An arrest has been made after evil posts online called for the eradication of Jews at Cornell, the university I attend. But I feel no sense of closure. Even though the suspect, a fellow student, is in federal custody, the constant threat of anti-Semitism looms over us still.
I learned growing up in a staunchly conservative suburb of Orange County, California, that being Jewish is not for the faint of heart. As a kid in school, classmates threw antisemitic tropes at me more times than I can count.
A week before my high school graduation, one student scrawled swastikas on his hands in ink and flashed them at me. For the antisemites among my peers, I wasn’t Gabriel, which is Hebrew in origin for “strength in God.” I was simply a dirty Jew, a penny-pincher — and other epithets that are much, much worse…
The original version of this op-ed was published in CNN on Nov. 1. To continue reading, access Levin’s full essay here.
Gabriel Levin is a second-year student in the College of Arts & Sciences. His column Almost Fit to Print spans issues in science, social justice and politics. He is the host of Under The Sun, a Cornell Daily Sun opinion podcast. He can be reached at [email protected].
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