Grief and outrage
Oct. 27th, 2018 08:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyThe 11 Jewish people murdered today by a white supremacist while in a synagogue—only a few days after two black people were murdered by a different white supremacist— were targeted at least in part because they were helping refugees.
If you grow up Jewish, you grow up knowing that something like this will happen. You learn your history. You do one of two things: You turn inward, closed off to the rest of the world, protective and fearful. Or you recognize the solidarity between all people. You understand that if they come for the Muslims, for the Latin American migrants, for the Black and Indigenous and trans people and disabled people, you understand that eventually they will come for you, too. The victims of today's horror took the latter approach, as I have tried to do all my life, and this makes the heinousness of the murderer's act hit that much harder.
The point is to have us cowing in terror, but but despite being rather profoundly secular and not relating to broad swathes of the mainstream Jewish community for various reasons, I'm kinda wanting to go to synagogue more, not less.
Fuck every fascist and fuck everyone who fertilizes the soil in which fascism has grown. There are people in the world like these Mexicans who are helping the migrants from the south on their long, painful journey to safety, there are people like HIAS, there are people who will take a stand and fight. In the end, we'll still be here when fascism and white supremacy have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
If you grow up Jewish, you grow up knowing that something like this will happen. You learn your history. You do one of two things: You turn inward, closed off to the rest of the world, protective and fearful. Or you recognize the solidarity between all people. You understand that if they come for the Muslims, for the Latin American migrants, for the Black and Indigenous and trans people and disabled people, you understand that eventually they will come for you, too. The victims of today's horror took the latter approach, as I have tried to do all my life, and this makes the heinousness of the murderer's act hit that much harder.
The point is to have us cowing in terror, but but despite being rather profoundly secular and not relating to broad swathes of the mainstream Jewish community for various reasons, I'm kinda wanting to go to synagogue more, not less.
Fuck every fascist and fuck everyone who fertilizes the soil in which fascism has grown. There are people in the world like these Mexicans who are helping the migrants from the south on their long, painful journey to safety, there are people like HIAS, there are people who will take a stand and fight. In the end, we'll still be here when fascism and white supremacy have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
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Date: 2018-10-28 03:07 pm (UTC)That said, far too often the people support the Palestinians are primarily interested in their dislike of Jewish Israelis. Many of the people who claim to support Palestinians are not my allies.
It's a hard world we live in. All we can do is look for what our Work is, and do it. Helping children grow into good adults is a pretty important part of the Work.
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Date: 2018-10-28 09:21 pm (UTC)Jewish people holding to this ethos have changed my life several times over, always for the better.
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Date: 2018-10-29 08:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-28 10:04 pm (UTC)Welcome to my life. Le sigh.
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Date: 2018-10-29 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-29 10:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-29 10:57 am (UTC)