America? America Has a Problem
On a strange last couple days and the days ahead
We’re back!
Housekeeping notes: Next Tuesday (because Monday is a holiday), paid subscribers will be getting this month’s ET Ask Home, a monthly questionnaire.
There was no Political Cycle this week, but we’ll be back next week.
And: I don’t actually have News, Views, and Stuff About Jews for you this week. I had a very strange end of the week this week.
I went up to New York on Wednesday because I was planning to see the Beyoncé concert with my sister and a friend the following evening. Wednesday night, just before I went to sleep, I got a text from my friend Jake asking if I was okay. There had been a shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum. Two people were killed.
I think I am normally pretty good at not centering myself in events that aren’t about me. And this isn’t about me. It’s about the two Israeli embassy staffers who were killed and their friends and family. But I will admit that I’ve been very shaken by this. I live in Washington, DC. We are members of the Capital Jewish Museum. I’ve participated in events there as both a speaker and a guest/attendee. It was surreal and sad to see it in the news like this.
I spent most of Thursday writing and talking about this in one capacity or another. For the Forward, I wrote about how using language of social justice doesn’t magically turn a violent, antisemitic act into a just one. I am sad and, if I am honest, angry both at the denial that this could possibly be antisemitic or worth being upset about and at those rushing to use this to curb legitimate political speech and peaceful protest, even if both responses are predictable (that doesn’t actually make it better, and indeed in some ways makes it worse). I was explaining to someone why I did indeed consider this antisemitic via writing on the bus to the Beyoncé concert. I explained that I could follow up later, because I was on my way to see Beyoncé.
And I had the best time at the Beyoncé concert. The rain cleared up in time for the show. I choked up as she kicked off the show with “Ameriican Requiem,” The visual montages between sets were so smart and cohesive, so neatly drove home the reclamation of Americana, both the refusal to be boxed in by it or to be denied a part in it (I loved the one of Fox News hosts losing their minds that she made a country album that leads into “America Has a Problem”). She played my favorites from the new album (“Levii’s Jeans,” of course, but even “Just for Fun”) and even played “Irreplaceable.” We sang along and danced and laughed.
I don’t really have a smart way to conclude all this. America does indeed have several problems. We do, too. Still, I hope that you have a nice Memorial Day Weekend. I hope you get to enjoy something as much as I enjoyed that concert in between the sadness and anger and confusion. Ya ya, etc.
-ET
Grateful for both this post and your Forward piece.
I have been struggling all weekend with a thought that I think may be unfair but I am think maybe still worth sharing in the comments.
After reading your post I was struck by how American this tragedy was. An American victim, an American perpetrator, at the Capitol Jewish museum.
Now here’s the unfair thought I had:
A movement that can, at least in certain spaces online, support this shooting as legitimate political action BUT that failed to make even a media moment out of Ben Gvir’s visit to Yale 4 weeks prior is one that is, put most charitably , wildly mis-calibrated.
I think that is an unfair thought because the protesters at Yale have no connection at all to the individual in DC.
I think it is scary because my reaction under these circumstances would normally be to suggest that a movement needs clearer leaders OR those leaders need to clarify why this moment is not positive for their goals.
But just about anyone you might think of as a political leader or public figure on the left who might be expected to make a statement(Mehdi Hassan, Illhan Omar, Kat Abughazaleh etc.) forcefully rejected the shooter’s actions as illegitimate.
It seems to be the online commenting folks (however you want to take that these days) who are the ones driving the idea that this shooting was at all reasonable.
But I think all of that (the mis-calibrated protest movement, the internet commentary and the mistrust of authorities urging cooler heads) is a symptom of how every bit of international news is metabolized in the US as a way of talking about ourselves.
That’s not a new compulsion in the US but it seems supercharged with the return of the Trump admin.
I suppose this is mostly a very long winded comment saying:
I am glad, with some help from Beyonce and the holiday weekend, that you decided to focus this post on the US and not on Israel/Palestine/American Judaism. I think, for this story, there are a lot of reasons that is the most appropriate frame.