Twitter Coming Together
It seems like everyone is trying to forget the year of 2020. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to forget that the Pandemic changed the way we live our lives today. While we may want to forget that single event, others took place that we need to remember. One specifically? The slogan Jewish Privilege that would soon travel throughout Twitter causing a storm among everyone.
There were a few events that led to #JewishPrivilege came to be.
1) June 11, 2020
a. Famous rapper Ice Cube shares anti-Semitic tropes tying Jews to the oppression of black people. When given the opportunity to apologize, he did not.
2) July 7th, 2020
a. DeSean Jackson, an NFL Football player, posted quotes from Hitler. One saying “They will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work...”
3) July 8th, 2020
a. Stephen Jackson, a notable former NBA player, says DeSean Jackson is telling the truth in an interview. Doubles down and says “You know that for a fact? You know who the Rothschilds are? They own all the banks…” This quote aligns with the anti-Semitic trope that Jews are wealthy and own all the bands. The Rothschilds were wealthy Jewish bankers.
And the people listened to them and took to Twitter in support.
July 14–15, 2020
The term #JewishPrivilege started to pop up one by one. Anti-Semitic posts proclaiming what it means to be Jewish and have privilege starts to scatter. I remember reading some captions and I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was this what we were heading to? Going after a group of people based upon being Jewish? As someone noted “as if everyone, from left to right, was in agreement that Jewish people are to be blamed for all that is wrong in the world.
Then the tide started to turn.
Not one. Not two but hundreds if not thousands made it their mission to take back what was theirs. Take back #JewishPrivlege and telling their stories and memories. It was nice to see that people came together to stop anti-Semitic hate. The downside was reading all the stories. From surviving the holocaust and losing family members to getting beaten up because of being Jewish. These were the stories being told. Honestly, it was educational for all. Reading how their lives were personally affected. It gave a truth that not many people may have known.
As I mentioned before, we need to remember this moment because antisemitism is still going on whether you realize it or not. Notable examples that have happened this month include Kanye West wanting to go defcon 3 on Jewish people. This has sparked people coming out saying he is correct. Kyrie Irving promoted an Anti-Semitic movie which has received backlash and condemning by the NBA. After the Florida vs Georgia NCAA football game, the message “Kenye is right about the Jews” floated outside the stadium. Even at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, someone dressed up a Hitler.
Let’s not sit back and do nothing. We saw what happened in 2020 until people took it into their own hands to bring light on the issue. Luckily, the response to these current events have been swift and being taken seriously this time. Let’s stop the hate towards everyone.
