Students React to Anti-Semitism

By: Elizabeth Ebner (10th) and Lily Reinberg (9th)

As many are aware of, in October, both rapper Kanye West and Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving expressed anti-Semitism through certain remarks and social media posts.

Kanye’s first anti-Semitic comment was through a tweet, part of which read, “When I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE”. His comments have only continued since then, including, “I like Hitler”. Fortunately, companies such as Adidas and Balenciaga have cut their ties with Kanye as a result of his anti-Semitic rants.

Through a tweet, as well, and on Instagram, Kyrie Irving posted a link to an anti-Semitic film. He later defended his tweet by saying he is “not going to stand down on anything [he] believe[s] in”. As a result, the Nets banned him from playing for five games, and Nike suspended its sponsorship deal with him.

These two celebrities are very relevant in popular culture and have a large influence on many people, especially children who look up to them as role models. This is a major issue, as Kanye and Kyrie’s anti-Semitic behavior could influence others to follow. In fact, after Kanye’s tweet, the head of an anti-Semitic and white supremacist group, along with his supporters, held anti-Semitic banners over the 405 highway in Los Angeles. One banner read, “Kanye is right about the Jews”.

The Jewish leaders in our school have shared their views of this anti-Semitic situation, including its extremity and dangers.

“Most anti-Semetic comments are just expressed from ignorance,” said Mrs. Schapiro. “What I think is most important is that when we do hear it, especially from prominent people in the news and whatever, we need to call attention to it. But really the best way to fight it would be to educate people on what they say, on how they are misguided or misinformed.” She continued, “I think anti-Semitism comes in waves. When there are a lot of insecurities, unrest, and issues going on in the world at large and in our immediate society, the traditional scapegoat has been the Jews, and therefore we’re the easiest one to point fingers at. When there is a lack of stability, people are looking for someone to blame. For example, during the Holocaust there was a tremendous amount of fear, unemployment, hunger, etcetera, and they needed to lash out.” Mrs. Schapiro also shared that “one way to end anti-Semitism is, again, education. The problem is mainly cultural– the Jewish community exists almost insulated. We go to our own school, we aren't in school with non-Jews, so we don't have that opportunity to interact with them on a larger scale. So they don't really know us. They just know what they think they know of us.”

Rabbi Jack Cohen shared, “My general reaction [to the situation] is that I’m less concerned with the particular expressions of anti-Semitism from Ye, even though when someone prominent who people listen to and idolize says things like that, obviously it does lead to anti-Semitism. I believe there’s a huge uptick of anti-Semitism recorded in November, but that to me is much less concerning than the fact that I think he [Kanye] represents a larger wave of anti-Semitism of a source that we haven’t seen in a while: language like “Jews control everything”, “Jews are out to get us”, etcetera. It’s less so what Kanye is causing and more what Kanye I think is a symptom of, certain ideas that are really becoming more popular, and I think that is quite concerning.”

“I think it’s a scary time to be a Jew. I think people, for a long time in this country, have felt that this can happen here, and unfortunately it seems that it can,” Rabbi Manne stated. “The more and more you have big, popular people with millions and millions of followers who publicly put out ridiculous things, and have that type of platform, there are people who are none the wiser and unfortunately buy in. So I think it’s a very dangerous thing, and unfortunately it’s a scary, scary thing.”

Many of the high school students formerly have, or currently own Kanye and/or Kyrie products, such as Yeezys (Kanye’s shoe brand) or Kyrie basketball shoes, so the controversy over whether or not to buy products associated with Kanye or Kyrie arises. Students shared their different opinions about it.

“I think it's fine to purchase the products because I’m almost 100 percent sure they are barely getting any profit from it anymore, and listening to Kanye’s music is okay because he only makes about .001 cents from streams,” said Shana Strohli (9th). “Also, you are able to like his music and not like him as a person.”

“I think that it's a disgrace what's going on, especially with the Kanye situation since he has such a big influence on people and he's using it poorly,” Matthew Muhlrad (9th) shared. “Therefore, I don't think anyone should support [Kanye and Kyrie] by buying their stuff.”

“I think it’s okay for people to listen to Kanye's music as long as they don’t support his political choices,” an anonymous junior shared.

Students agree that the rising anti-Semitism is a serious threat since Kanye, for one, has a substantial influence on millions of people.

“I think it’s very scary because Kanye has a large influence, so his actions are increasing anti-Semitism across the globe because of his very popular influence. A lot of people who love Kanye are thinking that since Kanye doesn’t like the Jews, now they don’t like the Jews,” said Jonny Gad (10th). “I think that we should continue to stay strong as a community.”

“The rising anti-Semitism in the world has been extremely scary lately, especially with someone as big as Kanye West being the main vocalist for all this anti-Semitism,” an anonymous senior explained. “I think that because of his huge following, there are so many people who are influenced to be anti-Semitic and have the wrong views and are completely off about all of their opinions because it’s all coming from Kanye, who’s just an idiot.”

Kanye and Kyrie’s actions and comments are also extremely scary, as anti-Semitism has been a major problem for centuries.

“Anti-Semitism has always been a huge problem. We see that throughout the years it seems to have lessened; however, anti-Semitism has still always been there,” said Orelle Elharar (11th). “The rise has just been very scary to witness, especially with Kyrie Irving and Kanye West. The way that Kanye’s “educating” people with false information is just horrible.”

Kanye and Kyrie’s situations created much controversy and highlighted the severity of influential celebrities’ harmful actions and remarks, as well as the need to step up against them.