Even as I go to Temple on the Jewish High Holidays each year, with a police officer or security guard outside protecting us while we pray, I had not been frightened that anti-Semitism would rise to those horrific proportions again. Only once in my life was I called a “dirty Jew.” Yet, recently, as we heard about Jews being targeted and murdered in both France and Denmark, a fear rose inside me. After all, it is only 70 years after Auschwitz, and I still have living relatives who have been in concentration camps.
UC Davis
Dan Bruun is a documentary filmmaker from Davis, CA. He has produced films in New York, Jamaica, and England, but is currently working on a film project in his hometown about a hate crime that occurred last year, called Davisville 2013. Watch the trailer here.
On March 10, 2013, a 19-year-old man brutally assaulted Mikey Partida, a beloved member of the community of Davis, CA. The attacker used many gay slurs before, during, and after the assault, which left the victim with several skull fractures, bleeding inside the brain, and both eyes swollen shut.
Pictured here is Mikey Partdia (left) and Dan Bruun (right).
This disturbing event created a rush of energy within the liberal Davis community. People immediately began sharing the news on social media and feelings of shock, anger, and sadness spread throughout our small college town.