Antisemitism in the United States broke new records in 2019. We were targeted on the street, online, in supermarkets, and in our own homes.

But because of the color of (most of our) skin and our perceived socio-economic status, the progressive left remains overwhelmingly silent

The social hierarchy of oppression that the Left has made cannot fathom the concept of Jews being legitimate targets. It doesn’t make sense that Jewish Americans can be white passing but still afraid to be visibly themselves in public. It doesn’t make sense that Jewish Americans

face less financial, legal, and property discrimination than other minority groups, yet our houses of worship and community centers are no longer safe. It doesn’t make sense that American Jews (generally) are not targeted by police officers and law enforcement unfairly,

yet we are more nervous than ever to let our children wear their kippot or send our proud Zionist children to college and universities. It just doesn’t make sense to them. Why? Because Jews defy the social hierarchy of oppression. You can’t fit us into that pyramid or box.

How is it possible that we could be oppressed and hated by someone who belongs to a group that is ALSO oppressed and hated? Can we have that conversation? How is it possible that I feel targeted on a college campus, when my parents were born in this country and my skin is white?

Violence against Jews and antisemitism makes clear that the Left’s perceived social hierarchy doesn’t apply to us. Jews take on the shape of everything a given level “on the pyramid” hates most. To those “at the bottom,” we are capitalists, imperialists, colonizers.

To those “at the top,” we are the ones opening the floodgates of immigration, socialists, puppet-masters, and internationalist intellectuals. We don’t fit into the narrative of how bigotry operates in the US because we don’t have one TYPE of oppressor, and our oppression

doesn’t only come from only one side of the political spectrum. Jews are a true enigma to modern political theory as it pertains so socioeconomic power structures. But even though they, confused out of their minds, refuse to address or acknowledge our pain, we’ll never be silent.

We must continue to demand hard conversations be had. We must continue to demand all sides of the political spectrum be held accountable. We must continue to advocate that there are no justifications or political spins that excuse antisemitism. We must demand our humanity,

not our obscure placement in a pyramid of oppression. We must demand our visibility. And we must demand that our voices be heard and that our pain is taken seriously.