Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It’s a day when many people I know reflect on the horrors that happened in Nazi Germany, but also on the state of antisemitism up to and including today. I have to say, as a non-Jew, I see and hear it more today than at any other era of my life. Which means it must be pretty loud if I can hear it and it’s not targeted at me. Right? Is it more prevalent or are people just feeling bolder about expressing their hatred? Maybe it’s both. 

This morning, I had a meeting with someone who is wearing a necklace that they won’t take off until all the hostages held by Hamas are released. This person worships in a synagogue that was fire bombed in 2021 – which is not that long ago – here in Austin, Texas. That’s the same year that our community saw antisemitic graffiti pop up around town and some neighborhoods were littered with antisemitic leaflets. 

And it is happening still. 
Our community is not unique. 

It is important to remember the Holocaust, not only to honor the people who suffered and died and those who survived, but also to remember what happens when hatred runs amok. The victims of Nazi hate were not only Jews, although we should never forget that Jews were uniquely brutalized. Other human beings not considered worth living also went to the camps and the ovens. 

As a white Southern woman, I know this kind of remembrance is important. My ancestors perpetrated a different kind of hatred run amok. Their racism and classism caused untold (well, thankfully some of it is told) harm to particular human beings and whole cultures – and to themselves as well. No one fares well in the end when hatred is the governing principle. 

It shouldn’t take a family tie, but I also have Jewish people in my family. When antisemitism flares up, I know they are afraid for their safety in a way that I am not. It is a peculiar thing to be tangentially related to the danger faced by someone so close to you. Peculiar, but not unfamiliar. There are people in my family who are members of other hated groups.

Remembering is a way to re-member people who have been cut off from the community by injustice, fear, hatred, violence. Remembering is essential if we are to restore wholeness to the human family.

One day soon, I hope, my friend will take off her necklace because all the hostages will have been released (although, to be clear, some will be in body bags). One day soon, I hope, antisemitic graffiti and online hate mongering will die down. And still we will need to remember. 

Until that day and all the days after, I try to keep in mind that every person, every household, every community has a role to play in creating, maintaining, and promoting justice. We know from experience that neutrality is not an option. We know from history that when some groups are targeted – Jews, Muslims, women, people of African descent, indigenous people in colonized lands, trans-people, and so many other groups – when these are targeted with violence the rest of us will eventually be enveloped.