Whenever I fill out a survey or an application I always have trouble filling out the religion box. Most of the time, I want to write "none," "agnostic" or "antitheist," but none of those words accurately describe my background and my beliefs. I think if the questions asked about my blood and origins, I could give a more accurate answer: Irish Catholic, French Catholic, German Lutheran and Russian Jew.
Yet, despite my mixed background and ambivalent feelings about religion, I almost always write Jewish. I do it because I grew up with Jewish holidays and Jewish friends. I also do it because in some ways, it's the harder word to write. Today, there are 13 million living Jews; without centuries of persecution, the number would be over 200 million.
When my grandfather immigrated to America from Russia, one of the things he left behind was his Jewish heritage. He didn't exchange it or create a new heritage; he just left it in Russia. Despite the abandonment, his heritage followed him - and not in the best ways. It didn't take long for anyone to figure out that the reason why he didn't get a job at this place or that place was because of his blood. It also didn't take long for remarks about Christ-killing, stinginess and greed to emerge around him.
Like many European Jews, he went into accounting, played the stock market, avoided sports and concentrated on developing his mind instead. Although it is difficult to believe that some Americans hadn't yet evolved from Europe's racism, the reality was self-evident to my grandfather. Since he was painfully insecure about religion, his words about feelings and inadequacies were limited to those at home. To me, it's bizarre that he could be so ashamed of his heritage. But what is even stranger is that people then, and today, reduce other people's identities to tribalism and ancient prejudice. While I've had more than my share of accusations of deicide and conspiratorial media control (even at my job at The Eagle), it is of less concern to me than racism abroad and its ideological enablers at home.
One recent example of this was when I was accused of supporting Israel because of my grandfather. Now, most of my friends know that I'm a consistently harsh critic of Israel so the slur obviously had no basis in fact. But I also thought, what if I didn't use 25 percent of my blood and identify myself as Jewish - what would be my reason for supporting Israel? One campus Leftist had a quick response: "because the Republican and Democratic Parties, as well as Congress, are occupied territories." Last year, a Middle Eastern student was more explicit: I came home one day and saw that my message board was illustrated with a bloody Star of David and the caption: "I want to rule the world." The racism of the hard Left and the Middle Eastern conspiracies would be laughable if they weren't so sinister. For parts of the Left and hundreds of millions in Islamic countries, this anti-intellectual and hateful garbage is standard currency in explaining the world. This symbiosis between Leftist and Muslim racism has never been better defined than at last year's National Conference on Organized Resistance, sponsored by AU Chaplain Joe Eldridge and the ironically named Community Action and Social Justice club.
For the uninitiated, the conference singled out Israel among nations and justified the murder of the innocent, argued for divestment, against the secure existence of Israel and strangely, against Kosher practices. The conference also advocated anti-consumerism, justified violent resistance against police officers and gave support to American terrorist groups like the Earth Liberation Front. In 2004, this awful collection of Leftist extremists will visit our campus again.
This is unacceptable.
It doesn't take much imagination to figure out the reaction of our community if equally extreme rightwing groups came to campus and advocated violence, terrorist groups and separatism from the state. They would be rightfully condemned, criticized for their racist views, incitements to violence and the administration would make sure they were never invited back. Unfortunately, the double standard of leftwing racism precludes any condemnation. At a University that prides itself on tolerance, it is saddening to see an organization that preaches hate receive any welcome on our campus.
Racism reduces intellectual accomplishments and the individual by assuming that a person is incapable of reason because of blood and skin color. Instead of morality, knowledge and education, a person is defined by ancient motives and a self-serving tribal mentality.
As I walked in front of Israel's "barrier to peace" a few weeks back, I saw a sidewalk drawing with Jewish stars attached to swastikas. At first, I lost my breath at the vulgar pair, but then I realized that "blaming the victims" is never beyond the well educated and well off in an American university. I also realized,ÿlikeÿmy grandfatherÿbefore me, that some things never die. ÿ David Hodges is the Editorial Page Editor of The Eagle and a junior in the School of International Service. He is also Secretary of the AU College Republicans.
