Local Groups Adopt Hashtag and Emoji to Bring Attention to Antisemitism

0
A hashtag and a blue emoji are the symbols of a campaign to spread awareness of antisemitism outside the Jewish community. Foundation to Combat Antisemitism

Can a hashtag and an emoji help tear down the growing mountain of antisemitism, roll back the Kanyes and BDSers and silence the dog whistles targeting Jews?

Last month, the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism, founded by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, announced #StandUpToJewishHate, a $25 million national campaign to increase concern about antisemitism beyond the Jewish community.

The heads of two Washington-area Jewish organizations that enlisted in the campaign say they hope the hashtag and the little blue emoji will do for antisemitism awareness what the rainbow pride flag did for LGBTQ+ awareness among ordinary Americans.

“When you see the pride flag, you know what it is,” said Gil Preuss, CEO of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, a partner in the campaign along with AARP, ADL, an assortment of campus Hillels, Jewish community relations councils and others.

https://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/enewsletter/

The goal of setting up the anti-antisemitism campaign was to “create a mechanism that would be memorable” and stimulate conversation about antisemitism, Preuss said.

If the hashtag names the campaign’s message, the emoji — a little blue square — is to stimulate conversation by depicting Jewish vulnerability.

According to the campaign materials, the square fills 2.4% of the screen. That’s the percentage of the U.S. population that Jews make up. The campaign states that, in contrast, Jews are on the receiving end of 55% of religion-motivated hate crimes. (That percentage goes down when all hate crimes are included. Altogether, the group that is the victim of the most hate crimes is African Americans.)

The national campaign had a multimedia launch, and Preuss said ubiquity is the key to its potential success. “The only way these things work is if they’re universal. It’s dependent on organizations around the country using it.”

The Federation will use the blue square in its communications “to make sure that the symbol is seen,” Preuss said.

When The Federation’s e-newsletters go out, recipients are mostly Jews, who make up only 2.4% of the #StandUpToJewishHate’s target audience. Preuss said that, in that sense, The Federation is preaching to the choir.

“The nature of Jewish life is we’re integrated into society. There are other organizations within the Jewish community that have a greater reach” to other faith and ethnic communities, he said.

At the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia, Executive Director Jeff Dannick looks at the campaign as a tool for building alliances with other faith groups in Fairfax.

“I have always felt that antisemitism is a problem that cannot be solved by just the Jewish community,” he said.

He hopes the campaign will stimulate curiosity about Jews. “I don’t know if the broader community knows how small the Jewish community really is.”

(In one 2022 poll, respondents guessed on average that 30% of the population is Jewish.)The Pozez JCC is using the hashtag in its social media posts and on its LED sign, among other uses.

The agency was vandalized several times, including on Passover in 2017 when swastikas were painted on the outside walls, and in 2018.

“The [antisemitism] statistics are daunting,” Dannick said of conditions six years later. He added that any possible trivialization of the problem by a reliance on a slogan and a graphic is balanced by the message seeping into the general discourse.

“The campaign isn’t supposed to be a graduate-level course on antisemitism,” he said. “But this is the hate we’re dealing with. It’s grown in recent years, and we know from history that this kind of hate can lead to tragedy.”

None of the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism’s $25 million is coming to organizations like The Federation, Preuss said. “They’re using it for a national media-based strategy.

We’re spending our own local dollars to fight antisemitism, including increasing education in our schools.”

The blue emoji is intended to be a symbol of support for American Jews, not a Jewish symbol, Preuss said.

And if it doesn’t get traction?

“We’re hoping it will get ingrained in society,” Dannick said. “If it doesn’t have impact, we’ll go back and figure out what the next idea will be.” ■

[email protected]

Never miss a story.
Sign up for our newsletter.
Email Address

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here