Katherine Martin
Politics Editor
On Wednesday following one of the deadliest attacks on the Jewish community in the United States, St. Michael’s college held a “Prayer service for Peace Among All Peoples.” The following Sunday, multiple players on the men’s basketball team took a knee during the national anthem at their season opener at the University of Vermont (UVM). They did so to honor the victims of the Jewish community, and victims of violence among other minorities.
At the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh on October 27, an armed man killed 11 congregants and wounded six others. This act of hatred was a dramatic reminder of the country’s recent rise in anti-Semitism, a movement surging 57 percent in 2017, the largest rise in
a single year ever recorded.
“I think we’ve tolerated it too long. It comes out now because it feels like it has a right to come out now more so than it has in the past,” said Rabbi James Glazier, a religious studies adjunct who led nearly 100 attendees in prayer alongside Rev. Brian Cummings, S.S.E.
The service took place in the Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel. Glazier said that while college campuses are the biggest source of anti-Semitism in the United States right now, he has always felt welcomed and safe on campus.
“The Catholic church has done the greatest job in eradicating institutional anti-Semitism than any other church body around the world and I think the school can be very proud of being a part of that tradition,” said Glazier. Four days later the men’s basketball team used their expedition game against UVM to kneel in protest against injustices such as the Pittsburgh shooting.
Besides the daily prejudices faced by African Americans, they chose to join in solidarity with those facing anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia and those impacted by the #MeToo movement. They protested for any American who has faced injustice, prejudice and discrimination, said the men’s basketball team in a video they released.
“The same kind of hate that spawns anti-Semitism could spawn anti-black, anti-Asian, anti-anything,” Rabbi Glazier said. “When you allow hate to permeate, no group is protected in the end.”