Thursday morning, hundreds of Walt Whitman High School students walked out of class in support of their Jewish classmates. The protest came after the message Jews Not Welcome was spray painted on the school sign Dec. 17.
The event was held in the school commons and every space along each tier was filled by Jewish students, their classmate allies, teachers and staff members. It was organized by freshman Rachel Barold and a few other students. Three rabbis, Delegate Marc Korman and several students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, spoke.
Barold said the recent hate graffiti was not an isolated incident. A swastika was painted at Thomas Middle School, which is the feeder school to Whitman, she said. Also, she said, jokes and comment about Jews and the Holocaust are not rare.
“There’s been a huge antisemitism buildup. This was just naturally what had to happen next,” she said of the walk out.
She was pleased with the response, including the large turnout and the many speeches of support. “I was amazed with all the kids who came out and supported us,” she said.
She particularly was gratified by the non-Jewish speakers. Standing together with Jewish students doesn’t make you a popular person, she said, adding, “It can be scary.”
She was pleased with Principal Robert Dodd’s support, noting, “I feel very much like the administration and the teachers had our back.”
Rabbi Adam Raskin of Har Shalom in Potomac addressed the students. “There was a massive turnout,” he said. “It was a remarkable grass roots effort that came together in a short time,” Raskin said, calling the mood of the event “reflective.”
Several Jewish students spoke about having relatives killed or forced to leave their homeland during the Holocaust. Non-Jewish students spoke about being supportive to their fellow students.
Raskin said he spoke about how the “Holocaust was perpetuated not by fringe member of society, but people who were educated.” He also pointed out “many people looked the other way and didn’t say anything, because they weren’t Jewish.”
Raskin told MCM some of the youth in his congregation have told him, “It’s kind of become a thing to tell Holocaust jokes.” That is why he emphasized to the students, “Let’s get one thing straight. There’s nothing funny about the Holocaust.”
Delegate Marc Korman called it a “very supportive” event with many students getting up and speaking off the cuff. He felt a real desire to change the atmosphere in the school and surrounding community.
“As disgusting as the graffiti was, it’s important what goes on inside the school,” Korman told the students, urging them not to whisper about other people or tell jokes. “That needs to be improved,” he said.
Added Barold, “We want to work with MCPS. We challenge them to make the world a better place.”
Joined the Whitman Walk Out to stand up to anti-Semitism, organized by students. I was on hand with Rabbis from Har Shalom and Temple Sinai, but we mostly heard from the students. pic.twitter.com/QjKXgpxF0B
— Marc Korman (@mkorman) December 22, 2022
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This story was updated Dec. 22 at 4:10 p.m. to include comments from student organizer Rachel Barold.
