OUR COMMUNITY

24 | JULY 1 • 2021

T

wo years ago, Samantha Merecki,
a student at L
’
Anse Creuse High
School-North in Macomb
Township, was scrolling through Instagram.
Samantha, who is Jewish, stopped at a post
about a synagogue being vandalized and
realized antisemitism was still rampant,
despite it being many decades since the
Holocaust occurred.
Then, she saw a post about a synagogue
holding a drill to teach people what to do in
the event of a mass shooting or other terror-
ist attack.
“When you think about antisemitism,
you think about the 1940s and everything
that happened then,
” explains the 16-year-
old resident of Macomb Township, in
central Macomb County. “It’s crazy to think
that hatred is still around.
”
Motivated by what she saw on social
media, Merecki decided there was much
work to be done in helping to erase
antisemitism and to teach people about
Jewish culture and history.
She began look for an organization to
partner with, Merecki discovered End Jew
Hatred, a grassroots movement that aims to
liberate Jewish people from oppression and
discrimination.
“I thought they were perfect,
” she says of
the group. “So, I contacted them and asked
about rallies, events and protests.
” Merecki
says End Jew Hatred “welcomed her with
open arms,
” which encouraged her to col-
laborate with the national organization to
develop a local chapter.
Approximately 3,400 people of Macomb
County’s nearly 900,000 residents are
Jewish, far fewer than the estimated
50,000 Jews who reside among the 1.3
million in neighboring Oakland County.
It has had its share of antisemitism,
though, according to the ADL. In June
2019, three middle school students drew
chalk swastikas outside a Warren elemen-
tary school. In August 2018, Warren police
arrested a teenage boy who painted racist
graffiti, including swastikas, on fences in
Warren.

While the local chapter of End Jew
Hatred is still growing with only a handful
of members, Merecki hopes to build it out
and inspire other people to join the move-
ment.
She’s held two rallies supporting Jewish

culture, one in Detroit’s Hart Plaza and the
other on Hall Road in Shelby Township.
The teenager says the rallies garnered most-
ly positive response, with a handful of com-
ments opposing the movement.

WORKING HARDER
A recent spike in antisemitism due to
last month’s Israeli-Hamas conflict has
encouraged Merecki to work even harder.
She’s personally witnessed an alarming
rise of antisemitic statements, particularly
on social media.
“I’ve lost many friends from the conflict,
”
Merecki explains. “People say stuff like, ‘I’m
part of the reason [the conflict] is happen-
ing because I support Israel, that I’m part of
the reason kids are being killed.
”
Other individuals, she continues, have told
her that “Zionists are the root of all evil” and
that “Zionists are the reason Satan exists.
”
Alarmed by these statements, Merecki
believes there could be better education
about Jewish culture, traditions and history.
“Usually, people who would normally
care about Jewish people are the same
ones that are replacing the word ‘Jew’
with ‘Zionist,
’” she explains of the words
being interchanged. “They talk about Jews
controlling the media and controlling the
banks.
”
Even though Merecki has been told that




“she’s a child killer,” she “needs to die”
and has been called a handful of Jewish
slurs and derogatory words, the antisem-
itism inspires her to work harder on her
mission. She takes to social media to help
educate people about Judaism and Israel
and continues to work with End Jew
Hatred to reduce the growing antisemi-
tism.
“I wish people understood that Jews
have been kicked out of so many coun-
tries,
” Merecki says of one lesson she hopes
to teach. “We have such a rich history in
Israel, but people always assume Jews are
European, that they come from Europe.
Judaism was born in the Middle East.
”
Merecki believes young people like her
have an important role to play in reducing
antisemitism. “Social media has a huge
impact,
” she says. “I’ve actually taught a lot
of people about Jewish history and culture
through TikTok. People are getting really
interested in learning about Judaism.
”
The teenager explains that social media
is a great outlet to help educate people and
that more young individuals like herself can
take advantage of it as a tool for communi-
cation and outreach.
“I’ve been posting more about Judaism
and everything that’s beautiful about it,
”
Merecki says, “and the comments are just
filled with horrible stuff. I want to find a
way to put a stop to that.
”

Macomb County teen is dedicated to
stopping antisemitism.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF SAMANTHA MERECKI

‘End Jew Hatred’

Samantha
Merecki at a rally
she held this year.