If it walks like a duck. If it quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck …. except in Smithfield, RI.
Over the last few weeks what has been unfolding in that community is an incident involving a freshman footballer, who happened to be Jewish, and a number of senior members of the football team. Allegedly, five senior football players locked a Jewish freshman teammate in a bathroom, sprayed him with Lysol, and yelled antisemitic slurs, according to the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.
How it was handled by the school administration, mainly Superintendent Dawn Bartz, has come under severe criticism and is being investigated by local officials, and the attorney general. Initially, the superintendent suspended the five footballers from the team, reinstating them in time to play the next game.
Eventually, after considerable pressure, the school committee suspended Bartz, with pay, as they began their investigation, of what the school committee described as a hazing incident.
The lawyer for the football players said their actions were not antisemitic, but a hazing incident that was meant to be camaraderie-building.
No mention of antisemitism.
Nearly 90 years ago in early November, there was the Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht), as Nazis launched a 24 rampage against Jews across Germany.
I was struck by one account on Facebook a few years ago of someone’s uncle, who was 13 at the time (the boy in Smithfield, perhaps 14 or 15) who was locked in the sanctuary of Berlin synagogue (the boy in Smithfield, a bathroom). The gas line feeding the eternal light in the synagogue was cut so the gas would pour into the sanctuary (Lysol sprayed into the bathroom in Smithfield).
If it walks like a duck… Why is it that the school committee and others are so reticent about using the word antisemitism, at a time when antisemitism is rising rapidly around the globe?
This was allegedly an antisemitic act, maybe hazing, but certainly an effort, if true, of trying to replicate conditions that were among the most horrific ever seen on this planet.
Why is it today that we are quick to dismiss so callously acts of antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism or discrimination against anyone.
Across Rhode Island, educators should seize upon this incident as an opportunity to teach, reinforce, instill in every student an understanding that racism of any kind is absolutely not tolerated.
No second chances here.
We have elements in this country that are thriving on division, racism in all its forms, for personal gain, be it monetary or simply for power. We can begin to turn that around in our schools, where there should be zero tolerance for anything that even resembles racism.
Today, at a time of rising antisemitism, we must reject hate in all its forms. Never Again must always mean Never Again.