This past two weeks in America have been an especially dark chapter of violence and hatred in a society already dealing with a foreboding sense that deep divisions are on some irreversible course in the United States. Today, on Election Day, we are, hopefully, taking positive, peaceful steps in our democracy.<\/p>\n
In a suburban area of Louisville, Ky., last week, African-American families buried two of their beloved members, each shot to death while shopping on Wednesday, Oct. 24, at a Kroger supermarket. A white male gunman targeted them, not too long after he had tried but failed to get into the predominantly black First Baptist church in the suburb of Jeffersontown, according to law enforcement authorities. He shot Maurice Stallard and Vickie Lee Jones, neither of whom he knew personally. Federal authorities are weighing whether to charge the suspect with committing a hate crime. Police say the gunman shot Stallard, 69, as he shopped with his 12-year-old grandson for poster board, according to the Courier-Journal<\/em> of Louisville<\/a>. Jones, 67, had moved to Jeffersontown to be safe. Both families are suffering the incalculable depth of pain in losing a beloved one to violence.<\/p>\n In Pittsburgh, the families and community of the Tree of Life Synagogue are dealing with this pain and horror that happened during the same week. On Oct. 27, a man walked into the temple during shabbat, opened fire, and killed 11 synagogue members who were worshipping. The gunman had become more radicalized and disturbed in recent years, posting online rants against refugees and Jewish people at a site that white nationalists favor. His last posts were full of disdain toward the migrants in the caravan from Central American countries. He expressed vitriol toward the Hebrew Aid Immigrant Society (HAIS), accusing the group of bringing \u201cinvaders in that kill our people,\u201d an unfounded conspiracy theory. <\/p>\n Even more distressing is the larger national connection and its implications. Though the suspect expressed reservations about President Donald Trump, his agitation and inflammatory speech mirrored the fear-mongering statements the President and right-wing outlets have repeatedly made about the immigrant caravan as \u201cinvaders.\u201d The senseless, horrific tragedy struck at the heart of this synagogue, the historic Squirrel Hill neighborhood, and the Pittsburgh region.<\/p>\n These terrible incidents were on the heels of a bomb plot two weeks ago in which authorities arrested and charged a Florida man with mailing improvised explosive devices to a large group of Democratic Party leaders and supporters. The suspect, who has a long criminal record, is a self-proclaimed Trump supporter. The pipe bombs were addressed to former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, 2016 Presidential candidate and ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper; billionaire philanthropist and party donor George Soros, and others. In all, authorities recovered 14 suspicious packages, ABC News reported<\/a>. The people to whom the alleged plotter sent the mail bombs have all been the subject of Trump’s many negative, often-demeaning verbal attacks, on Twitter and at his rallies.<\/p>\n This is no less than a crossroads of confronting the rising threat of destruction against our nation, our humanity, and planet. Make no doubt about it, these are linked. What can we do? Vote. Speak and act civilly. Draw on history and the legacy and courage of those who faced down these threats before us. Take action in concert for love and against hate, degradation, and destruction. Let your life speak each day for this effort, to magnify light, not the forces of darkness, hate, and greed.<\/p>\n My roots are in the Pittsburgh area, having grown up some 40 miles north of the city in the small town of Wampum. My love of and connection with Pittsburgh have shaped me and continue to influence who I am. The city of warm, big-hearted and resilient people has poured out its love for the Tree of Life Synagogue. My heart and being have been with those from the temple since their family and friends were gunned down. The victims lost their lives while in the middle of one of humankind\u2019s most elevating acts: coming together in worship in what should be a safe refuge.<\/p>\n Since that day, thinking and reflecting prayerfully about the synagogue, I have felt grief, welling up in sobs, and a disheartenment that questions whether the United States and world are veering into what Germany became in the 1930s. The synagogue attack is believed to be the deadliest against Jewish Americans ever in the United States. <\/p>\n So, too, have I held in my heart the dear ones of the two Americans whom a man killed in Kentucky, apparently simply because of the color of their skin. They were gunned down while shopping, each of them a grandparent, parent, good friend, and well-regarded community member. What of that grandson who saw his grandfather murdered as they together were doing a sweet, simple activity for school? What horrible, painful lesson of life shattered his reality that day?<\/p>\n Seeding Hate and Chaos<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n These are shocking incidents. Yet, they are not surprising in a nation witnessing a growth in the corrosive menace of hate speech that is fed and sustained in online groups and social media and then coupled with disturbed men owning an arsenal of guns. As Mark Hetfield of HIAS said, \u201cHateful speech almost always leads to hateful actions.\u201d Ultimately, the demons of human hatred, racism, immigrant scapegoating, and violence have been emboldened and are flourishing. <\/p>\n None of this is new. Human history has been darkened by such violence, and no discussion should ignore that much, too much killing happens in domestic violence that predominantly kills women. However, when have we had a President who encouraged the very forces that result in mass shootings, plots, and other violence? We cannot look to Donald Trump to change his own hateful, bigoted, fear-mongering language. If anything, it has become heightened and manic, bringing Trump the attention he craves. Pair this with his disregard for Constitutional norms, and it becomes a worrisome recipe for a highly diminished civil society. <\/p>\n Many have witnessed this behavior not just from the time of Trump\u2019s initial candidacy but over decades. Now many others recognize it and call it out. He will not change. But America must change and act to place checks and ultimately bring about the defeat of Trump and Trumpism, especially as the Republican Party has shown no character to be a check or decry this dangerous behavior.<\/p>\n His discourse has been marked by an appeal to us-versus-them resentments, a repetitive language that wantonly throws sparks out to the willing and ready-to-be-incited in society. Trump cavalierly called himself a \u201cnationalist,\u201d caring not one whit \u2013 in fact, welcoming the implications and consequences of this speech. He has repeatedly mocked the press as \u201cthe enemy of the people.\u201d He has disregarded the enshrinement of freedom of the press in the U.S. Constitution. Throughout the world, right-wing dictators have cited Trump\u2019s model as they have sanctioned attacks or jailed reporters and correspondents.<\/p>\n Trump, I pray, represents the peak of this demagogic and race-batting leadership, one that should be relegated as it deserves to the dark chapters of history. Yet he is a symptom of a rot that has been building for decades.<\/p>\n We must remember that as a nation and world, we have never advanced by dividing and conquering. We advance by an individual and collective action toward the best elements of human nature \u2013 peace, dignity, tolerance, judgment, an embrace of that which is most sacred within our spirits, and love of our common humanity. Our connection to nature and animals is vital as well, and it is too often lost in our consumer world.<\/p>\n The Earth, though climate change and its threat to our existence and planet, will soon test our ability to come together. It will demand that we go beyond our labels, limiting beliefs, divisions, and closed groups. We won\u2019t survive as a species unless we do. The Earth is and will become even more our teacher. When we nurture, our politics will be shaped even more so by nurturance. The survival of human civilization demands no less of us. We owe this to our children, grandchildren, and all who come after us.<\/p>\n Previous Posts: The Trump Presidency and Campaign<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Could Trump Start a War? Speak Up<\/a><\/p>\n