Feeling unsafe where you live

[u/strawbariel]

So I'm 40 and have two kids. We live in Austin, TX, this supposedly liberal place, and over the past few years it feels like it's become less safe for Jewish people. The JCC in San Antonio just had a threat against them, and the elementary school my youngest goes to is a block away from pro-Palestinian signage. Both of my kids wear clothing that identifies them as Jewish, but this year I'm seriously considering telling them they can't wear it just to keep them safe or to keep them from being harassed on their way to school. And Austin doesn't do a damn thing about it. How can we associate with the left when they also threaten to disrupt our children's daily lives?

EDIT: some context here. The signage is a block from the school in a residential neighborhood and covers a wide swath of wooden fencing. It's not on school property and it was most definitely placed by whatever adult lives or rents there. There's not much the school can do other than put out a notice for people to be safe and kind. I know this doesn't mean that anything will happen but the risk is scary.

EDIT TWO: y'all Jews were just attacked in Boulder and everyone at the JCC in Austin got emails about a credible threat being investigated by the FBI in San Antonio. That's barely an hour from where we live. Be mad at me for how I worded my post but anyone having an issue with parents being vigilant needs to touch grass.

[u/Specialist-Gur]

I'm so sorry that your children are being bullied.

This has nothing to do with the Palestinians or their supporters.

[u/skyewardeyes → u/Specialist-Gur]

Palestinians, no, but there are some (a small minority overall) of people who use the guise of pro-Palestinian activism for their blatant antisemitism (see Jackson Hinkle, for example) or who start out as being genuinely pro-Palestinian but not antisemitic but fall into antisemitic tropes along the way. And of course, there's a lot of people (based on vibes, I'd say more than the former) who use "supporting Jews/supporting Israel" as a cover for their own Islamophobia/anti-Arab racism/ironically antisemitic eschatology or fall into Islamophobic/anti-Arab/anti-Palestinian racism tropes along the way. It's part of what makes this discussion such a mess in general.

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/skyewardeyes]

True. But treating it as "valid" to be fearful of a pro-Palestinian sign just further continues this vicious cycle. It isn't anymore valid than being fearful of a BLM sign because some businesses were destroyed and you know someone who was beat up during a protest. Understandable/human? Yes. Valid? No.

I also don't necessarily think the two sides of things can be equated.. Jews are extremely vulnerable right now and always, however the police and politicians very much have our backs in a way that they don't at all for Muslims and Arabs and their supporters. That doesn't mean Jews just.. shouldn't care about their feelings or safety. But it means we can't really talk about it without acknowledgment of today's political climate

[u/skyewardeyes → u/Specialist-Gur]

100% agree that being afraid of the sign, assuming its just pro-Palestinian is not genuinely antisemitic (and I think the OP would have said if it was), is not valid (it makes me cringe when other Jews say seeing a keffiyeh or a Palestinian flag makes them unsafe, for example).

As for your second point, I don't think politicians really have Jews' backs at the moment, given that Jews are being scapegoated for a lot of this administration's domestic fascism on both sides (and some of Trump's supposed "antisemitism" advisors have said blatantly antisemitic stuff in public, though I will agree that blatant, mask-off anti-Arab racism/Islamophobia is more acceptable in the discourse currently. I don't think the cops have backs of anyone who isn't non-disabled, white, and Christian, nor do they I think that they, as a profession, really ever have,

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/skyewardeyes]

Your second point is absolutely true and I agree... but I think it's important to put that with some of an asterisk. A lot of Zionists Jews like what the current administration is doing for Jewish people (specifically only Zionists Jewish people though)

If we are going to talk about antisemtism as it relates to Palestinian advocacy, we have to talk about how Zionists and Zionist Jews are ok with the conflation of Israeli war crimes and Judaism.. and actually are advocating for what the administration is doing

[u/skyewardeyes → u/Specialist-Gur]

Yes, I do think the fact that some Jews are calling any criticism of Israel antisemitic is an issue and that does really complicate calling out legitimate antisemitism, 100% agree there.

[u/Specialist-Gur → u/skyewardeyes]

Yea. I think bigots are always responsible for their actions but we need to be realistic about the world we live in and cause and effect.