God I hate Jew Jokes
So I know that this can be very sensitive subject for some. Some people don't understand the useless shame that Jews and, in my case, half Jews. See, my mom is Christian and my dad is Jewish. My dad is extremely reformed. While he did have a bar mitzvah, he hasn't gone to a temple is entire adult life. I was baptised Lutheran. I live in a small town in Iowa, and while we have a lot of diversity here, there are next to no Jews that live here. I am the only one in my grade/school who is even close to Jewish when in reality, I only celebrate Hanukkah. I've experienced teachers assuming I know more than I do for a majority of my schooling. In 7th grade we learned about the two World Wars. Due to this my teacher kept asking me questions about stuff I knew nothing about including Hebrew, the tourra, and what temple is like. I never knew this teacher before, and quite frankly I was confused because I didn't know how she knew. I never mentioned it because to me it was normal. In 8th grade English we had a reading unit over World War Two. We read "Night" and my teacher asked me similar questions that I was asked just a year ago. I felt like I was put on the spot about it. They tiptoed around me when talking about the torture the Jews went through in the camps, and I felt ostichized. People assumed that the subject just hit too close to home and that's why I was acting off, but it was because I felt singled out and patronized because I was half Jewish. In 9th grade Spanish 1 class we were discussing a Mexican holiday. My teacher explained that there were no holidays celebrated in the U.S that lasted anywhere close to this holiday. (Sorry I don't remember what holiday it is.) One girl in my class pointed out that Hanukkah lasts 8 days. Of which then my teacher suddenly turns to me, points at me, and forcefully stays, "You're Jewish!" I've never been more caught off guard. I felt like a deer in headlights. I cautiously went on to explain the history of Hanukkah. I was scared because I didn't know half of the people in that class and I didn't know what they would do. I don't remember a time before Jew jokes plagued my school district. I didn't take notice until 7th or 8th grade. People would make Hitler jokes, they would draw swastikas in textbooks and on desks, and they would make holocaust jokes. Sometimes they did this to my face. For the past 2 years (9th and 10th grade) I have had to try and "justify" myself. I have to defend myself by pointing out that I am baptized Lutheran. It hurts. I haven't done anything wrong. People think they are making jokes, but saying "dirty Jew" is not a joke. I put up with it fairly well. Then one day at lunch, the people I call my friends, were making a joke that crossed the line. They were saying stuff along the lines of "The Holocaust is the Jews excuse/ is the Jews second Hanukkah". I told them to stop and that they were going to far, but the just wouldn't stop. Even the friend I consider my brother was taking part. I ended up leaving lunch after 5 minutes. I eventually started hurting from being hungry. I just felt like crying and puking at that point.
