“Anna Miriam Keller is a Brooklyn based writer, poet and activist. She lives with her partner, Adrian and their interfaith baby Helen Rose.”
Jews such as Anna Miriam Keller suffer terribly because they are more morally sensitive than the rest of us.
I have a terrible recurring dream. I’m hiding in the attic with Anne Frank and she’s calling me “Kitty.” I tell her that I have to go, I don’t know where my daughter is, and she turns to me and tells me that we can’t go anywhere. We are in hiding and we must stay this way until the war is over. All of a sudden, I hear boots on the stairs and the door swings open and it’s Donald J. Trump — only he’s naked, wearing a swastika sweatband on his head, and he says, “I think Islam hates us.”
I wake up sweating. I had this same dream for three consecutive nights in a row — only every night when Trump shows up in the nude wearing his Third Reich workout headband, he says something different. The second night of the dream he says, “I’m deporting your daughter even though she was born in New York.” The third night he looks at Anne Frank and says, “you’re fired.”
There is a saying in Spanish: “el león no es como lo pinta.” The exact translation is “the lion is not the way they paint him.” Of course, everything sounds better in Spanish. If you say the word “sacapunta” out loud it sounds like you’re cursing someone out in a romantic way. What you’re really saying is: “pencil sharpener.” Words hold weight. In elementary schools across the country teachers say, “choose your words” to their students. During the recent media frenzy it seems that many adults have forgotten this basic rule.
I watch the news. Here is what I see: On a recent interview with CNN Trump says that he is for a ban on Muslims coming into the United States. I check the date to see if it’s still 2016 and I’m living in New York City or if it’s 1936 and I’m living in Nazi Germany, because for one to say, “Muslims shouldn’t be allowed into the United States,” to me is the same thing as saying “Jews should wear a yellow star when they walk down the street.”
My daughter is half Mexican Catholic and Half Ashkenazi Jewish. In my home we speak mainly Spanish but at Grandma’s house we speak English. There is a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe in my daughter’s room and a Hebrew prayer book on her bookshelf. Just recently we celebrated her first birthday with a kosher Aztec Princess cake. In my home we choose our words wisely and with care.
“I love you,” we say, “Te amo” in Spanish.
“Are you hungry?” “Tienes hambre?”
“You are Jewish.” “Eres Judia.”
“You are Catholic.” “Eres Católica.”
“You are Mexican.” “Eres Mexicana.”
“You are a light.” “Eres una luz.”
