Where Were You When...

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A friend and fellow poet, Miriam Stanley, attended Sunday's march against antisemitism in NYC. Afterwards, she posted on Facebook what she saw of some marchers' harassment of a man holding a sign calling Trump "racist in the White House." According to Miriam, "People were screaming at him. They cursed him. They physically invaded his space trying to scare him." When she tried to protect him, she was cursed at and physically harassed too. One woman said, "why don't you join the Moslems?"

On the march, a man joined Miriam in protecting the anti-Trump protester, but other marchers continued their harassment. Miriam: "Some asked why he was holding the sign. He explained about Charlottesville and Trump saying there were good people on "both sides". The man explained how the shooter of the Pittsburg shul was a white supremacist. I also said the same things to the mob. They did not care.... The man with the sign was hounded from one area to another. Angry people followed him. A mother started screaming into my face that I am a "low life"[.] Her 4 or 5 year old son started screaming at me."

What is your response to the story? It is surely as complicated as mine. Simple indignation against either side is, I submit, an insufficient response. I feel great sadness that an occasion for solidarity for a vital cause, a protest against antisemitism, showed up our bitter divisions instead. To be clear, I am sharing this story (with Miriam's permission) not to inflame further the vile antisemitism that already burns in this country, but to ask what are the costs of solidarity and whether we are willing to pay them. If not, the forces of division have already won.

Miriam puts it pungently: "WHERE WERE ALL THE LEFT WING PEOPLE AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM??? You left that man, me, and one male good samaritan ALL ALONE. Thanks for nothing." I found out about Sunday's march only when I ran into it downtown, and turned away to meet friends for dimsum in Chinatown. Backed by her example, Miriam's question demands from me an answer.

Jee Leong Koh
January 9, 2020

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