When a Schoolmate Called Him a ‘Kike’ He Answered With His Fists

You are here:

Home
HEADLINES
When a Schoolmate Called Him…

FEEDBACK 1

We asked readers to share their personal experiences with antisemitism. Here is what one wrote:

I was a junior high [middle school] student in the early ’60s. One day when I was opening my locker, a student came up and started pushing me. He then proceeded to hit me and call me a “kike,” after which the two of us were engaged in a fight.

Eventually, a teacher broke it up and took me to the assistant principal’s office. I was in total shock. I think the teacher was surprised I was getting the better of the other guy.

The assistant principal knew the student well: He had been in the office many times. He suspended the kid. He also called my father and had him pick me up to cool off the rest of the day. No disciplinary action was taken against me.

My parents, who were in shock as well, were more concerned about my physical health than the name-calling. As time went on, however, the fact that I was called “kike” was very disturbing to the whole family and became a point of discussion.

— A.A. in Arizona

||||| We welcome your comments. Click here.

Visit our other website…

Notable &
Quotable

“If anti-Semitism is a variety of racism, it is a most peculiar variety, with many unique characteristics. In my view as a historian, it is so peculiar that it deserves to be placed in a quite different category. I would call it an intellectual disease, a disease of the mind, extremely infectious and massively destructive.”

— Paul Johnson, author of A History of the Jews

▪

“I went through kindergarten through 12th grade, college, law school and four years of active duty in the U.S. Army and I never once experienced anti-Semitism — until I came to the U.S. House of Representatives.”

— Lee Zeldin, Republican Congressman from New York, currently running for governor of the state

▪

“In the ’80s, we were living in the U.S.S.R., where anti-Semitism was a deeply ingrained part of the culture. Being a Jewish person in the Soviet Union was not easy. Not that I remember any of that — I was barely old enough to chew back then — but for my parents, both Uzbekistan-born Jews, life was a struggle.”

— Milana Vayntrub, actress, comedian, and activist born in the Soviet Union.

▪

“I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you’re desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward — well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism.”

— Henry Louis Gates, African-American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker

▪

“In the past, we saw European leaders speaking against the Jews. Now, we see them speaking against Israel. It is the same anti-Semitism of blood libels, spreading lies, distorting reality and brainwashing people into hating Israel and the Jews.”

— Ayelet Shaked, Israeli politician and minister of Interior

Note: All the above quotations are from BrainyQuote.com.