Alexis Rey

 

So I have been watching the news, and been glued to facebook non stop this weekend with the Charlottesville events going on.  I can honestly say I have never been this scared in my home, in my country ever.

I know that this rally started with confederates and became about uniting all the white supremacy/neo-Nazi etc in their hateful message, and that their hate is directed towards everyone. I am not saying this rally was just about the JEWS.  I realize that they are against anything that is not them.

 

one of the flyers for the rally in Charlottevillfe

What I am saying is this. Swastikas. Nazi symbols. Aryan supremacy. ALL of that is rooted in anti-Semitism in its origin, and while it may have picked up steam and snowballed to include other “undesirable” groups in the past century, when I see those symbols, what I feel is, Oh, Shit. They’ve come for us again.

 

What I’m also saying is the narrative about what happened has turned into White supremacy vs people of color. I am not a person of color. I am white. But I am also Jewish. And they don’t want us.  They want to get rid of us.  They tried to exterminate us systematically and almost succeeded, and not that long ago.  But we’re not “included” so to say, even though it feels wrong to use that word, in the people identified as ones who need defending in this battle.  They chanted “JEW will not replace us”. Not Mexican, not Muslim, not black. And not “you will not replace us.” But JEW. The rally was about hate in general, but the Jews were singled out and NO ONE is talking about it.

I am saying that to ME, there is OBVIOUSLY an extremely traumatizing (to me) anti-Semitic aspect to this whole thing, and no one is talking about it. It’s not being acknowledged.  The Jewish “thing” seems to have gotten buried.  That is because there is no sympathy for the Jews on either side of the aisle.  But it needs to be said.  I want to say it. I said it.

They say trauma is passed down in the genes.  I believe there is a societal form of PTSD that sensitizes us to the presence of things we fear that others find more subtle or don’t find at all.  I was upset when people said, It’s about all of us.  But maybe, what people are telling me is, “Don’t feel alone, they’re after all of us,” and what I’m hearing instead is, “Don’t exaggerate and make it about you.” Maybe. I don’t know. I just know I’m terrified.

All that said. I also realize that the black community, and other communities of color are being decimated right now with some new horrendous atrocity on the news every week, and that’s just the stuff we hear about. I know that the Muslims here are living in fear constantly. I know that Latin people and immigrants are in danger now like never before. I know this, I acknowledge it too, I have stood up for it in the past, and I will stand up for again in the future. I understand the pain because believe it or not, I am in the same pain.

All I want is for all of us to be able to stand up for each other.  I want minorities to stop comparing who’s suffering worse.  I want people to acknowledge each other, and band against this hate.  I want and need to believe that we, the sane, the good, the kind, outnumber them, the evil, the hateful.

Please, please tell me America won’t let another Holocaust happen, please tell me that the good sane people outnumber these hateful spiteful deeply mistaken souls?