The Perspective of a Jewish Chicago Teen
It’s been a hard time for Jewish teens across the Chicagoland area. Casey Luchs, a senior at Walter Payton High School and one of our JCC Chicago teens, shares her experience following a recent sit-in at school. Her powerful essay sheds a light on how she feels to be a Jewish teen today. JCC Chicago is a safe space for everyone in our community, especially our teens. We prioritize our teens’ mental health and provide resources through our full-time Social Services and Teen Mental Health Committee. If you want to connect with our Social Services team or get access to mental health resources, contact Sam Savin.
I went to school today to learn and if we are going to be honest as a second semester senior, because I had to. I did not come to school today to hear antisemitic rhetoric and to feel like an outsider in my own school community. Wherever you walked you could hear the chanting. It was loud and disruptive. While no students or faculty were injured, the protest was simply not peaceful. Not one Jewish student’s mind was at peace today and the words yelled were not peaceful.
Calls for “if we don’t get no justice, they won’t get no peace” were unavoidable as I walked from 2nd period to 3rd period shaking. I was looking around anxiously at everyone else’s reactions to what I was seeing and hearing. I sat through an AP class unable to focus on the content because I was scared. Scared that I might lose friends today, scared that my Star of David necklace might stick out a little more than usual today, and if we are being completely honest, scared to exist as a Jew in my high school. I felt frustrated that my day, which should have been used to prepare for upcoming AP tests and excitement about college decisions, was completely changed to a day filled with dread and discomfort.
After 45 minutes, the sit-in which promised to only be 30 minutes continued. And as my Lunch period began and the conversations regarding the sit-in commenced, I realized everyone around me neither understood or cared to hear what I thought, and I proceeded to panic. I was in a circle of many, but I sensed I was very alone. Rarely put in a situation where I disagree, I was lost about how I should behave and what my place was in this conversation. I texted the only other Jew I knew who was still at school, most felt the best decision for them today was to be at home, and decided we both needed a break. We walked through the halls with stares from teachers and students alike who, in my mind, knew exactly why we were together. After a productive chat in the hallway, we had nowhere else to go and as we frantically searched for a quiet place to avoid conflict with friends, teachers, and the stress of a challenging day I heard “Never again is now.” Of everything I heard today, this felt different.
As the granddaughter of a holocaust survivor, “Never Again” has been instilled into me through years of family stories and Sunday school. “Never Again” is the ideal that Jews will never face the antisemitism, fear, and death they did during the holocaust. We as Jews work to ensure that the horrors of the holocaust are taught so its history will not repeat. This rhetoric is correct for today; however, it was used incorrectly.
Yes, Never Again is Now. Jewish students are unsafe in academic institutions the same way we were only decades ago. Jews are hiding as glass is broken the same way we were on November 9, 1938. American Jews are unable to keep their minds off their international family being held hostage and killed just the same as it was not so long ago.
And I, as a Jew right now, have never felt so strongly Jewish in both my conviction and my fear.
So as most Chicago Public School students heard one side of a complex and easily misunderstood issue today, I urge you to hear another. Listen to your Jewish friends. Have meaningful conversations, maybe our thoughts are more similar than you might believe. Understand that there are so many people who are personally affected by the conflict from every side of the political, religious, and cultural spectrum that one side of the story is very simply not enough.
Casey Luchs is a senior at Walter Payton College Prep where she serves as a Jewish Student Connection (JSC) club leader. She will attend the University of Washington in the fall. Casey is also a Diller Teen Fellow Alumna from Cohort 10.