On Saturday, October 27th, a gunman in Pittsburgh murdered 97-year-old Rose Mallinger, 71-year-old Daniel Stein and 9 other congregants of the Tree of Life Synagogue—targeting them solely because they were Jewish. Just a few days earlier, another gunman in Kentucky shot down grandparents Maurice Stallard and Vickie Jones having apparently selected them at random because they were African American.
Dehumanization of victims has always been a strategy of extremists. But it's important to recognize that such tactics are by no means limited to those who wield weapons or commit violence. In fact, "othering" appears to be an increasingly common feature of our toxic public discourse—fueling the kind of extreme partisanship that most recently manifested itself in the targeting of more than a dozen public servants because of their political affiliations.
This must stop.
We must work to build the connections—between organizations, between faiths, between communities and between peoples—which prevent "othering" from taking root, and which allow for community groups of all faiths and backgrounds to be there for each other whenever any one among us feels threatened.
But first, following an unspeakably difficult few days in America, we would like to start by honoring the memory of the beautiful human beings whose lives were lost, both in Kentucky and in Pennsylvania:
Rose Mallinger, 97
Melvin Wax, 88
Sylvan Simon, 86
Bernice Simon, 84
Joyce Fienberg, 75
Daniel Stein, 71
Maurice Stallard, 69
Irving Younger, 69
Vickie Jones, 67
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66
Richard Gottfried, 65
Cecil Rosenthal, 59
David Rosenthal, 54
You can learn more about the lives and good works of the murdered congregants at the Tree of Life Synagogue here and of the victims of the Louisville shooting here. Let's remember their humanity in defiance of those who would deny it. And let's also honor their legacy by strengthening connections between community groups and across communities in order to build a society where "othering" is no longer accepted. We are, and will forever be, deeply committed to this work. If you would like to explore ways that we can help you, as customers, to build such connections—please do not hesitate to reach out.