbols across the globe. The Anti-Defamation League reports that online threats have surged and antisemitic incidents have increased more than 400% in the weeks following the brutal attack on Israel.
From New York to London, St. Louis to Sydney, hate and bigotry are becoming more mainstream by the day. Swastikas spray painted on buildings, synagogues receiving bomb threats, Jewish homes and businesses being vandalized. Protesters shouting, “Gas the Jews.”
While antisemitism and Islamophobia have been more focused on college campuses, the bullying, harassment, and hate have made their way to K12 schools. Parents are afraid to send their children to school because of threats of violence, and kids are afraid to wear clothing or jewelry that identifies them as Jewish. The Office of Civil Rights issued a letter to schools noting an “alarming rise” of threats and reminding K12 leaders of their specific legal obligations to protect students from all forms of discrimination.
Children — whose brains will continue to develop until about the age of 25 — are manifesting their values in who they are, what they believe, and what they stand for. In this polarized world full of hateful rhetoric, racism, and xenophobia, our next generation has a front-row seat to shifting social norms – widely held expectations about what is, and is not, acceptable to say and do. And this shift plays a key role in fostering the indifference to and acceptance of hate.
The behavior we model for kids—what we deem socially acceptable— has more influence over their evolving moral compass than the behavior of their peers. A wealth of research shows that prejudice is the foundation for hate-based violence — not just for those being victimized, but for those who witness it. Teachers who are indifferent to hate in their classrooms and leaders who are indifferent to hate in their schools teach students that hate is okay and diminishes the psychological safety for everyone.
Bad behavior that is not just tolerated, but normalized by the tacit approval of silence, is not okay. It is dangerous — for our students, our communities, and society at large. For teenagers whose identities are still being crystalized, teachers who joke about the Holocaust not only demonstrate irreverence for the 6 million Jews who perished from unimaginable atrocities, but they embolden some students into the next bad act.
While it’s easy to dismiss antisemitic expressions as insensitive or jokes about concentration camps as inappropriate, it’s important to remember that the Holocaust was conceived in the expression of jokes, discrimination, insults, and the indifference that enabled words to escalate into hateful and despicable acts.
Speaking out against antisemitism or any form of hate isn’t always easy. Often, it’s easier to talk ourselves into silent bystanders.
“Someone else will report that.”
“It’s too political.”
“It will die down eventually.”
In the compelling words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
This is not a time for us to be silent. Silence is complicity.
We are not just defined by what we do. We are also defined by what we fail to do.
In the words of another noteworthy doctor, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, NOTHING is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss
Unless we address the ignorance underlying antisemitism in our schools, hate will take root among our young people.
Unless educators and citizens become partners in confronting antisemitic expression and acts in our communities, we are complicit in normalizing and perpetuating the hate.
Unless Gentiles – each of us – act with agency and conviction to unequivocally condemn antisemitism in all its forms – jokes, stereotypes, bullying, harassment, vandalism, violence, terrorism, genocide –this new “high tide” of antisemitism we are witnessing will be the ideological foundation of our next generation.
Unless you’re okay with that…
It is not enough just to adopt and apply rigorous laws against anti-Semitism, which criminalize every anti-Semitic act committed intentionally against real or “alleged Jews”. It is urgent to invest in the education and training of young people so that they grow up and become citizens with critical thinking, empathy and knowledge of human rights to resist extremist ideologies, including anti-Semitic propaganda.
The recent youth demonstrations are only the result of ignorance or false interpretation of human rights.
Absolutely agree, Aldo, education may be the only path out of this dangerous and corrosive practice.
I completely agree, Aldo. Interesting to note that the Holocaust Remembrance is not just to remember the victims, but also to educate the next generation. The thing about hate is that it’s learned and reinforced and pervasive. Today it’s the Jews….
Keep beating this drum, Melissa, we must not accept this or normalize it. Let’s be proactive in calling it out, and questioning those who skirt the edges here. Just because it’s 2023 doesn’t mean we’re done with this ugly depredation.
It’s almost incomprehensible that this is happening in 2023. I don’t know whether to be frightened or outraged. Most days, I’m both. Thank you for your willingness to step up and speak out. It will take all of us to make a change.