Let's talk about Antisemitism in America. It wasn't long ago Jews were pushed away from the rest of society in the US. An example: In Dallas, my grandparents weren't allowed membership in the country clubs bc they were Jewish. No Jews allowed. 1/25

If you're thinking, "boo-hoo they couldn't go to a country club,"– all they wanted was to be treated like a part of the community. If this is how well-off Jewish community members were being treated, imagine how Jewish people that weren't well-off were treated 2/25

If you just thought to yourself- even for a flashing moment- "there's nothing such as Jews without money"- & I know many of you did- you are antisemitic. My dad grew up in Ft. Worth. Parents were immigrants. They never spoke English at home. They didn't have much. 3/25

Now, a walk down memory lane! Ulysses S Grant "No Jews are to be permitted to travel on the road southward." They ordered "Jews & all vagabonds with no honest means of support" to leave. "The Israelites especially should be kept out ... they are such an intolerable nuisance" 4/25

The 1st half of the 20th century, Jews were discriminated against in employment, access to residential areas, clubs & organizations, & Jewish enrollment/ teaching positions in universities. Restaurants, hotels & other places barring Jews from entry were called "restricted" 5/25

America "offered" opportunity for Jews, but antisemitic accusations were prevalent whenever Jewish people were successful (still happens). It offered many Jews the opportunity to assimilate into whiteness, but only sometimes, and only as part of a racist system. 6/25

In 1913, Leo Frank, a Jewish man in Atlanta, was accused & convicted of raping & killing a young employee AFTER the police concluded he didn't do it. He was taken from the prison & lynched by a mob. It's not lost on us that Georgia just elected their 1st Jewish senator. 7/25

Racists glorified anti-Jewish & anti-Black hostility & demonized both groups. A large # of American Jews felt solidarity w/ African Americans as mutual victims of “race hatred” & felt they should identify as a Jewish race deserving of racial protections, not only religious 8/25

Henry Ford published antisemitic conspiracy theories in 91 issues of his newspaper, circulation of 700K. He shared from the antisemitic "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in his publication w/ 100s of 1000s distributed. Mein Kampf later praised Ford for this effort 9/25

Violence against Jews increased a lot in the 30s in the US. America started limiting entry of undesirable groups, like Jews. As Nazism rose in Europe during the 1930s, most of the Jews targeted found America’s doors were closed to them. 10/25

1938 poll– 60% of respondents labeled Jews greedy, dishonest, pushy. 41% said Jews had "too much power in the US" It rose to 58%. Surveys in the 40s found that Jews were seen as a greater threat to the welfare of the US than any other national, religious, or racial group. 11/25

A new ideology accused the Jews of dominating Roosevelt's administration, of causing the Great Depression, & of dragging the US into World War II against a new Germany- which deserved admiration. Roosevelt's "New Deal" was referred to as the "Jew Deal". 12/25

A great example: Charles Lindbergh claimed that the Jewish community controlled of “our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our Government” and that was what truly endangered the American people. Yep. He said that. 13/25

I bet you like to think of the US as a group of Captain Americas running around & punching Nazis during the Holocaust, don't you? USS St. Louis, a ship carrying over 900 refugees of Nazi Germany, reached Miami. The U.S. refused to grant them entry. 14/25

US authorities forced the refugees to return to Europe. Upon their return, nearly ONE THIRD of the St. Louis’s passengers were MURDERED in the Holocaust. SO NO, the US wasn't a country full of Captain Americas running around punching Nazis and saving Jews. 15/25

FUN FACT: Nazi race laws were directly influenced by AMERICAN race laws. Many Americans promoted ideology of “Aryans” superiority over Black, Jewish & other "inferior” groups. 1939 poll– fewer than 40% of Americans believed Jews should be treated as "any other Americans" 16/25

Antisemitism continued to rise in the 1940s as did the number of Nazi sympathizers in the US. Let me be super clear on this- The United States government could have saved hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives before and during the Holocaust, but they did not. 17/25

White supremacy continued to grow. The white supremacists, (human equivalents of the rotten sludge at the bottom of a dumpster) lashed out against both Black & Jewish communities, espousing views of a corruption of white America that they blamed on "Jewish plotting". 18/25

In 1967, the founder of the American Nazi Party, who doesn't deserve to be named, called for the deportation of all Black people to Africa & of “Communist Jews” to gas chambers. Synagogues & Jewish community centers, along with Black churches, were targets of bombings. 19/25

In the 90's, because of rising tensions between their groups, Black and Jewish leaders in Brooklyn developed an outreach program between their communities to help calm and possibly improve racial relations over the next decade. 20/25

A 2005 survey showed that 14% of Americans had antisemitic views. The survey found "35% of foreign-born Hispanics" & "36% of African-Americans hold strong antisemitic beliefs, 4X more than the 9% for whites". I need to do more research on this- I'm not sure what's behind it 21/25

In the last couple decades we've seen hate crime after hate crime against Jewish Americans. You'll only see it in the news when someone opens fire in a synagogue, but there's so much more going on every day. Even still, sympathy from non-Jewish Americans is often fleeting. 22/25

So what about right now? In 2020, nearly half of all Americans say they have either never heard the term “antisemitism” (21%) or are familiar with the word but not sure what it means (25%). 46% of Americans do not know what antisemitism is. 23/25

72% of Americans say if a Jewish person or organization considers a statement or idea to be antisemitic, it would either not make a difference to them (65%) or even make them less likely (7%) to consider it antisemitic

This is one of the worst things I struggle with today. 24/25

I'm sharing all of this because I think people don't know, understand, or care about the history of racism inflicted upon Jews in the US. Antisemitic tropes lead people to believe we aren't worthy or in need of the advocacy, when in truth, we are desperate for it. /end

Here's some sources:
- My life as a Jewish American
https://antisemitism.adl.org/antisemitism-in-american-history/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_antisemitism_in_the_United_States
https://www.ajc.org/news/AntisemitismReport2020/ignorance-about-antisemitism-creates-dangerous-breeding-ground-for-hatred-of-jews
https://www.adl.org/education-and-resources/resource-knowledge-base/adl-tracker-of-antisemitic-incidents
https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-gop-congresswoman-mary-miller-says-hitler-remarks-about-democrats-20210108-wka4fva76naurmvehfcrzocdca-story.html