By Mark David Blum, Esq.

I have a bullseye on my back. As a Jew, I have walked through my life knowing (and at times meeting) people are out there wanting me dead for no other reason than my religious beliefs and cultural upbringing. As the events at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. prove, some people are willing to die in their cause to bring death and horror to Jews everywhere. It was totally unnecessary for the Department of Homeland Security to issue an Alert that Right Wing Extremist Groups want to kill Jews. We already know that.

You can go as far back in history as you wish. Every step you take you will find movements afoot that seek the death and destruction of Jews. Even the Bible itself wherein the birth of the Jews is revealed, there are the tales of societies and people who want Jews dead. From the Egyptians to the Romans to Hitler himself, we have been targeted for pain and suffering for no other reason than the randomness of our birth. This is not a Christian / Jew conflict as hatred for my People predates Christianity by thousands of years.

This is why there is a State of Israel as a nation. There has to be a piece of earth somewhere where no matter who comes calling or whatever efforts are made, we as Jews can stand our ground and fight back. A line has been drawn in the sand. “Never Again” is our battlecry. Under no set of circumstances will Jews tolerate and allow ourselves to be the patsies of power hungry murderers. Hitler’s Germany was the last straw.

My heart goes out to the museum security guard who died defending sacred ground. He like many before him, was a martyr and hero whose deeds and life should never be forgotten. Not many will stand up and face bullets to defend Jews and our history. When they do, we hold their memories dear and make sure their lives were not lost in vain.

For nearly fifty years I have walked around with a bullseye on my back. It is a horrible feeling to at times know that people want me dead. I have always held to the belief that they can ‘bring it on’ and try and come get me. I will be waiting.

Though I have read and reread the miles of pages written with arguments why Jews must die. It has never made any sense to me how the “enemy” of the White race (whatever that is) is based on a religion. If I struggle, I can wrap my mind around the arguments that skin color could be seen as an enemy to being White. I don’t have to agree but at least I can understand the fear and paranoia that allows people to set themselves apart from others. Skin color is obvious and if that is upon what people choose to distinguish between one another, then that is their creed.

But a religious belief used by race based separatists makes no sense. I am White; as opposed to being any other skin color. It makes no sense to me how my religion is used to classify me as a threat to White people. Reading the literature of the hate groups it would appear they believe that Jews have some sort of secret club and handshake and that we all meet and have conspired to engage in some sort of world domination. If that were true, then I want to know where to file my complaint. Nobody has allowed me to participate in the meetings and I certainly have no power at all.

Yes, I have a bullseye on my back. Indeed I have to constantly look over my shoulder and be alert to an approaching enemy. Doing so for a lifetime shapes who I am as a person. I understand prejudice. I know hate. How I deal with others and why I live as I do is a direct result of that bullseye. It is my history and my fate.