How can I stop my classmates antisemetic comments and insults?

Quite a few of my classmates have negative views about Jewish people and throw the term Jew around like a random insult. As a convert this upsets me, It got me so mad today that I punched this kid in my class who was saying all kinds of mean things. AND GUESS WHAT? I GOT SENT TO THE OFFICE AND GOT DETENTION. However had I said something bad about Christianity and he had hit me I would have been suspended. How can I stop it?

How can I stop my classmates antisemetic comments and insults?
I'm Jewish and I attended a mixed faith school; it was great APART from the anti semitism. On one occasion, a girl actually threatened to kill me once she realised I was Jewish. I can't even begin to tell you some of the spiteful remarks that were directed at me.





But here's the thing: we don't hit other people. I know you saw red and I TOTALLY understand, but physical violence is not the answer. You have to beat them using your BRAIN :)





Next time someone says something, there are many things you can say. You can remind them that Jesus was a Jew, if they're Christian.





Or you can just look them up and down and ask 'How does it feel to be a nasty little racist?'





You can also just walk away.





Personally, if this keeps happening, I suggest you speak to your parents AND a teacher. Your school has a DUTY to make the environment a safe and comfortable one for you. So you have to judge how bad the situation is; is it actual bullying? If yes YOU MUST REPORT IT.





It's a very tricky situation and I really do empathise. Hang in there; post any other queries :)
Reply:I understand why you got angry and upset. What I don't understand is why you allowed yourself to resort to physical violence instead of using your voice. You were wrong for throwing punches, even if you felt instigated into it by the words of some moron.





Aren't there written rules for your school about people making comments such as the classmates were saying? Did you inform the school principal or vice principal or even a teacher about the anti-Jewish insults and comments being hurled about and that you, as a Jewess, were offended? If not, then you didn't do what you could have to prevent a physical altercation.





I'm truly sorry that you endured this whole situation, and you're right that it's not fair. Next time, rise above them and take the high road. And remember that you can't really force someone else to change their behavior or attitude except leading by example.
Reply:You shouldn't assault him no matter what. You deserve this. And if you hit him, he had the right to hit you back and you would still get in trouble because you started the physical confrontation.
Reply:What they are doing is "bullying" which is not allowed at most respectable schools.





(However you really screwed up by hitting him. Now you have the reputation of being the bully and aggressor. )





Going from here, make a list of examples, who said what, in what context, when did he say it, what was the response of those around him, and witnesses who would be willing to tell the truth about what happened.





After you have 3-4 really good examples, go to the principle and tell him the bullying has to stop. Give him the examples WITHOUT naming names. If he insists on names, give them to him, along with the names of the witnesses.





If you want to use the system to resolve the problem, you need to be willing to take the heat for doing it.





However, if that does not solve the problem, then identify the ONE guy who seems to be the pack leader and worst than the rest. Then each time you can say something to him that no one else can hear, make a crack that will get him mad. Make sure no one can hear what you say but where they can see what happens. If a teacher is around, all the better.





Bullies usually can dish it out but can not take it. Do it enough and all of a sudden he will hit you and you can fall on the floor, yelling and getting attention. Then you can not only get him in trouble at school, you can file charges against him for assault and battery. Regardless of what is said, hitting someone is not acceptable.
Reply:Violence begets violence - so no sympathy from me on that point.





Secondly, I doubt there is any school in this country (the USA) that would tolerate the type of religious bigotry you say would happen at your school. Either you live somewhere else, or you are not clear as to the rules at your school.





Furthermore, I know they don't give out detentions in college, so you must be high school age or younger. This strikes me as awfully young for someone to have converted to Judaism, mostly because there is a lot of work involved %26amp; classes to take - it just seems like a huge undertaking for such a young person. You don't just make a general announcement to the world %26amp; proclaim you're a Jew, there's a serious educational process to go through.





Had you indeed studied to convert to Judaism, then you ought to be quite familiar with the persecution of Jews throughout the ages. You also seem to suggest that being a convert, you somehow have the 'right' to get angry - one actually has nothing to do with the other.





You need to speak with your rabbi about the problems in your school, see if you can get him to intervene. In the meantime, talk to your parents %26amp; get some anger management counseling, either individually or as a family.





Good luck!


