Why Have Anti-Semitic Attacks Increased in Recent Years and How to Reverse the Trend?

Anti-semitism is not new to the United States.  It has always been here, sometimes more openly than others, but it’s always been part of the social puzzle.  

Until the end of WWII, anti-semitism was very much in the open.  There was nothing politically incorrect about it.  Whether one looked at restrictive covenants in real estate development that prohibited selling property to Jews or the segregation of Jews in various professional organizations such as law firms or country clubs that barred Jews or the popularity of the anti-semitic radio personality Father Coughlin in the 30s, or the openness of Henry Ford’s anti-semitism in his widely read Dearborn Independent, the openness of anti-semitism was in all areas of society.

But after WWII and the holocaust, as well as Supreme Court decisions outlawing things such as restrictive covenants, being anti-semitic was no longer socially correct.  That does not mean, however, that the attitude disappeared.  It just went below the surface.

Violence against Jews, however, was never part of the American experience.  Jews were never subjected to the violence that Blacks experienced, probably because Jews had power despite their being discriminated against.  They were never dehumanized as Blacks were.  Bigots and anti-semites are cowards.  They only beat up on people who they know are weak and whom no one will defend; so they won’t get in trouble.

And the latter is what has changed since Trump has come to power.  Anti-semites, be they white supremacists or Black Hebrews or others, know, or at least believe, that they can act out their hatred against Jews with violence without fear of being attacked because the person in the White House, Donald Trump, is their man.  Because in his weakness, he has supported the white supremacist movement despite the fact that his daughter is a converted orthodox Jew and his grandchildren are Jewish.  (The Kushner’s have not broken with Trump over this, but that’s another matter for another post.)

Although Trump has not personally spoken out against Jews, his violent speech against all other suspect immigrants (mainly Hispanics and Muslims) together with his implicit, and at times explicit, support for white supremacist organizations, has lead such individuals to believe that they have the permission to commit violence against all those who they consider to be different, non-American.  And so there was an observed rise in hate crimes immediately after Trump assumed the presidency.  So direct was the connection.

What has to happen to reverse this recent trend are two things.  First, Trump must not just disavow his support for white supremacist organizations, he must clearly state that no violence against any group of people, be they undocumented Hispanics, Muslims, or Jews, will be condoned in the United States.  It is un-American.  So as not to appear hypocritical, he should do a mea culpa apologizing for his past rhetoric.  He can say that illegal immigration must be stopped and undocumented people here should either become citizens or be deported, but violence must stop.  And he must stop dehumanizing Hispanics and Muslims.  He must say that they are mostly good people.

Second, he must publicly and with ceremony activate the full force of the Federal government to fight this scourge of violence.  Hate-based violence is a Federal crime, whether the victim is Jewish, Muslim, Hispanic, or LGBTQ.

Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that Trump will do either of these things.  He will tweet that an attack on Jews is horrific, as he did after the attack in Monsey, NY.  But that is meaningless.

So that leaves good-hearted Americans with only one choice … removing Trump from office.  As part of the 2020 campaign, the Democratic candidate must speak out forcefully against hate crimes against all groups.  Think what you may about a group or a person, but do not commit an act of violence against them.  Force voters to put that issue in the equation as they decide for whom to vote.  And once in office, the new President must do what I just suggested Trump do.

The values and greatness of our country have been diminished by the actions and rhetoric of the Trump presidency.  We must make America truly great again by defeating Trump at a the ballot box, hopefully decisively.

Darkness Before Light

We learn that life is a struggle between the forces of light and darkness.  Buddhism sees the conflict as between your heart and your ego-mind.  In Christianity, it’s between God and the Devil.  

Many holy men have taught that there can be no light without darkness, without first suffering you cannot learn how to free yourself from suffering.  In this line of thinking, we drift from the true Buddha nature or God-essence we were born with because without suffering first, we cannot live a truly spiritual life.  To be spiritual without having ever suffered is almost an oxymoron.  Our suffering grounds our spirituality.

I have certainly experienced personally, and I have observed it in many others, that until one reaches rock bottom in one’s suffering, an all-enveloping darkness, we do not have the motivation to change our habit-energy.  We cannot fully release ourselves from the emotions, judgments, cravings, or attachments that cause our suffering.  

