This is what our world and our country are telling Jewish communities.

"Since 2000, there have been at least 7,650 anti-Semitic incidents in France." Although this number may seem small, to any degree, it's dangerous. Anti-Semitism is plaguing our nation. It just continues to get worse but we haven't had a definite answer as to why. According to the New York Times, anti-Semitic incidents in the United States alone have increased 57% in 2017. For a country that advertises freedom of religion, that's pretty discouraging.

What is even more discouraging is the high number of those that are taking place on campuses around the country. To list a few, Georgetown, Northeastern, and even our own Western Washington University are facing the ever-growing problem. At WWU, all of the books in the Jewish history section were vandalized. The books that were destroyed and vandalized were however replaced, but after that, students were not given any further details such as if the students were found, what this meant for our community or how the problem would be further investigated. It hasn't been heard whether or not the students were found or if they were held accountable and to what degree. There has been no call for justice here. Do we blame the institutions themselves? Not only the way they handle these situations, but also what they are doing to prevent it. There haven't been any assurance of preventative measures being placed for future incidents.

Had this been any other religion, would it have been so lightly tolerated? Our campus doesn't have a very large Jewish community, but does that mean we just ignore it?

It is our job as a community to give a voice to those who can't yell loud enough.

Just because the Jewish community isn't large at our campus, that does not mean those of us who have an influence in our other communities can stand by.

Whoever commits these acts may think they are doing good and fighting for a cause. However, it poses a safety risk to the students who are trying to peacefully practice their religion on our campus. The universities should be the most responsible in these situations, as a whole, they have the power to bring students together which revive student body relations as a whole community, while also creating higher tolerance toward our differences.

The coexist movement started 16 almost 20 years ago. People of all different cultures and backgrounds came together to find peace.

It's time we bring it back to our campus and our right to freedom of religion.