“Amalek.” “Synagogue of Satan.” “Y’all know we da real Jews, right?”
These were the words shouted at me last Tuesday night by Black Lives Matter rioters in Philadelphia for having committed the crime of WWJ – walking while Jewish.
I typically wouldn’t have gone out of my house after hearing chants of ACAB (“All Cops Are [expletive deleted]”), but I wanted to get a sense if the rioters would be targeting private residences as they have in many other parts of the country. Before I left, I asked myself whether I should wear a kippah or a hat. Should I broadcast my Judaism or cover it up? (I ultimately decided to go with a kippah.)
I had no idea how the night would turn out. I wasn’t even sure why a mob of people came out to protest the police killing of Walter Wallace. Wallace charged at police with a knife in his hand and had a long history of violence against both women and police. If ever there was a justified killing by the police, this was it. But no one cared.
No one cared as the mob gathered bricks and rocks from old decrepit buildings to throw at cops. No one cared when they demanded that the police “say his name!” And no one cared when they went after me for being Jewish.
What is even more shameful than the vile insults they threw at me and a few other Jews that night is the subsequent reaction to their assaults (a 40-second clip of my encounter went viral). Apologists for the rioters have since been all over social media declaring I’m not really Jewish, I was just there to incite the crowd, and, of course, I wasn’t a sufficiently compliant and submissive Jew when confronted with out of control Jew-hatred.
Seeing such reactions from other Jews makes me believe even more that confronting Jew-hatred head-on is vital – even if it occurs at a Black Lives Matter protest or somewhere else where the establishment thinks it’s better if Jews just keep their heads down.
These protests have repeatedly taken a very anti-Jewish route. Synagogues have been trashed, Jews have been beaten, and anti-Jewish graffiti has been sprayed in the streets. How has our community responded? Sometimes with overwhelming support, but mostly with incredible silence.
After I was assaulted at the Black Lives Matter rally, the Philadelphia chapter of the Anti-Defamation League came out with a statement. Did it condemn the Jew-haters? Did it call on Black Lives Matter to do so? Did it say that Jews should be free to walk the streets anywhere without being ridiculed and assaulted?
Of course not. Instead it said:
“ADL is concerned about a video appearing to show Jewish men harassed by demonstrators. We are working with the community and law enforcement to get a better understanding of what occurred.”
It is the responsibility of Jews to stand up for Jews, even if it means criticizing the popular group of the week. Jews shouldn’t hide their Judaism out of fear of what others might say, and we must all be ready to recognize and fight Jew-hatred regardless of politics.