SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Emma walks into her Jewish high school for another day of class. She has attended Jewish school from a young age. But, as one of the few Jewish Latina students there, she had to battle criticism from classmates.
“The kids in my classes were not used to seeing someone that looked like me,” said Emma, who asked not to have her last name published. “It was simultaneously both ‘you can’t work with us because you’re brown,’ and then when it came time to apply to colleges, ‘Oh, you’re Latina, you’ll get in anywhere.’”
Some of those thoughts about minorities may start to go away. President Trump has decided to turn away from needless DEI initiatives.
On inauguration day, President Trump signed an executive order that got rid of “forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs.” Those changes have been slowly taking place over the past three weeks. The plan includes finding which companies use DEI plans and determining if they are useful. The order wants to eliminate all “radical and wasteful government DEI programs.”
Members of the Jewish community in Central New York have expressed mixed feelings about the changes. Emma said that she was upset after the decision but felt change was needed.
“Devastated to a level that I can’t explain after the Trump administration pulled that back,” Emma said. “But the other part of me understands that it needs to be reformed to better include certain groups that aren’t included.”
Rabbi Oren Steinitz,of Beth Sholom-Chevra Shas in Syracuse, said that DEI programs had issues but it was not worth dismantling completely.
“The fact that they could not consider Jews as a minority, that is a problem,” Steinitz said. “It doesn’t not mean that there’s any justification for this continual systematic discrimination of other minorities.”
Crime
In 2024, hate crimes towards Jewish people had risen almost 90% from five years prior.
The report from the state comptroller showed that there were 477 hate crimes against Jewish people in 2023 compared to 253 in 2018.
Jewish people were also the largest group that faced hate crimes. In New York, 40% of the crimes in this category were against the Jewish community.
Emotions
Steinitz said that one aspect many people do not fully understand is how Jewish people feel.
He said many are still hurting, especially in light of the recent annoucement by the Trump administration.
“I think that something that people outside the Jewish community and the Israeli community do not really understand is that for many of us Oct. 7 is still happening,” Steinitz said. “Until the last hostages are back we feel like we are still under attack.”
Emma said the community offered support after Oct. 7.
“For one week there was sympathy for the lives that were lost,” Emma said. “There was an understanding for those that were still missing and later turned out to be kidnapped and hostages.”
She said that conversation and change flipped almost overnight.
“The first day that Israel retaliated, almost about a week later … it all changed. All of that sympathy, and understanding and kindness immediately went away,” Emma said. “And we, and I say we collectively, I mean the Jewish community whether you were incredibly religious or just culturally Jewish became the enemy. Which I think is more concerning. People didn’t want to have a conversation about it anymore. They just wanted to be right.”
Conversation
Both Emma and Steinitz encouraged conversation to help try and solve some of these problems.
“I think what’s important is that it’s a dialogue not a debate,” Emma said. “A debate means Black and white, yes or no, right or wrong. A dialogue means action, discussing.”
Emma said she works to make it personal and connect with the person or people she is talking to when having these discussions.
“If I told someone that I was a Zionist I think immediately that would end the conversation,” Emma said. Now if I started and told you that on Sept. 1 of 1938, that was the last day that my grandfather ever went to school because then the war started that killed 6 million Jews. The one place they wanted to go at that time was Israel, but then they couldn’t. I think that might give you more of an understanding of why I feel the way I do about that country.”
Steinitz said whatever happens he believes in the future.
“Nothing lasts forever,” he said. “Nothing, no situation, no matter how deep we seem to be entrenched in carries on all the time.”
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Central New Yorkers respond to DEI changes from President Trump
Emma: If I told someone that I was a zionist I think immediately that would end the conversation.
Jackson Cowen: A conversation that becomes more polarizing all the time. According to Britannica zionism is the Jewish nationalist movement with the goal of the creation and support of a jewish national state in Palestine. For Emma it’s more than that.
Emma: Now if I started and told you that on Sept. 1 of 1938 that was the last day that my grandfather ever went to school becuase then the war started that killed 6 million Jews. The one place they wanted to go at that time was Israel but then they couldn’t. I think that might give you more of an understanding of why I feel the way I do about that country.
Cowen: Emma grew up in a household of different backgrounds. Her father Irish Catholic and her mother Jewish, she had to navigate through exclusion even as a child.
Emma: The kids in my classes were not used to seeing someone that looked like me.
Cowen: Emma was adopted and didn’t always look like other students at her Jewish school.
Emma: It was simultaneously both “you can’t work with us because you’re brown,” and then when it came time to apply to colleges “oh, you’re Latina you’ll get in anywhere.”
Cowen: However, with changing administrations and widespread executive orders Emma isn’t the only member of the Jewish community struggling. Just down the road from Syracuse University Rabbi Oren Steinitz says many Jews are in pain.
Oren Steinitz: I think that something that people outside the people outside the Jewish community and the Israeli community do not really understand is that for many of us Oct. 7 is still happening. Until the last hostages are back we feel like we are still under
Cowen: Steinitz says that problems are not only abroad.
Steinitz: Even here in town, there are campuses and there are DEI initiatives that really take into account the issues of anti-semetism. But many of them, basically told us, to our face, this is not for you.
Cowen: President Trump has signed executive orders to eliminate DEI initiatves from governmental organizations. Steinitz says the system, while not perfect, had good intentions.
Steinitz: Just the fact that they could not consider jews as a minority, that is a problem. It doesn’t not mean that there’s any justification for this continual systematic discrimination of other minorities.
Cowen: Even without an immediate solution, there is hope Not just for jews but for all.
Steinitz: Nothing lasts forever. Nothing, no situation, no matter how deep we seem to be entrenched in carries on all the time.
Cowen: Emma continues to live by her fathers words.
Emma: Be nice, make a friend, stay strong
Cowen: Jackson Cowen NCC News.