It’s 2022, and a man just walked into a bar in New York City dressed as a Nazi.
It sounds like the beginning of a sick joke, one of those jokes starting with, “A guy walks into a bar.” But I’m not laughing.
Since the beginning of October, a wildfire of anti-Semitic hate crimes has blazed across the country. It began with a series of tweets from musical artist Kanye West. But it has not stopped there.
The first of the many hate crimes to go viral occurred in Los Angeles on Oct. 24, 2022. A hate group stood on an overpass holding a sign saying, “Honk if you know Kanye is right about the Jews.” The men raised Nazi salutes.
Less than a week later, the same message was projected on a jumbotron after a Florida-Georgia college football game.
Last and certainly not least, a man entered a Manhattan bar dressed in uniform with a swastika on his right arm.
When West first tweeted his racist comments, many laughed it off with the assumption that there would be no lasting impact because it genuinely felt so outrageous. But when someone with his level of influence makes statements, the world listens. Not only do people listen, but they respond.
Many have brushed past the issue due to West’s bipolar disorder diagnosis, but this mindset has a myriad of problems. But anyone in the mental health community will affirm that mental illness is not an excuse for terrible behavior. Especially in someone like West, who is a grown adult with full ability and financial capital to seek proper treatment. Mental illness is not an excuse for a person to say the things that West said, like, “When I wake up, I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” We cannot allow mental illness to be a shield for West and anyone else to hide behind.
On Nov. 4, NBA star Kyrie Irving followed in West’s footsteps. Irving posted a link to an anti-Semitic documentary on his Twitter. As a result, he received a five-game suspension. According to BBC News, Irving said that he was “deeply sorry” for the “hurt and pain” that he had caused.
West did not share this apologetic attitude. Weeks after West’s tweet, interviewer Piers Morgan asked West if he regretted the comments made in his tweet. West didn’t let the question finish before interjecting with “No. Absolutely not. Absolutely not.”
We know what happens when prejudice goes unchecked. People of Jewish heritage have been at the receiving end of prejudice for centuries. Through horrific mass genocide, yes. But even in subtly racist character depictions and sitcom jokes.
It doesn’t matter if it’s subtle comments or direct threats of violence. Whether it is a random man in a bar, a professional athlete, or an A-List celebrity doesn’t matter. Racism is racism. Prejudice is prejudice. It may start small, but from history, it doesn’t always stay that way.
We have to hold anti-Semitism at every level accountable. We can’t brush it under the rug or find excuses to deflect responsibility.
A man walking into a bar dressed as a war criminal is not funny, and it never will be.
