Seven years after a white supremacist murdered 11 Jews during Shabbat services, many are still largely unaware of the shooter’s true motivation: xenophobia and the Great Replacement theory — the fear that Jews are orchestrating a plan to replace white Christians with people of color from other countries.

Luckily, one Pittsburgh journalist is determined to center the anti-immigrant sentiment of the October 27, 2018 tragedy, interviewing Never Again Action and Bend the Arc Pittsburgh members with close ties to the victims of the attack.

This massacre teaches us that solidarity must be truly grounded in the understanding that no matter who we are, we will always be targeted by the people in power who use our identities to exploit us. We can love our heritage without isolating ourselves. When we talk about antisemitism, let’s also talk about xenophobia, anti-Muslim hate, anti-Blackness. Let’s talk about American systemic oppression and cultures of violence, so we can see that lone wolf shooters are also victims of widespread propaganda designed to fuel race wars for profit and power.

Honor the memory of lives lost by donating to the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, whose members stood guard outside of Jewish services for weeks following the attack, and who have received multiple threats of mass violence, especially since October 2023.

(Taken from an email sent to me by Never Again Action.)