By Debra Z. Roth

It’s lurking out there. You can’t see it much in Falls Church City, but it’s inside many. Some people talk about it with the blinds closed and in whispers. Others imbibe a few drinks and then their voices rise before their friends tell them to keep their volume down low. Is it prejudice or is it misunderstanding?
Thank goodness for Falls Church City, a somewhat diverse, open-minded, progressive, and caring little place of ours. And thank you, Nick Benton, for asking me, again, my opinion about this destructive, horrifying, heartbreaking issue plaguing our world since October 7.

Inside our Little City live Muslims and Jews born here and from around the world — both sometimes from Israel, both sometimes with dual citizenship. When I returned from Israel and Egypt this fall, a week before the massacre, I was filled with joy after weeks of traveling within awesome beauty, relishing in pure fun and safe adventure, impressed with innovative inventions, and connecting with people of varied races, mixed marriages and cultures, religions, and the secular. A week later, my guy returned, twice in a bomb shelter which I had no idea existed in his family’s home, both of us shocked, grieving, praying, and overwhelmed with needs to help those in the crossfire, assure the safe and sound release of the hostages, and tend to the care of survivors, all of these including people we know.

Friends here and elsewhere not, or less, directly affected were stunned, of course, too. Texts, emails, and calls flooded in. Hugs were tight.

And then the antisemitism hit like a brick. And Islamophobia. Never did I expect to hear people shrieking, “kill the Jews.” Watching the hateful protests calling for the takeover of Israel were bad enough, but to eradicate every Jewish person like attempted in the Holocaust, a time I never thought would come close to happening again despite the “never again” chants and my family’s lessons to my sister and me. Years ago I listed a cousin lost in the Holocaust into Israel’s Yad Vashem and was grateful to my father, a WWII veteran, my country, and others who fought to assure such a horror would not touch my life, those I love, or anyone.

And I’ve abhorred Islamophobia. I’ve stood up for Muslims who were insulted and mistreated, told to “go back to where they came from,” and accused of being connected to the terrorists who attacked the United States on September 11th. And one of the reasons I chose to move here was because of the stand taken for Muslims by Falls Church City after that fateful day.

The world is upside down now. And much of it is because of dire misinformation, brainwashing, subconscious bigotry, and a desire to turn any kind of frustration in life into a screaming match to vomit the negative energy. Ask someone the source of their news report. Much of the time you’ll find it’s highly biased. If the source is reputable, review it. In many instances you’ll see it’s a news story taken out of context. Find out how those who came to hate another group of people or a country are so adamant about their hatred. It’s often based on lies they mistook as truth. Question them about why they are so angry they won’t listen to opposing views and you’ll find them looking for a scapegoat. Put it all together and you’ve got furious group think. Be curious, be calm, be educated, educate.

When the City of Falls Church Human Services Advisory Council produced a communications-based diversity workshop, “Tough Talks Can Bring Us Closer” in March 2022, we learned a great deal about what goes on in the minds of our community members. Even the most outspoken participants were like many of the quietest when it came to asking the questions that will help them better understand differences including in physical abilities, disabilities, gender and sexual choice, religions, and economic strata: nervous, afraid of offending. The simplest way past that confusion: Ask questions. If concerned about political correctness and the right words to use for the year, ask what that person prefers. Being woke needs to mean more than being sensitive to various lifestyles, it needs to mean being open-minded to those lifestyles.

So now as I think about the despair, I find hope partly because of Falls Church, our “Little City,” and its efforts and embrace. And if there’s one good thing that will come out of this hell, it’s that the world will right-side up to unity.

Debra Z. Roth is a communications professional for a variety of organizations and causes and is chair of the City of Falls Church Human Services Advisory Council.