Attending a Professional Conference in a Time of Rising Jew Hatred: My Game Plan |
Next week is the annual convention for the major organization in my field, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). I have been a NASP member since the late 1990s and have rarely missed this conference. The conference is something I used to look forward to, both for the learning and, increasingly, as a way to see former students and different professional friends I have made along the way.
I enter this year’s conference with decidedly mixed emotions. While not the focus of a federal investigation into antisemitism like the American Psychological Association (for more on APA, see here and here), NASP has not exactly been a model of Jewish support. On the positive side, NASP created an antisemitism task force approximately two years ago, and it seems like NASP may adopt some of this task force’s recommendations. Also, unlike many other professional organizations such as the American Anthropological Association and the Modern Language Association, there is no critical mass with NASP calling for BDS–yet. On the critical side, while NASP has invested much time and energy finding ways to include the perspectives of minoritized groups within its organizational structure–a positive development–Jewish voices are not represented in this structure at all, and several NASP leaders have published work–sometimes in NASP venues––that seeks to speak over Jews, supports violence against Jews, and informs readers that it’s OK to ignore Jews’ claims of antisemitism. It is unimaginable that NASP would tolerate this kind of work if other minoritized groups were targeted. It is for these reasons that, after being heavily involved with various NASP committees for more than two decades, I now question whether I should renew my membership. NASP does good work in other areas, and I believe it’s important for my field to have a strong national organization. However, it is difficult to stand behind an organization that does not stand behind me and seems so willing to put aside its stated social justice goals when it comes to Jews.
In an earlier blog post, I shared how much of my work in my field is about bringing social justice principles into practice and how, once people realized that my social justice values apply to my own people, this somehow put me at odds with many others who align with social justice, particularly younger colleagues. This kind of naked Jew hostility once blindsided me. Now, sadly, I have come to expect it. As such, heading into this year’s conference, which will include my giving a 45 minute talk on ways to support Jewish youth in preK-12 schools, I decided I need a game plan.
While there have always been Jewish NASP members–and other NASP members who support Jewish students–to the best of my knowledge there has never been an effort to demonstrate this support visibly. Through the generous support of the Academic Engagement Network (AEN) through its Faculty Against Antisemitism Movement, that will change in 2026. AEN has been kind enough to provide a group of approximately 100 Jewish school psychologists and allies with a mix of bracelets, pins, ribbons, and clothes with the message “School Psychologists Against Antisemitism” on them. We intend to distribute and display this statement widely, highlighting that Jewish students are not invisible and that there are many NASP members who care about their safety.
While I have never seen this happen at this conference, I think there is at least a small chance that people will seek to disrupt my presentation, either temporarily or for the whole duration. If this happens, while it would be tempting to rebut, my intention is to ignore. People who choose to come to sessions to yell at Jews with various antisemitic libels have made their choice and seem to feed off attention. Painfully, and with no apparent sense of irony, these disruptors often frame their Jew hatred within social justice language. If they confront me, my intention is to listen respectfully, make clear that I disagree, and get security if needed, but otherwise move on and not give them the airspace they seek. I will neither cower nor significantly engage.
Provide Action Steps and Resources
It may be naive, but I choose to believe that the overwhelming majority of my colleagues are not actively trying to harm Jewish youth, but they are not Jewish, may not have interacted with many Jews, and may simply need or want information regarding ways to support Jewish kids. In addition to providing basic information about Jewish culture and highlighting the need for systemic approaches, I plan to provide many resources and highlight a few key action steps. The first action step is that if you want to understand the Jewish experience, center Jewish voices. This idea is central to any mainstream model of social justice and cultural responsiveness, but often is missed when it comes to Jews. Jews are the experts in their own experience and if you want to support Jews, listen to us–and bring in resources from representative Jewish organizations. A second key action step is to embrace cultural humility. There is so much misinformation about Judaism, Israel, Zionism, and so forth. My hope for my colleagues is that they know enough to realize that they don’t know enough and that they enter spaces with Jews open to learning.
Obviously there is no magic formula to attending US-based professional conferences as a proud Jew, nor is there a magic formula for supporting Jewish youth in preK-12 settings. What works best for me may not be best for you. It also may well be that after next week’s conference, I will wish I had prepared differently or highlighted different key points in my talk. What seems very clear, however, is that Jews need to prepare in ways different than before as so many professional organizations have shown themselves to either be indifferent–at best–to Jewish safety or, at worst, openly hostile. Stay tuned for my reflection on this experience after the conference ends.