I’ve been captivated by watching what is happening on the various college campuses in the United States over the last week. I admit that when I was in college, I was not an activist. It was the mid to late 1980s and while there were some protests on campus, it was largely calm and quiet and a wonderful place to be. I had way too much fun and not enough studying and almost no activism. When I began working at the University of Florida Hillel in 1998 that began to change and by the time my tenure at UF Hillel ended in 2013, I was a full-fledged campus activist. My focus was on understanding, partnership, friendship, communication, and inclusion. Focusing on our similarities rather than our differences became a passion of mine during those 15 years and remains one today. So as I watch these ‘activists’ on college campuses and how the ‘leadership’ at each University chooses to handle their behavior I am fascinated by what is happening.
I grew up in an era where we had a lot of freedoms. My mother was famous for teaching us, and our friends, that you do whatever you want as long as you were willing to pay the consequences. It was a lesson I learned early in life and have continued to use today. Actions have consequences. Take the risk, accept the consequences. This lesson is part of what I find so challenging as I watch what is happening now.
These ‘campus activists’ (I use quotes because many of them are not from the campus nor are they activists, they are imported to agitate and inflame the situation) fully expect that there will be no consequences to them for their actions. They expect others to have consequences. Delays in getting places. Inability to access campus. Having to take classes remotely. They don’t get the permits they need or if they get them, they don’t follow the rules that are affiliated with the permit. Their entitlement is amazing to witness.
You see it being taught by their professors. As the videos of professors being arrested because they thought they were above the law are shown, I find it humorous. These entitled individuals are shocked that anybody would actually hold them accountable. The students and the professors have grown up in a world in which nobody taught them that actions have consequences. That if they take the risk, they have to be willing to accept the consequences. We see it with the University Presidents who choose to allow these encampments to remain and who won’t discipline or remove the discipline from those who violate the rules. They aren’t doing these students or professors a favor.
And then there are those who do hold people accountable for their actions. President Ben Sasse at The University of Florida ensured there would be no encampment by reminding everybody in advance what the rules are and what the consequences are for violating them. Nobody questioned whether he would enforce the consequences of their actions and as a result, free speech was maintained as was the safety of Jewish students. At places like The University of Minnesota, The University of Texas and Emory University, those violating the rules and/or breaking laws were arrested. When they chose not to listen to the police officers, they were forcibly removed. That’s the real world. Actions have consequences.
Growing up in the 70s and 80s, I admit my generation was different. It’s something that we need to look back upon and see how far we have gone off the rails in the name of ‘protecting’ our children. This video, while intended as humor, also shows the difference.
The rise of hate speech isn’t new, and it doesn’t begin in 2016 with Donald Trump like many want to believe. For proof, I offer this 2010 letter to the Editor that I wrote in the University of Florida campus newspaper, The Alligator, calling out hate speech
In July 2014, the Pacific Northwest head of the National Rifle Association (NRA) came out and said that The Holocaust wouldn’t have happened if Jews had guns in Nazi Germany. At the time, I called the statement, “Idiotic, simplistic, and simply wrong.” I stand by those words today. More Nazis would have been killed but likely more Jews as well. It was a statement based on the belief that Jews are weak and won’t fight back and need guns in order to be allowed to exist. I’m not anti-gun at all. You can ask those who know me. I am anti-hate and anti-stupidity. As a child, my mom would often complain that I had no tolerance for stupid people, and it caused me problems then as it does today. Smart people can act stupidly at times. We see that today. My fight with the NRA in 2016 over this person’s comment and antisemitism got national attention and you can read about it in the Seattle Times. Or just google me and the NRA and it comes up.
And since 2014 it has gotten much less civil. On June 26, 2016, this op-Ed I co-wrote was published in the Seattle Times.
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/recognize-and-speak-out-against-anti-semitism
A few weeks later, on July 10, 2016, the following response denying and minimizing the rise in antisemitism was published.
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/dont-believe-that-washington-state-is-awash-in-anti-semitism
Over the last 8 years it pretty clear that I was right and the author of the second piece, who likely approves of the antisemitic, hate filled, violence driven campus actions, was wrong. Some people won’t learn even when they are the target.
Seven (7) years ago we got this warning from the UAE’s Foreign Minister and failed to heed it. It helps explain why were are where we are today.
Today we see elected officials like US Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) join the antisemitic and violent gathering at Columbia and publicly make the following statement while facing no serious consequences.
“I think it is really unfortunate that people don’t care about the fact that all Jewish kids should be kept safe and that we should not have to tolerate antisemitism or bigotry for all Jewish students, whether they are pro-genocide or anti-genocide.”
While she is trying to say that Israel is committing genocide, a factual lie. In reality it was Hamas who did commit a genocide on October 7th. And intended to kill more Jews. And has openly stated that they will continue to kill Jews until they are all eliminated. That is the definition of genocide. Yet Rep. Ilhan Omar faces no backlash.
