One Year After June 1
A reflection on how often Boulder’s Jewish community still goes unheard, one year after the June 1 attack.
The antisemitic firebombing on the Pearl Street Mall last June followed years of warning signs that antisemitism was rising in our community: harassment of Jews at public meetings, hostile comments toward Jews online, and a pattern of Jews being treated with suspicion or singled out in local organizing spaces. People in the Jewish community had been naming this behavior as antisemitism for a long time. The rest of Boulder, including me, largely brushed it off.
June 1 was a turning point for me in understanding how antisemitism shows up in our community. I thought it would be a turning point for Boulder, too. Instead, what I continue to see is how uncomfortable we are with Jewish allyship.
People who speak loudly and confidently about every other form of hate hesitate when the target is Jews. People who would never blame victims of other hate crimes blame Jews for the harm they experienced. And too many people turn any mention of antisemitism into a debate about geopolitics, as if Jewish safety in Boulder should depend on what happens somewhere else.
I shouldn’t have been shocked, because many Jews had been telling me antisemitism was rising in our community for years. It hurts to know I didn’t truly hear them until Jews were set on fire. Jews shouldn’t have to relive trauma or face violence to be believed.
What I’ve learned in the past 12 months is that speaking out against antisemitism is easy, and standing with Jews facing hatred and violence is uncomplicated. But when we make Jews prove their fear is real, shift the conversation when they talk about feeling unsafe, and treat the word antisemitism like it’s too charged to use, we end up in a community where Jews don’t expect others to listen to them, let alone stand with them.
As Audre Lorde wrote, solidarity requires us to seek out the words we’d rather not hear. One year later, the truth I’m sitting with is how often the words of many in Boulder's Jewish community are still going unheard.
To those who are reliving the pain and trauma of June 1, 2025: this week compounds the already profound sense of grief, fear, and exhaustion you’ve been living with as antisemitism has risen in our community. My heart is with you, the survivors of the attack, and the family and friends who lost a loved one. May the memory of Karen Diamond be a blessing.
