(JTA) — A young Jewish candidate for Congress in California has been targeted with anti-Semitic abuse in the days before the state’s primary election.
Erin Schrode, 25, who has been featured recently by several news outlets, including JTA, for her underdog candidacy against incumbent Jared Huffman, has been hit with the abuse on social media and cellphone messages, she revealed in a Facebook post late Saturday night.
Personal information such as her phone number and email also were posted online.
Among the messages she has received, Schrode said, are “Everyone knows it’s TIME for America’s first evil retarded teen c— Congress kike!”; “Fire up the oven!” and “All would laugh with glee as they gang raped her and then bashed her bagel eating brains in.”
She called the messages “Indiscriminate hatred. Pure evil.”
On Sunday, Schrode told Buzzfeed that the FBI was contacted by several people on her behalf. Schrode said she was not filing a police report because local police confirmed that the FBI handles such threats. She also said she spoke to two police officers and that the police will do extra patrols in the area.
If successful in the June 7 Democratic primary and the November general election, Schrode would become the youngest person in the U.S. House of Representatives — and the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. She is running in the 2nd District, which stretches from the Oregon border to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Writing on Facebook, Schrode said, “I cannot and will not remain silent. I have never been much good at standing idly by in the face of injustice. I am not writing these words to spark an outpouring of sympathy, but rather to call attention to the fact that pointed, blatant hatred is rampant and on the uptick at this moment in history, particularly in the context of a fear-based election cycle. Those who know me can attest to the fact that I have spoken out time and time again when I have NOT been the one targeted. I am a citizen activist through and through – who refuses to give that shrug of inevitability.”
She added: “We must not stand silent in the face of hatred, violence, attacks, bullying, or oppression; we cannot recoil in fear; we cannot lose our sense of human dignity and respect. May we respond with a chorus of positive voices and powerful action. May we rise up and not only preach tolerance, but understanding and love.”
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