It seems that we live in a world of pure and utter violence. Every day, I read a new article or hear a new story of the prejudice facing people across the world from diverse backgrounds. I learned about segregation in American History as a 5th grader and the Holocaust that affected my ancestors in middle school. However, after taking a trip to Poland last year, articles headlined, “Suspect in Monsey Stabbings Searched Online for ‘Hitler’” and “It’s Not Just New York” are enough to nearly force an anxiety attack.
The March of the Living is an international organization that brings students and adults to Poland and Israel on an expedition to fully grasp the multitude of the Holocaust and to celebrate the enduring presence of the Jewish people, and other targeted groups, despite how unlikely a Judaic future seemed during Adolf Hitler’s reign. Last year, I was fortunate enough to venture with this program to Poland. I was with childhood friends, my current college roommate, and the brave survivors going back to the places that harmed them greatly years ago. We saw camps such as Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Majdanek, sites previously used in the plan to deplete the world of the Jewish people. We also visited a Jewish community center in Poland, proudly singing songs and eating a meal with a Polish-Jewish population that not only survived, but continues to thrive. People live atop mass graves and the sighting train tracks that once took people to extermination are part of a daily commute. However, my experience enlightened me; I saw the power of resistance. A people so strong will not be exterminated. I came home from the trip excited for college and the next chapter of my life, and I knew the knowledge of my people’s history would guide me continuously.
A few months into college, the sad reality of violence in the world became more apparent to me as headlines flowed into my inbox and group chats with alarming stories of targeted individuals. Communications and psychology majors may tell you that the expansion of mass-produced violent media and negligence toward privacy in society create an increasingly pessimistic and aggressive youth, but when I came to orientation over the summer, I was surprised by how accommodating and understanding my university was in regards to food options and pronoun usage. But now I am scared. It is my second semester as a freshman, and I read the headlines in the mornings about stabbings in Monsey and attacks in Kosher Bagel stores. My dad warns me about my safety every Friday before I walk to the campus Hillel, and I think before walking into the dining hall in a tee displaying Hebrew lettering. Less than a year ago, I walked through Auschwitz triumphing over anti-semitism and pain because now I am able to live proudly as a Jew. So I ask, why am I still scared? Why are members of society so invested in regarding people different than themselves as distasteful?
On January 25th and 26th, the University of Michigan, which I attend, will be hosting a conference for SJP. Politics aside, the conference has previously featured speakers known for Antisemitism. Notably, the “Institute for the Student of Global Antisemitism (ISGAP) revealed how NSJP “leaders and official university chapters espouse blatant forms of anti-Semitism on social media and use the national conferences as a platform to propagate their discriminatory ideas.’” For this reason, it is scary for Jews to see what speakers have to say at the conference, and it is even scarier to walk outside acknowledging that antisemitism is rampant.
My ancestors were put through Hell in the past. Today, we are strong again. But still, I wonder, how after all these years and reflections on the past, antisemitism is alive, and it might even take root in conferences at my university. May we all be comfortable and proud and learn that prejudice has no place here.
Images courtesy of Sara Deichman and Etsy