It's often said that America is a melting pot. Various different cultures, races, and ethnicities all gather together to make this country their home. Of course, it isn't a picture perfect experience. Racism and bigotry are still facets of our culture that keep getting passed down from one generation to the next. A lack of education mixed with hateful intentions make for a pretty toxic environment. Many groups unfortunately still fall victim to such an environment.

Earlier this week, a Jewish family was slashed by a knife-wielding man in New York City. The couple was walking their baby near Battery Park when the incident occurred. The attacker was on parole after being jailed for attempted murder. All three family members were treated for minor injuries and are expected to fully recover. Police are investigating the incident as a possible bias crime.

Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City, has yet to address the attack. The majority of news coverage on this attack has come from either local New York outlets or Jewish media outlets.

This isn't an uncommon occurrence. Hate crimes against Jewish people have been rising in recent years. Antisemitic hate crimes were at an all-time high in 2019. From my perspective, it felt like a Jewish person was attacked in New York City every week that year. Yet, throughout the past two years, the majority of attention seemed to remain in Jewish media outlets and local New York outlets.

Of course, it's not just in New York City and it's not just the Jewish community who is suffering. The Asian community has been the target of attacks for a very long time. I remember seeing several videos and photos on Twitter showing these attacks at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. All of these attacks pointed to Asian people being blamed for infecting people with COVID-19.

When it comes to Asian history, this is not a new form of anti-Asian racism. Asian people have been wrongly blamed for bringing infectious diseases to America before. This is a common form of racism that is directed towards Asian people. It wasn't until two months ago, however, that the media at large began focusing on these rising hate crimes.

It reached a fever pitch last month, when eight people were killed when a white man shot up an Asian massage parlor in Georgia. The suspect was charged with murder and a press conference, where Cherokee County sheriff's Capt. Jay Baker appeared to make excuses for the killer, caused outrage. So much so that Baker was removed from the case.

There were lots of other attacks towards Asian people as well. This included a pair of neighbors whose cars were set on fire and an attack caught on a security camera in broad daylight. The hashtag #StopAsianHate became trending on social media and celebrities began speaking about it. Solidarity with the Asian community was shown far and wide. Various social justice groups were aligning with the Asian community as well.

With their struggle being ignored longer than COVID-19 has been around, it was about time the masses showed Asian people support.

Both the Asian and Jewish communities have much in common. Yet, one community gets widespread mainstream attention, a trending hashtag, and alliance from other social justice causes. The other, however, has received none of those things. If you've been paying attention, it should come as no surprise that the Asian community fits into the former, while the Jewish community fits into the latter. So why is that? What could possibly be the reason our culture unanimously aligns with one group and not the other?

Well, part of it has to do with the fact that the media can politicize the stories of anti-Asian racism. It's part of, at least this current strain, our country's unintelligible grasp of COVID-19. The pandemic is obviously a hot topic that dominates headlines every day. From our former President's mishandling of it, to the vaccines trying to control it, to stimulus checks helping people financially cope with it. This cycle of stories fits right into the narrative and maintains the public's attention.

Another reason why antisemitic hate crimes don't get the attention they deserve lies in our culture's current brand of social justice activism. While I support Black Lives Matter as a movement, the organization is another story. Some within the organization have previously echoed statements made by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. The BDS movement seeks to pressure institutions to financially boycott Israel. While the BDS movement claims not to be antisemitic, they fail the three D's of antisemitism test.

The three D's test differentiates between criticism of Israel and antisemitism. Those three D's are demonizing Israel, delegitimizing Israel, and holding Israel to double standards. BDS has not only engaged in all three, but promote Israel being wiped off the map by chanting, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." This brand of antisemitism has snuck its way onto college campuses with groups like Students For Justice In Palestine (SJP).

In 2014, the SJP chapter at NYU slipped fake eviction notices under the doors of rooms at a mostly Jewish dormitory. The group claimed to be calling attention to Palestinian home demolitions, but students said the felt targeted because they were Jewish.

Jewish On Campus is an organization founded by Isaac de Castro and Julia Jassey. The organization's Instagram account is filled with horrifying anonymous accounts of antisemitism on campus. This helps give broader context to Jewish students' experiences and how this anti-Israel bias helps perpetuate an unsafe environment.

People might wonder what this has to do with the attacks on Jewish people in America. I believe they're very connected. When a freshmen enters college, they might not know a lot about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They might not know anything at all. They get their information from a biased, misinformed, hateful group of students on campus. These freshmen could also be uneducated on the antisemitic tropes being used throughout this so-called "activism."

These young people become indoctrinated into taking part in antisemitic actions and develop a hatred for Jewish people as a result. Then, when they graduate college, they go out into the world and spread their hate around. They go into politics, they go into media, they go wherever they can and blow their air horn for all to hear. When you read the accounts of antisemitic attacks on campus that don't mention Israel, I don't think it's a reach to say the attacks on the streets of Manhattan are coming from the same place.

I believe if we're going to combat our country's problem with antisemitism, we must start with the hatred on college campuses. College is supposed to be a time when students can learn, open their minds, and get rid of their family's prejudiced ideas. It isn't supposed to be a place where they're corrupted, attacked, and silenced, all in the name of "activism." The good news is, progress is being made.

The student government at Syracuse University recently passed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism on their campus. This definition, among other things, makes a clear distinction between acceptable criticism of Israel and antisemitism. Many who want an excuse to continue being antisemitic have tried to claim the definition does otherwise, but many support this bill. Among those who have showed support is the Biden administration.

There are also other organizations on campus like Students Supporting Israel (SSI) and New Zionist Congress. The latter is a new organization founded by Isaac de Castro and Blake Flayton, two leaders in the fight against antisemitism on campus. Their mission is not to pressure other groups to "include Jews in their activism," but to start a new movement all their own.

"We will not beg for scraps in exchange for a seat at a hostile table," their website's mission statement reads. "We must no longer try to convince anybody of our humanity. We know our humanity. We're not interested in false interpretations of our history. We know our history."

There's also a shift in progressive politics. In recent years, we've seen new liberal faces like Georgia senator Jon Ossoff and Bronx representative Ritchie Torres. Both of these men show a welcoming, refreshing support for Israel on the progressive side. It counters the antisemitism of AOC and her squad, who routinely express their anti-Israel bias and use antisemitic tropes in their language. Andrew Yang, who is currently running for Mayor of New York City, also supports Israel and condemns BDS. Yang was also one of the few non-Jewish voices who spoke about the slashing that occurred this week.

The Asian and Jewish communities not only deserve justice, but to be treated with dignity and respect. People shouldn't sit back and allow such heinous acts to go on without doing anything. More people should be paying attention and if you see something, say something. Call the police. Spread the word.

While it took a while for people to rightly start paying attention to anti-Asian racism, it eventually happened. The Jewish community is still mostly ignored. They deserve the same thing and it's long overdue. I believe the Asian and Jewish communities should unite and sound the alarm on this issue together. Let's not allow misinformation and bigotry to continue this cycle. As many others have already said, hate is a virus and we must contain it before it's too late.