[LP]

I lived there for a time, including the three day riot when one Jew was killed, and lots of damage was done. Hearing ‘kill the Jews!’ from your living room window does not encourage open-ness and community feeling. Seeing cars overturned and on fire makes you feel unsafe. When all of these actions (without exception) are done by those you live near, that is doubly frightening. The response is to turn away, not to trust. Does that mean I did not trust all blacks there? No, there were certainly those I interacted with on cordial neighborly terms. But there were also those who were hostile to me without any provocation, threw glass bottles on the playground, used drugs at the kiddie park, or made threatening remarks for no reason. I am not from New York, nor did I come with any preconceived ideas about black people. I grew up seeing black librarians, teachers, and other professionals. I didn’t think of them any differently than I thought of a Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, etc. person. They were just another person. That changed during the time I lived in New York. Unfortunately. I don’t feel that way about all black people everywhere. There are black Jews in my synagogue, and we have normal interactions, as with everyone else in the congregation. There are lots of black Jews in Israel, ditto for that. It goes both ways, and feelings are not unprovoked.

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Name : LP, City : Pittsburgh, State : PA, Country : United States, 

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