HelenKeller
Reply:does the term "Jew" bother you? It is a pretty historical name for jewish people. If they say it in vain then brush it off. Everyone here has the freedom of speech which for some is the freedom to look/sound like an idiot.
Reply:kick them in the 'nads.
Reply:Beat the living **** out of those mini-Nazis.
Reply:Well you hit him, of course you will get detention. Nobody deserves violence and i am not defending him, but you should tell your teacher how you are being made to feel bad due to your religion. Any other religion was insulted and it would be a major thing, so why are you putting up with it? Tell someone and good luck
Reply:just talk to someone with authority.


if they don't do anything about it, then just tell your parents, they will probably have a talk with your principal and he will get in trouble for being an ignorant bigot.





if nothing, contact the news channel. they live for stories about racist teachers.
Reply:I have the same problem with students around me. Sadly, I believe the problem will never fully go away - it's human nature to discriminate and be intolerable of others unless we are fully educated on the topic.
Reply:Sticks and stones chickadee.
Reply:k, a couple of my friends are Jewish. I'm sorry to say, YOU can't do much about it. they won't stop. hitting them isn't going to make anything better. you should talk to a teacher, counseler, or principle. my friend did this and one kid actually got suspended. no one should be made to feel uncomfortable in a learning environment, and that's what school is. and how do you know that you would have been suspended? has it happened before? if so, do it. you can charge your school to a law suit for discrimination.





i pray power to you in this situation. i myself am protestant christian, but like i said, i am friends with several Jews and they are some of my favorite people. God bless you, and I hope that this gets solved. you have done little wrong here. just keep calm and go through the proper channels. that's actually something Jews are known for... come to think of it. :)





God bless
Reply:Hitting is wrong, period, and you know that. Don't ever let someone else bring you down to a level of behavior that is beneath you. If this is happening in school on school grounds, there is, in fact, much can be done. Racial slurs of any kind in a classroom are no longer acceptable. Zero tolerance. The school board needs to be made aware of this issue. If you can sit down and write us, you can sit down and write them. Do not make any excuses for your own poor behavior. Send a letter to each school board member. There are many avenues to end this. Start now.
Reply:This anti-semite , showing his hate and bigotry is bringing a curse down on his own head. The more you let him know it bothers you the more he will engage in it. Write these verses down and hand it to him in a note .





Dear _______(Bigot's name) Thankyou for the blessings. When you curse me you actually bless me and curse yourself... Hear the word of the God of Israel ...





The promise to Abraham and his seed the Jews: Genesis 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:





King David said this


Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle. I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude. Psalm 109:28-30





Balak King of Moab hired Balaam a wizzard tocurse the Jews.... Numbers 24:10 And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.
Reply:There's only one person you will EVER change - and that is yourself. Be the person that you are, and the kind of person a Jew is supposed to be - an example to others - and you can't go wrong.





Shalom from a fellow Jew-by choice :-) And hang in there!
Reply:idk. ive never found away. my school talks like that too. i just liek to embarrass them when they say something negative about a jew around me i saw.. hey.. you know im technicaly jewish and so is my family.. they usually turn red, and look away.
Reply:Ask them if they believe the Bible. When they say yes, tell them about this verse in which God tells Abraham how he rewards or punishes the way that people treat or talk about Abraham's descendants (the Jews, obviously):





Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee.





Oh and the other answerer is right. Quit punching people. It makes you look as bad as them. (Though you're not cursed by God for talking bad about the Jews, so you still have it better than they do.)
Reply:You cannot stop the ignorance and control the actions of other people. Hold yourself to a higher standard; half the reason why they are targeting you may be because they know they will get a reaction out of you. Go on with your education; don't be bothered by their actions.
Reply:Just ignore their ignorance. Focus on your education, and let the ignoramuses do what they do. They just feel insecure, and are seeking a way to give their selves a sense of value.
Reply:Next time, don't give these creeps the benefit of a defense. Go straight to the principal and demand to speak to him/her. Let him/her know what happened, how it's not only very inappropriate but also illegal and if nothing is done about it you will seek legal counsel.
Reply:Tell the administration that you don't like it and they need to do something. Tell your teachers that it bothers you as well, then they can keep an eye out for this kind of thing.
Reply:bring the attention to your principal. if that doesnt work , bring the attention to your parents and they will take steps toward stopping te situation .
Reply:Sometimes in life you do what you have to do and sometimes it gets you sent to detention.





Since you have the time to read, you might enjoy reading Henry David Thoreau. Then find out if your classmate tires of using anti semetic language before your school administration tires of sending you to detention over and over again.
Reply:Don't bother dear, antisemitic comments or insults are the food of anti-Semites. Ignore and let them eat till satisfaction. Some one must feed them; if not us, who? If not now when? And if we are only for ourselves who are we?
Reply:Most prejudice is a result of ignorance (or a lack of understanding) Kids can be cruel, taunting others to fit in with the crowd. Then when they get to college, everyone wants to be different and unique.





We are all alike in some ways, different in other ways. It takes some kids longer to learn this, and respect each other's differences. I'm not saying accept bad behavior. Just realize, their action says more about them ( they're insecure) than about the person they're taunting.
Reply:YOUR ASSUMPTION ABOUT YOUR TREATMENT BEING BASED OF RELIGION IS WRONG. YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO ATTACK THE PERSON PHYSICALLY
Reply:"However had I said something bad about Christianity and he had hit me I would have been suspended."





Assumptions...





