Today I am thinking about swastikas.

During the early punk scene many kids wore them for the look. Maybe there was plenty of antisemitism but I never felt it back then. As a Jewish girl from the San Fernando Valley I can honestly say I wasn’t touched by racism. Maybe I was just naive or my parents protected me from it?

I was brought up to be a proud Jew even though we weren’t all that religious. We only went to temple when my aunt Sally was singing with the choir or for special occasions, such as my baby cousin’s bar mitzvah’s.

in 1980 at school I started hanging out with the punks. There weren’t many of us so we really stood out. 

I remember drawing a swastika on my Converse high tops thinking it looked cool. A symbol I had only seen worn by punk rockers. Well, that swastika got me suspended for a few days. at the time I thought it was funny. My mom and I played card games and enjoyed our time together. 

Later on, I learned what that symbol meant.

I look back and am horrified that I followed the herd and wasn’t intelligent enough to think for myself. 

I don’t know what the future is going to bring or if the Sex Pistols were right about there being NO FUTURE but I hope people will open their minds and their hearts and do better because today I am seeing a hell of a lot of racism and hate. I’d like to think we learned something from our violent past. Obviously, we have not.

I don’t feel whole at the moment and I am definitely not proud of where we are as a nation. We all deserve better than that. 

As a young punk I took pride in being a part of a nonjudgmental, inclusive community. A scene with people of all different races and backgrounds, where we could look anyway we wanted to, where experimental music set the tone  and the ability to roam the streets without fear or intimidation. 

Sweet Sixteen