No matter how strongly people may feel and honestly mean that, for example, they want an end to their addiction, until they hit rock bottom they will not be able to emerge and remain sober.  That is why, regardless the nature of the addiction, the typical scenario is that people return to their addiction over and over again.

During a recent meditation, I became aware that this personal lesson applies equally well to societies and nations.  Take for example anti-semitism.  It has existed for most of the Christian era and despite the fact that in the U.S. and other countries it is no longer politically correct to voice such feelings, they are still there not that far beneath the surface.

Only one society hit rock bottom with regard to this darkness … Germany.  Because of Hitler and the holocaust, the German people have taken it upon themselves, especially the post-WWII generations, to free themselves from this blight.  And they have been very thorough and disciplined about it.  They have gone far beyond passing laws making racial hate speech and action against the law.  Even today, 70 years after the end of the war, children are taught in the schools about the holocaust in a very unvarnished way so that they understand and will never countenance any form of anti-semitism.

The United States, unfortunately, has never dealt with its history of slavery and racial discrimination with anything close to the same determined thoroughness.   After the cataclysmic Civil War, nothing was done in the north or the south to rid the nation of this cancer on its soul.  Yes, the 14th amendment was passed guaranteeing the government’s equal treatment of all, but there was no accompanying national effort to root out racism and free ourselves of it once and for all.  And so it just festered.  

Almost a century later came the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other laws which brought more legal equality to African-Americans, outlawing discrimination not just by the state but by corporations and individuals in many settings.  And while these laws brought about meaningful changes in the their lives, it did nothing to change the underlying racism and discrimination present throughout much of our society.

Why have we come such a little distance in this matter which is of such great importance to the soul and welfare of our country?  Part of the reason is that during the short period when the defenders of slavery were weak, immediately after the Civil War, the government did nothing to change the underlying pattern and reeducate people; the tactics of the Reconstruction Era were a farce and did more harm than good.  

After that short period, the defenders of racism became strong again; the white forces that opposed racism, relatively weak.  They had been, after all, primarily against slavery, not endemic racism, and slavery was no more.  Yes, a century later they managed to pass some needed laws, but doing what would have been necessary to cleanse the country was not even under discussion.  Partly because it would have meant cleansing the north of racism as well, and there would have been little support for that.  Partly because it was just taken as a given that racism would exist; it was not extinguishable.

Now the dark head of racism and bigotry has raised itself once again.  During the recent presidential election, the level of vilification leveled at various classes of Americans, and immigrants, by a major party candidate was unheard of in modern times.  And it has empowered a small core of Trump supporters to unleash its racial venom in the form of acts of violence and vandalism.

After the election, I urged the people to rise up in the spirit of Gandhi and MLK and demonstrate en masse in solidarity with all those being attacked as well as the long-suffering American worker through a new organization, American Solidarity, but to no avail.  See my posts, “How to Respond to the Election?” and “The Case for Civil Disobedience,” and www.americansolidarity.org.

But after the President’s recent executive order barring entry to all people from seven Muslim-majority countries as well as all refugees from Syria, there has been a groundswell of protest across the country against what is seen as an assault on human rights and the historic openness of America.  

Everyone supports vetting travelers and refugees for possible terrorist leanings.  We need to protect the country from a very real danger.  But Trump’s action was over-broad, smacked of Islamophobia, and because of its incendiary nature was felt by many to actually increase the threat of terrorism not decrease it.

Will this outpouring of support for respect and against bigotry towards Muslims, caused by our current darkness, build into a movement that attacks the more deeply rooted racism and bigotry that America continues to labor under?  Or will we need to descend further into this pit so that the American people and government finally cannot escape what it needs to do in this matter?  

I certainly hope that we don’t need to descend so far.  On the other hand, I fear that if we don’t, the whole episode will be papered over and nothing fundamental will change.  The lives of Muslims, women, and LGBT people, even Latinos, will probably get back on track.  But for Blacks, their lives will remain basically the same as they have since the end of slavery.  Yes, they can stay in hotels, and eat in restaurants, and many blacks have risen out of poverty and have good jobs, but in more fundamental ways nothing has really changed.