Pittsburgh is a proud city. A peaceful city. A city that bursts with public pride in itself, its people, its beloved sports teams, and its transformation from steel to tech. It is a city profoundly dedicated to family and friends.
Today Pittsburgh mourns and we all mourn with Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh has a large Jewish community that began settling in Western Pennsylvania just before the Civil War. Saturday witnessed the largest and deadliest individual attack against Jewish Americans in the history of the United States.
The Anti-Defamation League reports a 70% increase in Anti-Semitic attacks between 2016 and 2017. We now see candidates for public office repeating in public the right-wing hateful speech of "Jewish Conspiracies". An African-American "minister" said in 2018 that Jews were his enemies and were "termites".
What happened in Pittsburgh in Saturday didn't just happen. It was bound to happen. And that is a serious problem we all need to confront and address.
Today we are all Pittsburghers.
HR