You can run, but you can't hide -- from hate
SAN DIEGO -- Whenever I get angry and frustrated that Mexicans and Mexican Americans are blamed for America's afflictions, I try to remember that there is another group that has had it much worse for much longer.
For 5,000 years, Jews have been the world's favorite scapegoats. Lose a job, blame a Jew. Your son didn't get into Princeton? It's the Jews' fault.
I remember a Jewish friend from Mexico telling me one day over lunch that Jews have always been taught to keep their passports handy. When things come apart, who do you think people will blame? You have to be ready to run.
It's for different reasons that people run to this city by the sea. This is probably the world's priciest colony of refugees.
Folks from around the country relocate to "America's Finest City" to escape harsher realities elsewhere. Some move here from Phoenix to get away from the blistering heat, or from Chicago to put cold winters behind them. Others come for the ocean vistas or quality of life, and to feel the sun in every season.
San Diego is the leisure capital of America. In the nearly 15 years that my family and I have lived in a suburb here, I've noticed that many of our friends and neighbors who gather at pool parties would rather talk about sports and vacations than religion and politics.
We're hiding from violence and intolerance -- and, by extension, the violence fueled by intolerance. Most of all, we come here to hide from hate. Since this laid-back city is located in a blue state, we assume that we won't have to deal with bigots who hassle us because of who we are, what we look like or where we worship.
But we were horribly wrong. Hate found us.
A behavioral expert recently said out loud what many of us have been thinking as we learn more about 19-year-old John Earnest, a young man blinded by anti-Semitism.
"He's the kid next door," said Mark Kalish, a San Diego-based forensic psychiatrist. "That's the scary part."
...continued