We see Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Ortiz (AOC) (D-NY) also visit the Columbia cesspool of hate and then posting on X (Twitter)
“Calling in police enforcement on nonviolent demonstrations of young students on campus is an escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act. It represents a heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
They are peaceful to her as a woman of color who isn’t Jewish. In this case, she is the one with the privilege she often rails against. Calling the police on people breaking the law is what we do in the United States, unless you live in New York. Enforcing our laws is what happens in countries ruled by laws unless you live in New York. I do agree with her that we have a ‘heinous failure of leadership that puts people’s lives at risk’ but I assign that failure of leadership to Columbia University President Manouche Shafik who chooses daily not to enforce the rules of Columbia. I assign it to the leadership of Columbia University who continue to allow President Shafik to remain in her role when she is showing daily that she isn’t able to do her job and protect ALL students, which includes Jewish students.
Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) was also at Columbia University, not protecting the Jewish students from his district but to encourage those breaking the law and violating Columbia’s policies to continue doing it. To continue to chant things like ‘Death to America’ and ‘We are all Hamas’. To harass and threaten Jewish students. As one Jewish student recounted,
“They were pushing and shoving me. . . They threw rocks at my face. At that moment, my life was totally threatened. And there was no safety authority on campus.”
At least Representative Bowman is losing his primary race and will hopefully not be in office in just a few months.
I grew up in a Zionist home with parents and grandparents who were Zionists. We all support the existence of a Jewish homeland, the State of Israel. The fact that there was a country that we could be a citizen of just by showing up sounded really amazing and empowering. The thought of actually making Aliyah, moving to Israel and claiming citizenship, was a fantasy throughout my youth. My cousin actually did it in 1980 and was the outlier we all used as our token Israeli relative. During and after college I had a few friends who made Aliyah and I thought it was cool for them. During my 15 years at UF Hillel I had many students who chose to make Aliyah, become lone soldiers and serve in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). It wasn’t until the 2000s that I thought maybe some day it would actually be something that I would want to do. The more I went to Israel, the more time I spent there, the more the fantasy became a dream and maybe even a goal and objective.
Just a couple of years ago, in my mid-50s, I realized that I didn’t really want to make Aliyah. It was a fantasy. I wanted to live as an American in Israel. Expensive apartment. Eating dinner out at fancy restaurants. Not have a real job to go to every day. I changed my fantasy to spending a month in Israel every year at some point. That seemed more realistic. It became something to being to save and plan for. I knew my wife would never really want to make Aliyah and be that far from our kids and her parents and siblings but a month a year was something I could discuss with her.
Since October 7th, I have been questioning everything. As America becomes more and more unsafe for Jews, my fantasy of being an American spending a month in Israel every year has gone back to considering if maybe we did need to move there in order to be safe. A country under attack from at least 4 fronts (Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iran), in an active war zone, was safer than America. What a scary thought. Yet I also know I am not the only one who struggles with that concept and that thought. I talk about it with friends. We look back at those who saw the signs in Germany and Europe and left when it was possible compared to those who were stubborn and stayed until they went to the death camps and want to learn from their sacrifice. From their murder.
And then I find Arabs speaking out against Hamas and trying to speak sense to these radicalized students and professors. People like my friend Ali Abu-Awaad. People like Loay Alshareef, who I have reached out to, who is traveling to campuses all over America and posting on social media. Watch a few of his posts and you may have hope that there is a future with peace.
So maybe I need to stay and fight. Maybe there is a third option that our ancestors in Germany and Europe didn’t have. Instead of running to safety or sticking our heads in the sand, maybe we can stand up together and fight back. We can be the nonviolent version of Mordechai Anielewicz, who at 20 years old was trying to get Jews to return and fight against the Nazis. Who just before he turned 20 began to fight back in the Warsaw Ghetto. And who at 23 led the actual uprising against the Nazis. Their valiant effort didn’t defeat the Nazis but it showed that Jews could and would fight back. It inspired the future leaders of the new State of Israel to fight and defend themselves. He and those who fought with him inspire me not give up hope and to keep fighting.
Mordechai Anielewicz didn’t do it along. There were other leaders who joined him. Icchak Cukierman, Tosia Altman, Marek Edelman, Cywia Lubetkin
One of the great things about being Jewish is we have thousands of years of role models. Not just the biblical ones we learn about but recent ones like Mordechai Aneilewicz. Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Natan Sharansky. David Ben Gurion. Moshe Dayan. Golda Meir. Elie Wiesel. Betty Freidan. Harvey Milk. Louis Brandeis. Judy Blume. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. There are many more. And that’s just recent role models.
I choose to follow the role models I mentioned and fight. I choose to not give up and not be quiet. I choose the third option. What will you choose?
Discover more from keithdblog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
keithdblog 