Bigotry Bites Back

“1943 Colored Waiting Room Sign” by Esther Bubley – Library of Congress.

January 27, 2015—Seventy years after the official closing of the Nazi death camp, Auschwitz. January 19, 2015—nearly fifty-two years after Martin Luther King Jr. marched on Washington and delivered his “ I Have a Dream” speech. What do these two dates have in common?

Each commemorates a change in history, a time when the voice of the innocent was heard louder than the demands of the guilty. It honors those who have fought for freedom and stands for the rest of us as a reminder that bigotry is real. Yet, as those historic dates are recognized, the problems of those eras still remain.

Anti-Semitism is striking back in Europe. So much so that it is causing Jews to flee their communities. And racism in America still prompts incredible violence and oppression.

For example, just last year, 7,000 French Jews made the move to Israel to escape the persecution they were receiving in their home country. In Sweden, where the Jews face minority status, journalist Peter Ljunggren did a social experiment to see if anti- Semitism was as bad as the news coverage had reported. For his experiment, Ljunggren traveled to a neighboring Muslim community wearing a traditional kepah and Star of David necklace. While walking through the town, Ljunggren reports having eggs thrown at him and experiencing extreme verbal abuse purely on the basis of what his religion appeared to be. Isn’t this scene familiar?

Today, in America, we too see the persecution of those living under oppression. Whether it is by the brutality of a police officer or the injustices of a court sentencing, truly, bigotry still exists.

Yet, I have to believe that the time that stands between us and the change of yesteryear, was not wasted. Let us not revert back to the habits of those who came before. Let us not lose the liberation that freed the Jews. But rather, let us stand, as Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed we would, let us stand.