On Saturday, Pittsburgh was hit with a tragedy: A Jewish synagogue was the target of a hate crime by an anti-semitic man. I don’t think this tragedy and unacceptable expression of hate was “unimaginable” or “unthinkable,” as many events of mass murder are often described. I am extremely sad and mad, but not surprised.

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I simply cannot wrap my mind around the sort of hate and fear that can fill someone and cause them to walk into a place of peaceful worship with the intent of murdering the people inside simply because they follow a certain religion. So many groups of people have had to endure such unspeakable horrors, both in the U.S. and abroad, in the past and recently. Erie alone is home to a large immigrant and refugee population, many of whom have suffered said unspeakable horrors and overcome so much.

 

Throughout my years of schooling, I was taught extensively about the Holocaust and the Civil Rights movement. The way I was taught made me feel like it was all resolved, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The way I was taught led me to believe that these events were long in the past when in reality my grandparents were alive during the Holocaust. My parents were born in the early 1960s. Both of my parents were children when Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. This hate is not in the past. This hate exists in the present.

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A little over a week ago, I traveled to Penn State Greater Allegheny, just south of where this massacre occurred, to see Dr. Angela Davis, a prominent activist, academic, and author, speak. Davis is known for her activism during the 1960s and beyond. She is now a professor and advocates for prison abolition, intersectional feminism, social justice abroad (most notably in Palestine and Brazil), and so much more.

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Throughout the time that Davis spoke, I held back tears. I felt so much hope and love in that room and was so inspired by her words. The thing that she said that has stuck with me and keeps repeating in my head is that we need to create a world in which everybody feels like they belong. It is not enough to create a diverse and equitable society, although those are still important steps to reaching the ultimate goal. The goal needs to be that everyone feels loved and accepted for who they are. We cannot judge each other based on the color of our skin, what religion we do or do not practice, how wealthy we are, where we came from, and more.

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Since I heard about this shooting I have been crying on and off. I keep thinking about the people who were killed and about the people who are targeted every day because of how they identify or what they look like. Our country is no longer battling about politics. We are battling love against hate. The man who killed all of those people and the man who sent bombs to Democrats and CNN are filled with hate for the other side, simply because they are the other side.

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It is important to look to history to remember how far we have come as a society in a short period of time. It is also essential to understand the power that hate can have on a society and the dangers of letting a leader become too powerful. We cannot survive a repeating of history.

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During my senior year of high school, I took a trip with my AP U.S. Government and Politics class to D.C. and we went to the Holocaust Museum. The most vivid memory I have of the museum is the large pile of shoes that belonged to people who were murdered by the Nazis. There is also a poem on the wall that I have seen quoted often since the current administration came to power.

 

First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--

Because I was not a socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me.

           -Martin Niemöller

 

We cannot stand by and watch our neighbors be killed. We cannot stand by and allow those who live by the doctrine of hate and violence to terrorize our people. I don’t know how we can overcome these ideologies, but we must act with kindness and understanding every day. As I’ve reminded myself many times, whether during a fit of anger, a moment of sadness, or a mixture of the two, the Dalai Lama once said, “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”