but as that would not have mattered in the Third Reich, it does not matter now.
My name is Bernstein.
When once I was asked to change it for business reasons even though I did not then identify as Jewish I refused.
There are many influences on my thinking, my spirituality such as it is, my ethics, my morality, and from all of these my politics.
Recently on a Twitter exchange I pointed out that Representative Gabbard was a favorite of folks in BJP circles in India, which as it happens includes apparently Trump’s business partners in that country. I was speaking of those people, not in any way casting any aspersions on Rep. Gabbard.
Someone I do not know decided to tweet back at me — enclusing my name (((Bernstein))) and saying that I didn’t seem to have any problem with connections with Israel.
So now it starts at a personal level.
First, for what it is worth, I have been highly critical of the Netanyahu administration in particular and in many things Israeli over time. But that does not matter.
To someone like this person on Twitter all that matters is my last name ends in “stein.”
So let me be clear.
I am proud of my Jewish heritage.
I am proud that people of my heritage have given so much this country and to the world. I might suggest to such yahoos that they take a look at the background of those who have won Nobel prizes in science and economics from this nation, just for starters.
But even if we had not, what we are seeing now is unconscionable.
Nazi salutes.
People saying they are not sure Jews are people.
The President-elect NOT outright denouncing this, nor any of the people around him.
The Republican leaders of the House and Senate not coming out bluntly and saying this is not acceptable.
This is how it continues.
I cannot say this is how it starts, because it has never gone away, and when people were not more forceful on how Muslims were being treated starting on Sept. 11, 2001, or if you will, even before — after Oklahoma City a Sikh was attacked and a Republican Congressman made comments about diapers held on the heads of Muslims by fan belts. Yes, that Congressman lost primary for a Senate seat, but the condemnation of what he said was in the opinion of many insufficient — he should have been condemned for those remarks by the House of Representatives.
Let me be clear. I have always been for social justice, in large part BECAUSE of my Jewish heritage. It is why I became active in Civil, Rights when I was 17, it is why I have taught in diverse or heavily minority communities and schools, it is why I have been for marriage equality since before DOMA was law, it is why I have always been for equal pay for equal work.
I have always known that being a white male of upper middle class background and an elite education would not be a shield against hatred and bigotry. It has at times enabled me to speak up for others who did not have the privilege associated with that stature.
So if someone thinks they can intimidate me by ((())) on my name, they are sadly mistaken.
I have the luxury of being 70 years old. I have lived a reasonably full life. While as my recent medical endeavors have made clear I am not seeking death, neither am I afraid of it. Nor am I afraid of imprisonment, or social ostracism if the incoming administration and the perversion of American values it represents were to focus on me to my detriment.
We may lose net neutrality, which will mean whatever voice I have through this site and elsewhere might become muted. Does not matter. It will not silence me.
Perhaps I will be put on a no-fly list to deny me the right of every American to move freely around the country, a right that predates the Constitution. If I have to get some place I can always hitchhike.
We of Jewish background have survived, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the expulsions from Spain and Portugal, the Shoah of the Nazis, the persecution in the USSR, attacks on Israel, attacks on Jewish institutions in Argentina, Paris, and the US. We have seen our sacred books burned.
And yet we are still here, whether or not we consider ourselves Jews by religion.
I do not keep kosher. For a while, when I returned to Orthodox Judaism I did, and I tried to be Shomer Shabbos — Sabbath observant. I can respect that, but it is not me.
My “Jewishness” requires me to be a witness, to object to ALL prejudice and othering. My Quaker persuasion requires that I answer that of God in each person I encounter. Those are NOT in conflict. Those are complementary.
It is why profit can never be more valuable than human consideration.
It is why I cannot accept that I am given an advantage because of my gender, my sexual orientation, my being a natural born American (except for qualification as President, and since I am older than the last three and the President-elect I don’t think that is a concern), my religion, the color of my my skin.
In a different context, and one that is actually quite relevant in our current political climate, I have said that what happens to public education is the canary in the coal mine for what happens to American institutions, including the notion that there are public goods.
Similarly, what happens to Jews is likewise a canary in a coal mine — once the antiSemitism becomes overt, there is NOTHING to hold back discrimination and worse against anyone considered “other”and America as we have known it will cease to be.
I am deliberately choosing NO picture for this post. There is none that can fully represent what I am addressing.
I have no illusions that this will necessarily get a ,lot of traffic. It is late at night. And I am not going to send out emails about it, although I will tweet and Facebook the link.
It is personal, because it is what I feel I must express.
Perhaps few will care what I have to say. So be it. But that does not remove from me the burden to speak out.
So I have.
Peace
(((teacherken)))