We cannot afford to just 'pass by' as the America we know and love becomes consumed by hate. It's up to all of us to act.
A message that summons the conscience is not what one would expect to see through a commute's train window. But summonses can appear in the unlikeliest places.
This year, numerous American Jewish groups are organizing Tisha b'Av vigils and protests on behalf of immigrants and refugees. The organization T'ruah has posted online a list of 52 local events nationwide. Some are co-sponsored with Christian and Muslim organizations. Our work begins with paying attention to 22 murdered people and dozens injured, and to the El Paso shooter's targeting Hispanics and a predominantly Hispanic-American city.
Furthermore, paying attention includes not only opening one's own eyes, but each of us' helping each other to do the same. Christian Picciolini, a former neo-Nazi and founder of the Free Radicals Project, which helps extremists quit, described tobringing a white Christian extremist to meet a Muslim for the first time. The two bonded over shared Abrahamic roots, e.g., Jesus' presence in the Koran, and their shared love of Chuck Norris.
And paying attention includes an obligation to act, in policies as well as language. A public debate about how to spot and stop white supremacist terrorists, and what we can learn from fighting international terrorism, is underway. Calls for gun control are rising. Our leaders must answer these calls, and not the calls of the NRA.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Opinion | The Deep Dangers of Life OnlineFrom WSJopinion: The El Paso and Dayton mass murderers are part of an epidemic of destructive online self-obsession, writes DanHenninger
Read more »
Anguish and anger palpable at 1st of 31 funerals for victims of twin massacresSorrow and outrage overwhelmed mourners gathered in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to bid farewell to a beloved school principal who was one of the 22 people killed while shopping at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
Read more »
Opinion | Words That Heal and Words That Don’tFrom WSJopinion: I understand why people believe some of the president’s rhetoric is troubling. But labeling Trump essentially as an accomplice to murder will push our politics to the breaking point, writes KarlRove
Read more »