Of course, me being me, I choose to become more outwardly Jewish at the same time anti-Semites are choosing to become more public with their hate. I mean, why should being Jewish be easy, right?
When the FBI released its annual report on hate crime statistics for 2016, it showed that 54% of religiously motivated hate crimes were aimed at Jews. We're obviously not alone on the list and sadly, coming in at second, Muslims are victims of over 24% of reported hate crimes with the dubious distinction of increasing by 19% from the last report.
It always stuns me that there is so much hate for us when we barely make up less than 2% of the United States' population and 0.2% of the world's population. The total population of Jews on planet Earth has not yet reached its pre-Holocaust number.
Sometimes it's as if remembering that we Jews are still here and hated makes the mainstream uncomfortable. When the Nazis marched in the streets of Charlottesville there was far more emphasis on the anti-Black hate than the fact torch-bearing Nazis marched down US streets chanting "Jews will not replace us." Please don't take that as me trying to diminish Nazi hatred of African Americans, it appears Nazis have enough hate to go around. But it seems that anti-Jewish hate, for the most part, takes a back seat despite the hate crime statistics that show we are not forgotten by the haters.
The media has noticed a few instances of politicians with their passive anti-Semitism. From disgraced former judge in Alabama, Roy Moore, whose wife basically went with the old-time favorite of some of our best friends are Jews when she proclaimed at a political rally, "One of our attorneys is a Jew. We have very close friends that are Jewish." Granted it was later revealed the "Jew" she referred to was actually a messianic Jew, so there's that.
More recently, District of Columbia Councilman Trayon White made a stir. First, by claiming the Rothschilds control the weather after a surprise snow flurry in mid-March, and again a month later while visiting the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and making some questionable comments. The story seems to be in progress as some are claiming his comments came from a place of honest ignorance and a desire to learn that were manipulated into a "gotcha" moment by a Washington Post reporter. While that may be the case in the second event, it doesn't explain his recent donation to Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam for an event where Farrakhan made his own recent anti-Semitic remarks. Granted, it should come as a surprise to no one that the Minister Farrakhan holds anti-Semitic views, considering his track record on the subject.
My hope is that Councilman White's disturbing comments come from his honestly not understanding anti-Semitism, but if that's the case it's troubling for other reasons. A recent survey revealed that two thirds of millennials didn't know what Auschwitz is, and 22% said they hadn't heard of the Holocaust or weren't sure if they had. Those are disturbing numbers but explain why so many young people, like Mr. White, don't understand why this is such a big deal.
I get it if it's an honest moment of "I didn't know that" but my gravest fear is that it become, "I didn't know that and I still don't believe it."
The FBI hate crime statistics referenced at the beginning of this post were for calendar year 2016 and were released in November 2017. It will be interesting to see the numbers for calendar year 2017 when they are released this November. 2017 was the first full year of the Trump administration being in office. Sadly I expect the bad numbers to go up for everyone.
When the FBI released its annual report on hate crime statistics for 2016, it showed that 54% of religiously motivated hate crimes were aimed at Jews. We're obviously not alone on the list and sadly, coming in at second, Muslims are victims of over 24% of reported hate crimes with the dubious distinction of increasing by 19% from the last report.
It always stuns me that there is so much hate for us when we barely make up less than 2% of the United States' population and 0.2% of the world's population. The total population of Jews on planet Earth has not yet reached its pre-Holocaust number.
Sometimes it's as if remembering that we Jews are still here and hated makes the mainstream uncomfortable. When the Nazis marched in the streets of Charlottesville there was far more emphasis on the anti-Black hate than the fact torch-bearing Nazis marched down US streets chanting "Jews will not replace us." Please don't take that as me trying to diminish Nazi hatred of African Americans, it appears Nazis have enough hate to go around. But it seems that anti-Jewish hate, for the most part, takes a back seat despite the hate crime statistics that show we are not forgotten by the haters.
The media has noticed a few instances of politicians with their passive anti-Semitism. From disgraced former judge in Alabama, Roy Moore, whose wife basically went with the old-time favorite of some of our best friends are Jews when she proclaimed at a political rally, "One of our attorneys is a Jew. We have very close friends that are Jewish." Granted it was later revealed the "Jew" she referred to was actually a messianic Jew, so there's that.
More recently, District of Columbia Councilman Trayon White made a stir. First, by claiming the Rothschilds control the weather after a surprise snow flurry in mid-March, and again a month later while visiting the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and making some questionable comments. The story seems to be in progress as some are claiming his comments came from a place of honest ignorance and a desire to learn that were manipulated into a "gotcha" moment by a Washington Post reporter. While that may be the case in the second event, it doesn't explain his recent donation to Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam for an event where Farrakhan made his own recent anti-Semitic remarks. Granted, it should come as a surprise to no one that the Minister Farrakhan holds anti-Semitic views, considering his track record on the subject.
My hope is that Councilman White's disturbing comments come from his honestly not understanding anti-Semitism, but if that's the case it's troubling for other reasons. A recent survey revealed that two thirds of millennials didn't know what Auschwitz is, and 22% said they hadn't heard of the Holocaust or weren't sure if they had. Those are disturbing numbers but explain why so many young people, like Mr. White, don't understand why this is such a big deal.
I get it if it's an honest moment of "I didn't know that" but my gravest fear is that it become, "I didn't know that and I still don't believe it."
The FBI hate crime statistics referenced at the beginning of this post were for calendar year 2016 and were released in November 2017. It will be interesting to see the numbers for calendar year 2017 when they are released this November. 2017 was the first full year of the Trump administration being in office. Sadly I expect the bad numbers to go up for everyone.
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