Anyway, you can't stop them yourself. You have to take this to the teacher.
Reply:Now he knows how to get under your skin and you better believe he will be throwing more insults your way. This is where you can be a better person then him. I was like you when i was younger i let everything get to me until my grandmother told me how to get to them without saying a word. She said when someone is trying to get you mad just laugh at them what it does it turns it around onto them and people around you will start to laugh to and he will get so mad. I do that when I'm driving and someone does something stupid i just laugh at them and they get so mad at me that i get the finger alot and that's even funnier to me.


Try it the next time and see what happens. You will still get upset when he says somethings to you but hold it back and laugh.
Reply:Next time anyone hassles you about being Jewish, (I am half Jewish, on my mother's side) refer them to this list, and print it out and pass it out. If they can go without ALL things on this lilst, then let them rant.











Robert Adler remote control Zora Arkus-Duntov co-designer of Corvette sports car Herman Aron[citation needed] invented the electric meter Ralph Baer video games console "Simon" Lodewyk van Berken scaif 1456 diamond polishing wheel Emile Berliner inventor of gramophone Samuel Blum co-inventor of laser eye surgery LASIK Baruch Blumberg and Irving Millman vaccine for Hepatitis B Gustav Bucky radiologist bucky grid x-ray Joel Davidson 100% solar powered vehicle = co-inventor 1954 Carl Djerassi[1], Gregory Pincus[2], and Frank Colton[3] oral contraceptive, antihistamines Paul Eisler inventor of printed circuit board Gertrude Elion anti-leukemia drugs Nobel Prize (1988) in medicine zovirax Sam Fedida inventor of Viewdata 1971 Joel Engel co-inventor of cellular technology Joseph Friedman inventor of flexistraw Dennis Gabor holography Nobel Prize (1971) in physics Uziel Gal "Uzi" sub-machine gun Joseph Gerber phottoplotter phottocatter Gerber variable scale Charles Ginsburg video tape machine Donald Glaser bubble chamber Noble Prize (1960) in physics Leopold Godowsky and Leopold Mannes Kodachrome [citation needed] Emanuel Goldberg contact camera Zeiss Sylvan Goldman shopping cart Peter Carl Goldmark vinyl record Bernard Gordon[citation needed] founder of Analogic Corporation Ruth Handler Barbie doll Julius Hess incubator for premature babies the world's first nursery 1922 Basil Hirschowitz flexible endoscope Gabriel Iddan video-camera-in-a-capsule (swallowable) Theodore von Karman father of supersonic flight Charles Kelman cataract surgery Rudolf Kompfner inventor of traveling wave tube Arthur Korn[4] forerunner of the fax machine Harold Kosoff free piston engine %26amp; battery powered baby swing Raymond Kurzweil Reading Machine Melvyn Jérémie Lafitte inventor of non-invasive ANS monitoring Hedy Lamarr spread-spectrum radio technology Edwin Land Polaroid camera Robert Langer transdermal delivery systems Jerome Lemelson inventor 500 patents Levi ben Gershon inventor of Jacob's staff Julius Lilienfeld inventor of transistor 1920 Theodore Maiman co-inventor of LASER Siegfried Marcus mobile gasoline combustion engine 1870 Hinda Miller co-inventor of the first sports bra Jogbra Michel Mirowski and Morton Mower implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, or ICD Georges Montefiore-Levi the inventor of phosphorus bronze Pedro Nunes mathematician inventor of the Nonius Stanford Ovshinsky amorphous solar cells Jacob Rodrigues Pereira deaf-mute language Ron Popeil owner of Ronco; father of infomercials (Jewish father) Jacob Rabinow inventor Vice President of CDC scanning and sorting machines Johann Philipp Reis inventor of telephone (a word that Reis coined) Robert Rines invention of sonogram sonar Harold Rosen geosynchronous satellite Samuel Ruben inventor of Duracell mercury batteries Benjamin Rubin vaccination needle Reinhold Rudenberg electron microscope Nahum Salomon manufacturer of bicycles; saccharin industry; introduced sewing machine in England Arthur Schawlow co-inventor of LASER MASER Nobel Prize (1981) in physics (Jewish father) Abraham Schreiner cracked petroleum kerosene Boryslaw Galicia David Schwartz inventor of Dirigible Zeppelin Raymond Scott sequencer portable synthesizer Joseph Slepian Westinghouse Electric Corporation = ADR Joel Spira solid-state electronic dimmer Leo Sternbach invention of Valium and Librium Hoffmann-La Roche Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis blue jeans Leo Szilard co-invented nuclear fission reactor 1955),First nuclear reactor 1942, with (Enrico Fermi),Patent Electron Microscope (1931)


Max Tishler poultry disease antibiotic synthesizing of B2 Lillian Vernon catalog innovator Selman Waksman streptomycin Nobel Prize (1952) in medicine Joseph Weber ammonia microwave amplifier, Paul Zoll co-inventor of external pacemaker and monitor
Reply:sew their mouths shut so that whenever they try to speak they injure themselves... hate is cyclical.