Mistaken Identity Hate Crime
I wasn’t expecting 2021 to be a great year. Given what 2020 was like, I thought 2021 would be at best a year of slow recovery, at worst a year where a load more bad things happened. But of all the bad things that I thought could happen in 2021, I didn’t expect being the victim of an anti-semitic hate crime to be one of them, mainly because I’m not Jewish.
One Sunday morning recently, I went out to clean our car, rarely used during the pandemic, and noticed some clearly deliberate scratches. Closer inspection revealed the word “Jews” had been scratched into the door. In fact the words “Jews O”, which we speculated might have meant the culprit was trying to scratch “Jews Out”, before being disturbed (you can sort of see it in the picture above, if you squint)
The most likely explanation is that this was a random act, similar to painting graffiti on a wall, our car was just a surface that happened to be available for someone who wanted to do something shocking of offensive. Our car is hidden from view from our house by two massive bushes, so it could have been the easiest target in the street.
It is hard though to escape the feeling that it could have been targeted at us deliberately. As I say, we’re not actually Jewish, but could someone think that we are? It’s not inconceivable, but it’s hard to imagine someone could take a look at us, decide we were definitely Jewish, and act upon that belief. My mind couldn’t help wandering through horrific possibilities. What if this was just the start of a series of attacks? I envisaged swastikas drawn on our house, windows smashed, even my family being attacked. The fact it was a case of mistaken identity would not be any consolation.
For probably the first time since we bought our house nearly 5 years ago, I didn’t feel safe. We’ve never had any kind of serious trouble or crime. Our street is fairly quiet, but does serve as a cut through from a main road to the centre of the nearest suburb, with a small concentration of pubs and restaurants, so does get people passing through. The worst that has come of it previously is a bit of drunken shouting from people on their way home, or teenagers mucking about on their way to the park.
The anti-semitism though, feels like part of a worrying trend, not just worldwide, but locally. I don’t think the city where I live is particularly more racist than anywhere else, but there has always been a small but vocal far right element. Recently in our area there has been some quite severe anti-lockdown graffiti and stickers (“Kill all lockdown supporting MPs” being a particularly brutal example). Admittedly anti-lockdown doesn’t imply far right, but as I also saw a sticker supporting Ashli Babbitt who died attacking the US Capitol, I think it’s a fair assumption to make
Despite the initial worry and fear, I soon calmed down. We reported the incident to the police, and got the scratches, fortunately not too deep or large, fixed. Within a few days it was largely forgotten about in our household, because ultimately, I’m lucky. I’m a white, straight, cis man. I’ve never had to worry about hate crimes being directed against me (I was once knocked out for being a student, but that hardly compares), and probably never will again. Even if some weird mistaken identity hate campaign was waged against me, I could ultimately move elsewhere and know that there was no reason it would happen again.
If I was actually Jewish, (or Black, or gay or trans) I imagine it would be impossible to feel completely safe from hate. I’m not an idiot (I hope), nor completely devoid of empathy, so I already knew that to be the case. I have to admit though, it feels different. To have experienced that fear, that lack of safety, even if just for a few hours or a couple of days, and then think about how it would feel if your people had been persecuted across centuries. It makes me realise I focus too much in my own safety, and too little on those who do not and can not feel safe.
