Our hearts are breaking for El Paso in the wake of another white nationalist attack emboldened by President Trump, with the shooter specifically targeting our immigrant and Latinx family.
It’s why thousands of community members in El Paso told Trump he was unwelcome — and it’s why Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh (who also turned Trump away after 11 Jews were murdered at Tree of Life synagogue) wrote this letter of solidarity to El Paso.
Read and add your name in solidarity with all victims of white nationalist violence.
Open Letter of Solidarity from Pittsburgh to El Paso
Jews of Pittsburgh watched with horror, and unfortunate familiarity, this weekend as two more shootings left communities in mourning. For many of us, memories flooded back from that Saturday morning nine months ago when we sheltered in place, waiting to hear who, and how many, from our community had been lost.
Pittsburgh is now tied to El Paso by a web of hate. With Gilroy, Christchurch, Poway, Charleston and too many others, we share the tragic bond of terror brought on by the violence of the white power movement. We have a choice. We can let hate win – and these days it seems like it often is winning – or we can fight.
That fight starts with the President. The leader of our country has empowered, enabled and encouraged this hatred.
We see you, Mr. Trump. And the people of El Paso see you. To borrow from the impassioned words of Beto O’Rourke, we do know how to connect the dots. And the connected dots all lead right back to you.
It’s why we marched in Pittsburgh and demanded the President fully denounce white nationalism, surrounded by and supported by the larger Pittsburgh (and even a global) community.
The white nationalist playbook, in many ways, is simple: use hate to divide.
We in Pittsburgh are here to tell the people of El Paso, Dayton, Christchurch, Poway, Charleston and every place where the politics of hatred turns to bloodshed that we will not allow this division to happen. We grieve with you and we stand with you in solidarity.
We invite you to join us as we reject hate and division, embrace diversity and inclusion, building a safer multiracial democracy.
—Jonathan Mayo and Avigail Oren, two of the leaders of Bend the Arc: Pittsburgh