The funniest thing happened to me this week: I went viral.
I was hoping my first post on this blog would be under better circumstances but how better to deliver raw and unfiltered content than in the middle of conflict.
I'm a Hunter college student and if you have been following any of the news, you have seen the absolute mess happening on New York campuses. I have unfortunately been swept into this whirlwind of hatred masquerading as activism.
The entire weekend of May 4th through 5th, social media was ablaze with a so-called "Day of Rage" for Palestinian liberation. Monday morning, May 6th 2024, Hunter college sent the students an email, cancelling classes after 15:00h (3:00 PM for the non Europeans). My first class that day was at 14:30h and had not been cancelled. Reluctantly, I commuted to campus. I could feel that trouble was brewing, but class is class. I had a class later that day, and since the campus was still open my friend and I decided to stay in the library and do our Zoom lectures together.
The protest started at Columbia, and they had marched their way down to Hunter west by 15:00h. I wanted to grab some snacks before my class, so I hesitantly ventured downstairs. Making my way through the crowd was a challenge that my exposed Magen David did not make easier; People were pushing and screaming, I was getting dirty looks and middle fingers, people yelling "Free Palestine" in my face. I saw an Israeli flag in the crowd and made my way painstakingly towards the friendly face. Safety in numbers, right?
The viral video in question is a video of me and a few other Jewish individuals surrounded by masked people screaming "Globalize the Intifada" at us. I retorted by chanting "You are calling for the death of Jews" to which I received an absurd response; a woman sticking her tongue out in in a grin and twerking (classy). She had told me to shut up and that it was deserved or some such, it was hard to hear over the screaming and sirens. The quote that particularly caught people's attention was me calling the protesters "Anti-semitic shits." One woman tried to argue with me that global intifada is the only way to go, clearly not understanding when I told her to pick up a history book. I closed my argument with a simple "Fuck you," I didn't even notice the camera in my face.
I was on my way home that night when I had seen the X (formerly known as Twitter) video from a friend. The video was posted to FREEDOMNEWS.TV by an Oliya Scootercaster (@ScooterCasterNY on X and @ ScooterCaster on IG). When I saw it for the first time, it had about 10k views. (I have still not been tagged in the video despite multiple attempts to reach out to the OP).
Shit... I'm viral. My mom's gonna fucking kill me when I get home.
My mom did not kill me, being the beautiful voice of reason that she is she just told me to be safe and everything will blow over. It did not in fact blow over.
Like I mentioned before, I was trying to get the OP to tag me in her video, so I posted a screenshot on my story with a caption "Hey, it's me!" and tagging her instagram. By G-d did it reveal people's true colors.
All of a sudden people who I haven't spoken to in years felt the need to repost me on their stories, calling me a piece of shit, the N slur, the R slur, basically every ad hominem attack in the book. (I wouldn't expect people who peaked in high school to be able to put together an eloquent argument but I didn't expect slurs.) People were pulling the "That's why you had no friends in high school" card as if I wasn't the one to cut them off (I have receipts and everything). People that I had literally spoken to the week before publicly denounced me, saying that they never messed with me in the first place (Um... that's not what our text messages from yesterday said but ok girl go off). Basically, it was a mess.
Now I knew most of these people were troubled, my high school was filled with two faced and spineless people who genuinely did not understand why we could not just "print more money" to solve inflation, but I didn't realize they hated the very foundation of my existence to such a point that they literally celebrated my supposed downfall. (There was no downfall lol). It was so ironic that with the same mouth they were calling me a nobody, they could not stop saying my name. You claim to hate me but my name is in your mouth more than your own tongue.
Well I'm a nobody on TV and I guess they are somebodies to their what, 300 followers?
None of these people asked me what I believed, none of them cared to know what had happened before and after the video that lead to my actions. They saw me, a black Jew, defending herself and without any context I became a race traitor. To what race... they were are all white...
For some reason, it is impossible to believe that a sovereign Palestinian state and a safe Israel can coexist. For some reason, people cannot fathom that I as a Jew do not want innocent Palestinian children to die. For some inane, crazy reason, nobody can wrap their head around the fact that it is my right to feel safe at my own school, that my safety doesn't jeopardize their cause. Nobody wants dead children. We want our hostages back. Nobody wants to separate families. We want to feel safe on campus. Nobody wants innocent lives to be taken. We want to be able to be proud of being Jewish without the fear of assault.
When will people stop hating and learn to love?
Recreating N*zi F*scist ideology doesn't help anyone. Putting sw*astikas on elevators on campus isn't freeing anything. Marking Jewish businesses with a Star of David is not liberating anywhere.
We just want to be safe.
But through all the hate and nonesense, I was supported by a community of people stronger than I could ever know. So many of my friends, many from the same high school where apparently I had no friends, came to my public defense.
A close friend of mine came to my defense with an argument so on the nose I could not have said it better myself.
"You are all reprimanding someone for advocating against the mass death (genocide) of people, which is completely contradictory to your entire set of goals. There is a very distinct difference between liberation for Palestine and wanting death to Jewish people-and that's just the beginning of it. She's proud of herself, and those of you saying she should be ashamed, should be ashamed."
People fought behind me, building me up. They are the ones who gave me the courage to write this post today. I may have sparked the conversation with my video, but my beautiful support system lit and protected the fire that I will now carry with me. Because of them, I will speak to anyone who will listen, I will shout from the rooftops if I have to.
Our lives matter too. We matter too.
I would like to close out this post with a Tanakh verse, one that caught my eye.
Deuteronomy 31:6
6 Be strong and courageous! Neither fear, nor be dismayed of them, for the Lord, your God He is the One Who goes with you. He will neither fail you, nor forsake you.
ו חִזְק֣וּ וְאִמְצ֔וּ אַל־תִּֽירְא֥וּ וְאַל־תַּֽעַרְצ֖וּ מִפְּנֵיהֶ֑ם כִּ֣י
יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֗יךָ ה֚וּא הַֽהֹלֵ֣ךְ עִמָּ֔ךְ לֹ֥א יַרְפְּךָ֖ וְלֹ֥א יַֽעַזְבֶֽךָּ:
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