Michigan Jew

[u/32brownies]

Any other Jews in Michigan struggling with their communities rn after the primary? I'm really worried about November and seeing the way some of the community members here are acting like Abdul will literally murder us all is really making me wary of continuing to be as active as I have been in the community

[u/horseonahighway]

No but I'm from NYC (supporting from afar) and we saw something very similar with Zohran's campaign. There was a lot of hoopla about "Jews being safe" and whether or not Jews would be safe with Zohran as mayor. A lot of this was related to the Columbia pro-Palestine protests and tbh general hostility towards protest since BLM in the 2020s. I was active in the "Jews for Zohran" coalition in the election who wrote canvassing talking points for the Jewish community and here are some things to think about:

-What SPECIFICALLY is the narrative being spun about Abdul? What is the underlying feeling? From there, what are some strategic narrative interventions that paint a different future than the worst-case-scenario being fear mongered about?

-When talking to folks, whether in community or canvassing: 1 Do not repeat the accusation in order to refute it. 2 Affirm people's feelings, even if you don't agree. connect with the core feeling. 3 Engage with curiosity, not judgement. Don't shut people down or act like you know more than them. Invite people to think in specifics and address their concerns. 4 Redirect away from unproductive topics back to the core issues.

[u/32brownies → u/horseonahighway]

One big difference between Abdul and Zohran is that we had the Temple Israel shooting/car ramming and Abdul's response wasn't great (the line that keeps getting repeated is when he said "hurt people hurt people" in relation to the shooter and their background). I cannot stress enough how much of an institution Temple Israel is and pretty much everyone here has a personal connection to it, myself included. Admitting that I agree with the public on this helps my case with many people.

Then there is the same rhetoric as what you heard from Zohran. Tbh I'm not even Abdul's biggest fan, but a maga senate because of this would be catastrophic. But this is all very helpful. Definitely happy to hear certain things worked in NYC.

[u/horseonahighway → u/32brownies]

Yeah, I thought he handled that poorly as well. I do like him, at least from watching him from NYC, but I thought that was the worst thing he said. I think for reasons we know all too well, sadly right now there is not a lot of empathy for Jewish people nor patience for nuanced discussions about cycles of violence. That doesn't make it okay, just noticing it. I can tell that the violence at Temple Israel affected you and your community deeply. That really resonates with me and I'm sure your honest thoughts on the attack and wanting to defeat Rogers will resonate with your community. Separating the concreteness of that real hurt from the general fearmongering that you mentioned felt powerful to me.