Am I still considered to be American, or am I only seen as a Jew?

I always thought of myself as an American, who happens to be Jewish. I never thought about making one descriptor more important then the other.

Both of my grandmothers were born in Chicago, along with my parents. I never thought about calling myself an American Jew or a Jewish American. I was just an American. Over the last several years I’ve realized that I’m not seen as just another American. I’m seen as being different because I am not Christian. I find myself being put into that “other” category.

Several years ago during a discussion relating to “Palestinians”, a very good friend (that I had for several decades) said to me “of course you side with Israel, you’re a Jew”. I remember being shocked at her statement, especially since she migrated to the United States as a child from Latin America. She became a US citizen. I never questioned her citizenship. I was shocked that she distinguish me from other Americans. Her statement was a wake up call, and one of many statements she made that ended our friendship.

Lately I’ve been haunted by what Sigmund Freud wrote back in 1925: 

“My language is German. My culture, my attainments are German. I considered myself German intellectually, until I noticed the growth of antisemitic prejudice in Germany and German Austria. Since that time, I prefer to call myself a Jew.”

I realized in 2024 there’s not much difference in the world today and the world Sigmund Freud experienced a hundred years ago.  

I always considered myself to be a liberal feminist, who always tended to vote for Democrats. I never belonged to a political party for personal reasons. To be honest I don’t believe I ever voted for a Republican candidate.  

This year I don’t feel comfortable voting for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. I see both as being problematic for both Jews and Israel.

I support women’s rights, yet I don’t support the notion that Jewish women are less human than other women. The events of October 7th keeps playing out in my mind.  How is it that the world has turned its back on the men, women and children who were barbarically beaten, raped, tortured and murdered by members of Hamas along with several of the citizens of Gaza? It doesn’t matter that not everyone who was victimized was either Jewish or Israeli. What matters was that they were in Israel, making visiting Israel a crime punishable by barbarism.

I have always saw myself as an American, and as a Jew. I realized that I now I am putting the word Jewish in front of the word American. My thought process is similar to that of Sigmund Freud.

I really don’t feel safe in the United States anymore. I’m being seen as “the other”, someone not considered as American as my non Jewish friends and neighbors.  Please bear in mind I’m not a religious Jew, I’m unaffiliated — yet that doesn’t matter, I’m still a Jew.