Changing your logo isn’t solidarity. It’s performance. Virtue signaling dressed up as courage. And it’s the lowest form of caring—especially when it’s done for groups that refused to stand with us when it mattered most.
There was a defining moment this era will never forget.
Just hours after the October 7th massacre, BLM Chicago shared an image of a Hamas paraglider with the words: “I stand with Palestine.”
No mourning. No grief. No condemnation. Just celebration.
They didn’t stand with the victims.
They stood with the murderers.
And they weren’t alone.
Since that day, countless groups that claim to champion justice and equality have made it painfully clear: Jews are not truly welcome. Posters of kidnapped children have been torn down. Jewish speakers silenced. Zionists barred from marches. Inclusion, we’ve learned, comes with fine print: “You’re welcome—so long as you disavow your people.”
But this exclusion didn’t begin on October 7.
A Broader Pattern of Erasure
The betrayal by BLM was jarring because it was so explicit. But long before that moment, a quieter pattern was already emerging—especially in progressive movements that pride themselves on inclusivity. Not violence. Not hate speech. Something subtler: the soft erasure of Jewish identity when it doesn’t conform to the political expectations of the crowd. Particularly when that identity includes Zionism.
Consider just a few examples:
- In 2017, Jewish women were expelled from the Chicago Dyke March for carrying a rainbow flag with a Star of David.
- In 2019, the DC Dyke March banned Israeli flags—but not Palestinian ones.
- In 2025, the New York Dyke March explicitly barred Zionists from participating.
- And back in 2016, the Women’s March quietly sidelined Jewish voices and symbols for fear of “offending” others.
These weren’t accidents. They were choices. And the message was unmistakable: if you want to belong, edit yourself first.
Stop Asking to Belong
Too many Jewish institutions still haven’t gotten the message.
We keep chasing inclusion.
We soften our language.
We change our logos.
We show up—hoping that if we support their causes, they’ll show up for ours.
But let’s be clear: changing our logo doesn’t prove we have values.
It proves we’re still asking for permission to belong.
And we don’t need permission.
Our values speak for themselves: justice, dignity, compassion, truth.
We believe in the infinite worth of every person.
But we also believe in the dignity of our own people—and we won’t apologize for it.
Yes, we can support LGBTQ Jews and Jews of Color.
They are our family. They belong at the center of Jewish life.
But inclusion of our own does not require the erasure of our identity.
We can stand for racial justice—without marching next to those who glorify our murderers.
We can support human rights—without diluting Jewish history.
We can be allies—without abandoning ourselves
What Now?
We stop performing for those who will never accept us.
We stop trying to prove our moral worth to people who mocked our dead.
And we stop negotiating our Jewishness for a seat at someone else’s table.
We know who stood with us. And who didn’t.
It’s time we act like it.
No more rebranding.
No more pretending.
No more changing logos to signal care when the care was never mutual.
We need to stop asking to belong.
We need to start building—our own spaces, our own coalitions, our own future.
Rooted in Jewish pride.
Powered by Jewish courage.
Unapologetic. Unbending. Unafraid.
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