After shul today, I was talking with some friends, and we got to discussing what would happen if Jews became the next target of Trump’s ire. We were discussing all sorts of doomsday scenarios where it was like Hitler’s Germany, and we got to talking about whether each of us had a gentile friend who would take in our children, even at personal risk.
We also talked about when would happen if people we knew who weren’t citizens got deported on technicalities asked us to take their children who were born here. Most people agreed that we would take in children regardless of background, but some people thought it would be very hard to continue to raise them as Christians or Muslims alongside their own Jewish children. Then someone else pointed out that if we were hiding them, we’d need to raise them Jewish.
It got very convoluted.
I’m just curious how many people here know someone who is not a relative, nor “in the same boat” religiously or ethnically (whichever would be the most likely reason for you to be targeted), who would take in your children if push came to shove?
I know three people. Two would probably not have a problem with raising my son Jewish, unless it was dangerous to do so (in which case they have my blessing to do whatever saves him); the last would probably convert him to their religion, but they are also the stablest couple, with kids my son’s age. It would be a hard choice.
I have some money I would give to whomever took him, but I’m not sure how to launder it. Maybe just give it to them in cash. It’s a lot of money, albeit, not much compared to what it costs to raise a ten year old for an additional eight years.
I don’t have kids, but traditionally one of the responsibilities of a godparent is to take in the kids if the parents can’t: both of my brothers and I are godparents of one or more children. In my case it’s a nephew; in Ed and Judy’s case there’s some which are family, some which are not, and at least one whose father is a foreigner; Jay and Lupe are godparents to her nephew and to the children of several friends, including one whose mother is a foreigner.
I can picture either of them taking in somebody else’s kids if they knew the family.
The little town where I have my vacation home has a surprisingly high amount of people from Western Sahara; several of those families came in directly, whole; some came in after their kid had been in town for the summer and the family got invited (there’s several regional programs involved in such visits, as well as in bringing people for medical treatment). I expect that if anybody was asshole enough to try and kick such families out and assuming things didn’t get truly violent, the children would have people to stay with. “Why yes sir, he’s my kid, what do you mean how come he’s several skin tones darker than blonde me or my redheaded husband? Are you accusing me of being unfaithful or something?”
Surely when Trump orders the final solution (now probably just weeks off) his myrmidons will know exactly what kids need to be scooped up at the same time. It seems naive to believe they could be effectively passed off as belonging to others, or somehow spared from this brutal program.
My responce to the Title was of course they would go to my wife’s sister and her husband right up the road but if this was due to some ethnicity testing we’d be hosed. I’ve got some kids I went to high school with who were Mexican but they didn’t even come to my wedding. I have only known 5 black people in my life and I think one of my wife’s college friend’s was korean but outside of that our circle is as lilly white as it gets. Actually I do know at least two Mexicans who would step in too.
I’ve got two Jewish friends and either one would probably help out but one is a thousand miles away and the other is two. I can’t think of anyone I’ve been friends with since college who’s Muslim and none of them live in the US. If they are grabbing my wife and I for religious reasons then my Christian and atheist friends are gone too. I guess my wife has some friends who are Mormon too.
If it ends up being political the my wife and I are generally conservative but we’ve got lots of friends and family that are Democrats and green party and farther toward the communist end of the spectrum. If we were somehow rounded up for being too liberal or anti trump then I can think of at least one trumpeter who would help out and maybe more since I try not to talk politics with my friends who may be surporters.
I know a woman who is unfathomably a Trump voter (albeit, has already expressed doubt and disappointment in him, but is a Clinton-hater, who still thinks she did the right thing. She confided that she is an independent-- not registered as any party, but in presidential elections always votes either R or D. She voted for Obama twice, and against Bush, fils the second time. She works with me in the preschool, does animal rescue, and takes in her children’s friends when it is not going well at their homes. She teaches at a Jewish preschool, so she understands Judaism, even though she isn’t Jewish, and she is very loving and generally happy and affectionate. I asked her once if she’d take my son in an “Anne Frank” situation, and she said “Of course!” like she was surprised I even asked.
She WASPish on one side, and Scandinavian on the other, and her family on both sides has been here forever.
Under “normal” circumstances where someone would need to raise our kids, such as both of us dying, it would fall on my wife’s sister. She’ single but is a elementary school teacher / administrator and loves our kids.
The other option would have been my sister but her husband is a racist asshole and I would rather one of our friends take over.
For a political problem, it’s hard to say. We have the option of easily living in three countries: the US, Taiwan and Japan so it’s hard to think of something that would cause us to have to give up our kids.
If something that bad happened I’m sure that some of our good friends would do that for us.
No! There is NO ONE who will save Jewish children when Trump comes to send them to death camps! It’s hopeless!
Commit suicide at once! It’s the only logical solution. Ignore the idiots who tell you Trump isn’t homicidal or anti Semitic. Don’t be swayed by fools who say the worst case scenario is that someone else will be President on 1/20/2025.
My sister is the person who, in reality, fills this position. But if we’re talking about non-family, I’m am like 99% certain one of my fellow teachers would take in my kids, as I would do for theirs. It hasn’t come up, but that’s kind of how we work.
My first answer (after reading the title) was family. But beyond family, we have a number of friends. My daughter’s godparents would do it – they have kids the same age, and we would all get a wry laugh out of having to revert to a more original meaning of “godparents” but it would probably work out. I have another friend who doesn’t have children, and if she took my daughter it would probably be an Auntie Mame style upbringing, and she would step up and do this, no question.
However, if my family was being targeted for reasons of identity, cultural or religious, the two scenarios above probably wouldn’t be that helpful, because those people would reasonably be suspect as well. So I guess I don’t really have a next tier of people that I would feel even remotely confident about giving my child to.
My husband was an orphan and I was the only child of two only children, both deceased, at the time the first of my two sons was on the way. We decided to solve the problem of who would raise our children if we could not by tying that responsibility to the position of godparent. We explained our situation to the friends we asked to be godparents, giving them some time to consider the potential responsibility of the job before accepting.
I would teach my children that religious traditions are not more important than their own safety. I would tell the same to anyone who had them.
Then again my children are atheist. Most everyone I know is liberal Christian so it wouldn’t be too terribly bad if that’s how they raised my daughter. She’s 12 and would need to be reminded to keep her snarky skepticism quiet in public, of course.
I don’t have minor children, but in the case that parents were deported ro rounded up and children needed a home, I would do my level best to provide what support I could. I am secular but am familiar with a few religious traditions and would not object to children of faith practicing it if it didn’t endanger others in the household.
This is what I thought when I read the title. I was a single parent of three kids and there were moments when I was sweating at the thought of who would take my kids in the event something happened to me. The day Hallgirl1 turned 18, I breathed a somewhat sign of relief, knowing she’d step up for Hallgirl2 and Hallboy if needed. They’re all well over the age of 18, but it’s something that never left my thoughts.
As far as taking in another child? I’ve often thought about how to “hide” a family that might be targeted, so yeah, I could see myself doing it. I’m not one to stand in the streets and protest, but would work quietly behind closed doors.
I know this is supposed to be an exaggerated and hyperbolic reaction intentionally, but let’s still try to avoid making posts like it as it can be seen as threadshitting or just trying to get people upset.