Oakland Since October: Fighting Hamas, Slogans, and Antisemites
Oakland, California prides itself on being the epitome of diversity and inclusion as a city and as a community. The treatment of Jewish people living here after October 7th has been anything but. My school life had been taken up in a flurry of Instagram stories and spray-painted walls. Freeway signs full of Zionism Kills and antisemitic rhetoric fill every waking moment. Slogans written in red, green, white, and black on every street corner; flooding my vision, making my life and the lives of my peers unsafe.
On Wednesday, December 6th 2023, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) teachers held an unauthorized sit-in to condemn Israel and teach the students about Palestine. Over 70 teachers taught the available lesson plans in their classrooms. These books taught that to chant “Intifada” was equivalent to rising up and advocating for yourself. These books taught that Zionists were bullies and oppressors, that the Jewish people had no place in the Middle East. As teachers around my district prepared these plans, I was establishing the first Jewish Student Union that my school, Oakland School for the Arts (OSA), had ever seen.
The Board of Students of Color (BSOC) at my school was hosting an Affinity Fair. As a newly created affinity group I was eager to take part. Instead, I was met with questions: “Are you sure that having a JSU is a good idea right now?” “Do you maybe have… someone darker that you can send to represent the Jews at this school?” As a Persian, Israeli, Jew this infuriated me. Was my skin color not good enough? Did I really have a place at school? After weeks of this dispute, we reached common ground. On November 29th, two days after the Oakland City Council Meeting where support for Hamas went viral, (source JCRC Bay Area) I lit up a giant blow up menorah in the middle of Downtown Oakland. In the face of visceral antisemitism, the faculty and community at OSA supported their Jewish students and our identities.
This was not the end of my fight for Jewish voices in the school. A group of students got together to hold a discussion about Israel and Palestine. I was the only Jewish person in the room. I was the only Israeli in the building. My opinions and stories shocked the others. When met with the comment “Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism” I opened their eyes to the treatment of Jewish people worldwide. I bashed the notion that all Jews are white, that Israel is an apartheid, and helped to redefine what Zionism meant in their eyes. I proved not everything they had read off social media was fact and should never be treated as such.
There is so much misinformation circulating every day. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area I have felt isolated as a Zionist, and I knew that I would be happier studying abroad in Israel with Alexander Muss High School in Israel (Muss). Both of my grandmothers are Israeli. The connection to my homeland is stronger now than ever before and I needed to be back with my family and Jewish community. While at Muss, my hope is to deepen my knowledge of Israel, both in ancient history and in modern day. Jewish culture brings us together and I know that being in the land of Israel will allow me to understand it fully.
My goal for the JSU is to create a safe space for the Jewish students at OSA. Somewhere for people to come to celebrate Jewish culture and traditions but also feel comfortable to talk about the current struggles that they are facing. Going to Israel will equip me with a lived experience that I am more than ready to share with my peers. By founding a JSU we’ve taken small steps towards unity and inclusion. As an Impact Fellow and a young Jewish leader I am aware that there is so much more for us to achieve. We must continue to provide space for Jewish kids to feel safe to express themselves. Upon my return I will persist in the fight against antisemitism and hate speech in the SF Bay Area.
Maya Engel, Impact Fellow, Fall Semester 2024