Out of Harlem

I grew up in Harlem. It was a rough neighborhood a global melting pot of Jewish Black Irish and Italians fighting to survive. I fought more than others. All the anti-Semitism. This was the late 1930s at the start of Nazi Germany and Kristallnacht the murdering of Jews that would continue through Hitlers cowardly suicide in 45 Imagine - surrounded by a hostile environment who were taught the Jews killed Jesus Christ. I had to fight all the time. Name-calling. Threats. It was constant. Sometimes I felt so alone. I ran with an Irish pack as the only Jew. Though it was a Catholic community. I was warmly accepted by the boys (gang) but not so with the neighboring gangs. By myself I didnt fight the boys in my gang but it seemed I fought everyone else on the block.