By Ameara Ditsche
Staff Writer
Another tragic act of terrorism has been committed in the United States. On Oct. 27, a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was a victim of a mass shooting. The Tree of Life synagogue, a Jewish place of worship was attacked by a white man in a disgusting act of anti-semitism.
Unforutanley, the United States has been no stranger to events like this, especially in recent years. A saddening amount of school shootings have sparked gun control into the national spotlight and despite so many deaths, Americans remain divided on the issue.
President Donald Trump has often been known to stereotype Muslims as dangerous and potential terrorists, but the majority of the events in the United States were committed by white, American citizens.
In light of this event, the Muslim community has raised thousands of dollars to benefit the victims and their families. Two different organizations combined raised close to $200,000 to benefit the tree of life community.
This is only one example of the ongoing support surrounding this event. The Pittsburgh Penguins organized a blood drive and collected money from fan’s at a game last monday night. And people from all over the country donated food and money. People participated in vigils all over.
As usual, conservatives scattered for excuses to explain this issue instead of looking within their own party’s policies that allow weaponry and racism to be so accepted and accessible.
Infamous conservative news host, Kellyanne Conway chose to direct the event to anti-religious in our country today. She put the blame on comedians and how often they make religion the butt of a joke and that because of this, we no longer take religion as seriously and that contributed to hatred.
But she seemed to overlook the fact that if you look at these comedians jokes, they are often poking fun at Christianity, a primarily white religion. And we’ve seen events like this happen at places that are not white christian places.
No one has shot up Westboro Baptist Church and they are seen as one of today’s most hateful communities.
Two hosts of “The View,” Meghan McCain and Joy Behar, argued over the issue of gun control. McCain claiming that Behrar was demonizing gun owners by bringing AR-15s into the discussion about this event. Behrar responded with the obvious, how the unwillingness to institut gun laws traces back to racism. She referenced the fact that when the black panthers party was active and purchasing guns, the government was quick to implement gun control. McCain remained firm in her beliefs that gun control wouldn’t do much because they would only affect those who use guns safely and that criminals will just find different, black market ways to obtain the weapons they choose to use for illicit activities.
In light of such a newsworthy event, Trump stooped to his favorite argument, “Fake News.” Instead of doing his job as president and working to resolve this issues, he just makes up flimsy excuse as to why it isn’t his fault. He claims that media has been inciting anger within the nation over fake news and so that is why acts like this are committed.
This event is a depressing reminder at the state of our nation and specifically, how it’s regressing back to old values once deemed acceptable. One victim of the massacre, Rose Mallinger was 97.
Although she is American, she did live to see the Holocaust happen. What does it say about our country that in a woman’s lifetime, one who lived almost a century, our values haven’t improved?
Although upsetting, I can’t say events like these are surprising anymore. We are becoming desensitized to violence, but we can’t. We must remain brave in the face of those in power concerned more with petty things like holding onto traditions just because it’s what they know, instead of valuing the safety of the American people.
