Heather, a Richard Montgomery High School senior, is still upset with the hateful Jewish stereotypes she encountered during her run for student government last year.
“I’ve been targeted,” she said, adding, “I’ve been facing a lot of antisemitism at my school,” including having to deal with swastikas drawn on school property and hate speech repeated on social media.
Heather was one of 12 middle and high school students who gathered on Aug. 28 at the Silver Spring Civic Center for an often gut-wrenching hour with Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Delegate Jared Solomon (D-18).
Asher, a student at the MacLean School, said he was “very uncomfortable” with the way his teammates spoke about the students from Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School when they faced each other in a game last school year.
Some made antisemitic remarks. One made discouraging remarks about why some of the JDS signs were in Hebrew, he said.
Alsobrooks, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, had asked Solomon, who co-chairs the Maryland Jewish Legislative Caucus on the House side, to help her hear directly from students about the antisemitism they were facing.
Solomon contacted several area synagogues and the students he had come to know and invited then to the session.
One by one, each student spoke about hateful remarks they have heard and generally how unsafe, fragile and unsupported they feel.
Alsobrooks told the students she wants to “shape for you the kind of country we want for you,” adding, “Your generation has suffered a lot, a lot, from antisemitism. You have experienced the anger, the intolerance.”
She related her years at Duke University in North Carolina as one of only three Black women in her dormitory. She was told slavery was “kind of cool” and asked, “Who wouldn’t want to have slaves?” She was informed by her White roommate during her freshman year that her relatives felt sorry for her, because she had a Black roommate.
Montgomery County Public School students told Alsobrooks they weren’t taught about the Holocaust until 11th grade, which they considered quite late.
Student after student said that their classmates were misinformed about Israel and Judaism. Alsobrooks agreed, stating, “The education has been missing for a very long time. We don’t understand each other.”
Maya, a sophomore at Richard Montgomery, recalled how about once a quarter last year she received an email from her principal talking about the latest swastika in the bathroom or other antisemitic incident. It’s easy for students to become desensitized, but to her, “It’s hatred,” she said.
Although there are very few Jewish students at John F. Kennedy High School, someone still drew swastikas “on every single tile” on all four walls of a bathroom, Sam, a senior, told Alsobrooks.
Eliza, a Wheaton High School senior, recalled how horrible she felt when antisemitic comments were sent via AirDrop to her phone.
When Charlotte was in sixth grade, she witnessed a classmate creating a swastika out of blocks. “I shouldn’t have to experience that,” said the now-Montgomery Blair High School student.
Alsobrooks agreed. “Sixth grade is so young. That [remark] came directly from that child’s kitchen table.” Hopefully, the younger generation will stop teaching hate, she said.
After the students stopped talking about specific incidents, they began criticizing teachers, principals and administrators who they believe put the onus on the victims.
Jewish students sometimes must meet with those who drew the swastikas or said the hateful comments and are expected to tell them why it is hurtful and often inaccurate, according to the students.
“It was just very ineffective and not worthwhile,” said Marissa, a Whitman High School student, about her time listening to students read an apology letter.
Gabby, who also attends Whitman High School, called it “kind of traumatic having to report something that happened to you. It’s hard to have to make your own experience better.”
When Claire, a senior at Wootton High School who is editor-in-chief of her school newspaper, wrote what she described as a current events article last year concerning events in Israel and Gaza, she showed it to an English teacher first. The teacher responded with what Claire deemed false information and stereotypes.
Claire opted not to change her article and for the rest of the school year that teacher “was very rude to me in the hallways.”
Alsobrooks shook her head, declaring, “It was beyond unprofessional. It was wrong.”
If elected to the Senate, Alsobrooks told the students she would strive to protect young people from social media and seek ways to educate young people.
Toward the beginning of the session, Alsobrooks told the students that she had spent eight days in Israel in December of 2019.
“It was a really wonderful experience for me,” she said, recalling that she had visited kibbutzim, seen the Iron Dome missile defense system and learned about the values and relationships that Israel and the United States share.
She called it “compelling” to actually see Israel’s security needs.
As for the war in Israel and Gaza, Alsobrooks said her priorities for the region are to first remove the threat of Hamas and return all the hostages.
Then, she would like to see a cease-fire and humanitarian aid distributed for the people living in Gaza.
As the meeting drew to a close, Solomon thanked the students. “It takes courage to come in. This is the beginning of the conversation. We are not going to let this become normal.”
Suzanne Pollak is a freelance writer.
