American Hate by Arjun Singh Sethi

Author:Arjun Singh Sethi
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620973721
Publisher: The New Press
Published: 2018-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

The Daily Stormer, meanwhile, continued to mobilize its online army. They published additional articles about me and photoshopped an image of my older son and me at the entrance gate to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Anglin called for an armed march on Martin Luther King Day, and promised that they would march through town to protest “Jews” and “Jewish businesses.” The march would end at my home. The flier advertising the march featured my photo; another flier featured an image of my head being speared.

We ultimately stayed in Whitefish because we didn’t want to run. But we barely left our home the first few weeks. We locked the doors and closed the shades. We consulted the police and took security measures that I’m not at liberty to share. The local police constantly patrolled our neighborhood, and we were in close contact with the FBI. We were in a suspended state of shock.

The conversations with our children were really hard. I talked to them about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. All Jewish parents struggle with when to have this conversation with their children. I didn’t have a choice. They had to know their history. All of it. My ten-year-old son missed thirty days throughout the school year, and some of his teachers sent notes homes saying they were worried about him. He cried a lot. So did I.

The only reason I survived those few weeks and all that ensued was my community. From the moment I was attacked, they stood tall. The community set up a “love drive” and dropped off letters, cards, gifts, flowers, and baskets. People across the country and world supported us, too. They sent cookies and chocolates with messages like “Stay strong” and “We stand with you.” There was an outpouring of love from Jewish classrooms, Christian church groups, and day schools. A Muslim knitting group sent letters and called my children “heroes.”

A local advocacy group based here in Whitefish, Love Lives Here, also sprang into action and mobilized people in support of inclusivity and tolerance. In January, they organized the “Love Not Hate” rally, which drew more than five hundred people out in the frigid cold. Many local businesses joined the effort as well and put “Love Not Hate” stickers or menorahs in their windows. The Daily Stormer later published a list of these businesses and asked their readers to target them. These businesses were threatened and received bad reviews online. But none of them caved. They persevered and continued to stand by my side.

The community stood so strong that the armed march scheduled for Martin Luther King Day never happened. Nobody showed up. Instead, the community held a gathering of peace that afternoon during which they served a Jewish favorite, matzoh ball soup, to the entire community. Later that evening, the community held a concert, and a famous local musician and former political candidate, Rob Quist, dedicated a song to me, “Love Song for Tanya.” My family and I were overcome with emotion as we huddled around the laptop and watched the concert live on Facebook.

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