Antisemitic, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, and Islamophobia rhetoric has spiked across the nation. Heightened security measures are being taken at local places of worship and businesses.
Harassment, threats, and vandalism continue across the country and Cleveland as the Israel-Hamas war wages on. Organizations representing both Jewish and Palestinian community members are calling for vigilance and for the hate to stop.
As a member of one of those two groups, I hope no one will mind if I speak for both and say- stop treating us like foreigners in our own country. We’re Americans. We’re not responsible for Israel or Hamas.
What do you mean by saying:
stop treating us like foreigners in our own country. We’re Americans.
[edit: I ask in order to understand the statement itself and its relevance to the article]
Just what I said. Palestinian-Americans are not Hamas and Jewish-Americans are not Israeli. And yet that’s what we get treated as. Not Americans.
And some flavor of that has been happening our entire lives. We’re always other-than-American in our own fucking country.
And Palestinian-Americans and Jewish-Americans have a whole hell of a lot more in common than with either Israelis or Palestinians. They can discuss things like the price of milk or the weather or the mayoral election or what Colbert said last night. And they can do it all in the English language they speak more often than Hebrew or Arabic if they even know Hebrew or Arabic.
And yet, you know what happens? “Oh, you’re Jewish? You support genocide!” “Oh, you’re Muslim? You support terrorism!” And then a physical assault sometimes follows. Sometimes an assault without warning.
All because we dare to be non-Christian (and sometimes non-White) in America.
Ok, thanks for the clarification. I see your point and I agree. It’s more the land of white christians, than the land of the free
