My grandmother survived a genocide, 3 civil wars, and an ethnic cleansing across 4 countries in Asia. Prior to college she pulled me aside to remind me to never trust anyone- not family, not friends, and especially not allies. I brushed it off as her hypervigillance from being a refugee multiple times. I am a queer asian jew and after this month I believe her.
I saw an over 400% increase in hate crimes against the Jewish community, over 17,000 tweets saying “H*tler was right”, calls for rape and murder of my community. All the while, the same social justice community who would speak up for me as an asian woman 2 months ago wouldn’t open their mouths for me now because they cant seem to see the difference between an IDF soldier and a diasporic jew.
A professor told me that I am personally slaughtering Palestinian children because I am a living Jew, and Jews should all be wiped from the earth. Oh, and she assured me that this wasn’t antisemitic, just anti-zionist. Another professor agreed that Jews were dirty thieves. Another professor showed pictures of dead holocaust victims beside a picture of dying pigs as a way to remember a specific disease. A sociology professor said antisemitism doesn't exist anymore. Another professor said that Black Jews dont exist and then shut down the Black Jews who tried arguing with her by saying their opinion doesn't matter because of the forced birth control injections of Ethiopian Jews in Israel.
Arizona is re-opening their gas chambers, closed over 20 years. They will be using Zyklon B aka hydrogen cyanide aka Nazi gas chamber gas. This is the gas that killed millions of people - Jews, Roma, LGBT, disabled, and more. From US records of using this as a method of execution, we know that it takes 10-20 minutes for someone to die of it, with witness reports of people slamming their heads into walls to kill themselves before the gas, coughing/gagging, and dying in agony. No one is speaking out against this (please call your senators!)
It is the first of June and I have already seen anti-asexual rhetoric being spewed by people in the LGBT community. Those who believe that the “A” stands for Ally, and that aces deserve zero community support because we have AVEN. We have AVEN, an online chatroom and education database for asexuals. Those who believe we do not have oppression by the cishets, yet ignore data on corrective rape, medical abuse, conversion therapy, job and housing discrimination against our community.
I am tired. I am sad. I am terrified. I am abandoned by the communities and spaces that were once a safe haven. I am abandoning my cultural name. I am abandoning my asian and jewish mother tongues. I am taking down my mezuzah like many in my community. This and last month were supposed to be celebrating the AAPI community, American Jewish community, LGBT community, and bring awareness to mental health. As a member of all of those communities, I have never felt more alone.
Please see this. Please start speaking out. My communities hear your quiet and it is suffocating.