One great advantage of writing on Substack is that the platform allows expression of all ideas and topics, and the freedom to jump around at will depending on the stimulus of the moment. This moment arises from recent incidents of antisemitic behavior by youth in a nearby community. The purpose of the article is not to excoriate the young perpetrators of their act, but to raise awareness regarding where problems exist and to try to draw attention to behaviors by parents and society that will reduce and someday eliminate this type of behavior.
Except for the first seven years of the seventy-nine that I am about to put behind me. I have resided in Nassau County, an area on Long Island, New York just outside the New York City line. It became a desirable place to live following the end of WW-II when our many GIs returned from the war and left the city in search of something more suburban, but still within travel distance of the jobs and culture that our Big Apple offered.
Life was much simpler in 1950 when we moved to Valley Stream, and I found that suburban life was quite different from the melting pot of Brooklyn. As a young child growing up in an apartment, I was surrounded by neighbors from many backgrounds, religions, and races. I had friends, white and black, and never judged others who showed respect for me.
At that time, I was barely aware of religious differences, and being Jewish never was more than part of my everyday identity. It was within my knowledge that we had recently fought a great war, but my understanding of what that meant was obscured by my youth. Dad had served, and Mom had been an Army wife when I arrived in this world.
My naivete ended abruptly during playtime with one of my neighbors as we were tossing ‘dirt bombs’ at each other in a little game of ‘battle’ and one of them hit him in the face. Neither of us knew any better as we conducted this game, and we learned quickly the dangers of our actions. I went to his house to inquire as to his wellbeing, and saw that he was fine, but was then exposed to my first experience with antisemitism when his grandmother came to the door and exclaimed, “Go home, you dirty Jew!” It’s a tough lesson in intolerance, and after more than seventy years, still is very real. Still, even after this, my attitude is that I always show respect for others and judge them according to their actions. In most cases I am able to arrange my life in such a way that I simply don’t have to deal with them or have learned to deal with them only when necessary and maintain my emotional distance.
Along the way I was a high school educator in the inner-city high schools, and the schools were all tough schools. Minority and immigrant populations comprised my classes, and my military training became my support. Tough but fair, kind but not passive- it was really an exercise in tough love. The toughest students were my favorites, but the weaker ones got my protection and care, as well, and respect for each other was required in my presence. We were all part of a team with a goal of success and learning. Disrespectful behavior was not allowed, and they knew I would stop and challenge them if those rules were violated. Hopefully the record will show that I was successful, and the results of my effort made life better for my students. Unfortunately, teachers don’t often see the results of their work beyond the time spent in the classroom- most results are intangible, and the rewards need to come from within.
Fast forward to the last few years, especially since 9/11. An atmosphere of hate seems to be pervading our daily lives, and hate rears its ugly head more and more frequently. As if the political divide in our country is not enough, the racial situation has not been solved, and it has been stoked and worsened since then. I don’t believe I need to spell out the details, but anti-Chinese hate hit an all time high with the arrival of Covid, anti-Muslim hate reached extremely high levels after 9/11, and antisemitism has made a big comeback. Frankly, hate must stop if we are to survive as a nation. It is time to stop denigrating others because of their background and to get to the level espoused by Dr. Martin Luther King where others would be judged “by the content of their character.”
Just a few days ago, three teenagers were observed in the playground of one of our elementary schools spraying swastikas on columns supporting the apparatus. This is just one of a spate of antisemitic incidents in our county over the last year, and we understand that this type of behavior, which has been going on for thousands of years, will happen again – to Jews, Chinese, Muslims, Blacks, Hispanics, etc., –hate has been part of life since biblical times and before. It will likely never go away if there is greed and a hunger for power.
Our Nassau County Police Department is one of the best in the entire country, and its commissioner and our county government have a zero-tolerance for hate crimes. In this case we were extremely lucky that there was good video evidence from the school’s security cameras, and there was an older individual, not part of the errant group, who observed the behavior of these three individuals and recorded their acts on his cellphone, then reported the incident to the police.
This act may or may not be an act of hate, per se. Children often act irrationally for a variety of reasons. Have they learned hate in the home, or from peers who have been taught to hate? Have they succumbed to a peer challenge to commit an act for peer acceptance? My hope for those teens who are now facing criminal charges is that it turns out to be the lesser of these causes, that these were simply ‘stupid’ acts. Either way, these three teens are going to learn a very tough lesson and will hopefully choose a very different path to follow. Our police and our court system are well-equipped to deal with them in a fair and caring way. After all, they are youthful offenders, and with proper guidance, their records will be sealed an not come back to bite them in the future.
Finally, kudos to our fine police department here in Nassau County. In the interest of harmony and quality of life, they have created a tasks force to deal with hate incidents and have created POP (Problem Oriented Police) Officer positions in every police precinct. These officers are active within their communities and in contact with residents, schools, students, and will address any quality-of-life issue brought to them. As part of this issue, the department has also created a flyer for distribution to the entire community as a reminder of our responsibility as good citizens to remember the most important words: “If you see something, say something.”
The flyer is illustrated below, and I hope that every locality in our great country will follow their lead and set up similar programs. Vigilance and action are the cure to this problem. There is no other way.