Once again, a house of worship desecrated by hateful violence

It was late afternoon when I got the news. My hairdresser said, “Isn’t it awful about the synagogue shooting?”

“What shooting?” I said. She didn’t answer, just turned on the television where the news of the shooting was still breaking. I watched in horror. My heart sank. Was I having a bad dream or was my head simply still reeling from the news of the bomb threats of elected officials and others critical of President Trump?

No, this was for real: A man gone raging mad with hate had invaded the peaceful and joyful worship service at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and murdered 11 people.

I thought of my Jewish friends and how this must affect them. I called some to express my condolences. I prayed for them all, and for all Americans. Once again, a house of worship had been desecrated and innocent lives taken away by someone overcome with the hatred now overtaking our country.

I was a 20 in 1958 when the Temple Synagogue on Peachtree Street in Atlanta was bombed. It was the first such incident of violence against a house of God in this country that I’d ever heard of.

Five years later in 1963, when the news reported that someone had tossed a bomb into the historic Emanuel AME Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four young black girls attending Sunday school. The violence was heartbreaking, but not too surprising. It was during an era when things were turning around for blacks, who were being registered to vote in record numbers even in the midst of death threats. It was frightening news for those in groups such as white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan. The anti-black citizens of Birmingham didn’t like it, and the hate that had been nurtured in their hearts since birth spilled over, killing and maiming innocent people.

Like the synagogue is to our Jewish friends and the mosque is to our Muslim friends, church for us Christians is a place of happiness and celebrations of life. In the early days of America, it was the one place where we blacks felt safe. It seems that with the 1958 bombing of Temple Synagogue and the 1963 bombing of Emanuel AME Church, that our place of solace will never be the same again. Proof of this notion is in the growing number of acts of violence in houses of worship recently throughout the country.

For example, in 2012, U. S. Army veteran Wade M. Page interrupted a joyful Sunday service at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people and wounding three others. Page, who had ties to white supremacist groups, killed himself.

Killings in houses of worship were nothing new. Still, we seemed to be caught totally off guard, when in 2015, 21-year-old Dylann S. Roof, who is white, was welcomed into a Bible study meeting at the historic Emanuel AME Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Roof had sat quietly as the service ended and parishioners stood for the benediction. Then he got up and opened fire on the worshipers with the concealed semi-automatic gun he had in a pack on his waist. That night the self-radicalized white supremacist killed nine people.

While hate-induced violence can appear wearing many different hats, it’s still violence and it still kills. The proof of this sentiment came two years later in 2017, when 26 people were killed and 20 others were wounded in a domestic-related shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The killer was Deven Patrick Kelley, who was said to have been in a dispute with his mother-in-law. Among those killed were eight members of the same family. Kelley later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Still, be it domestic, religion or ethnic-related, such violence seems to be on the rise in America and it is tearing the country apart. It can be found everywhere — on our streets with road rage; in our schools where our children have to deal with bullying everyday; on social media, where there is every kind of shaming and name-calling; and even from those who hold high political office, who don’t seem to know that their harsh words and the lack of respect for others carry dire consequences.

As caring and responsible citizens, we have got to know that we can’t just spew out insults and lies and think we will be the better with such actions. Those of us who want this country to come together in unity must know that our safe future is very much in the hands of our leaders.

In the wake of the Pittsburgh shootings, I am appalled at the seeming lack of caring from some Americans, especially our president. For example, last week while much of the country was still crying over the loss of our brothers’ and sisters’ loved ones, President Trump seemed to be more worried about the way his hair looked after being caught in the rain. I suppose it was meant as a joke. I just couldn’t laugh.

Right now, there is very little to laugh about in America. Some people attack others simply because they look different, or their religion and/or culture is different. You can’t hate one group of people and trample on them without some of the residue splashing back on you.

There is a solution: We must denounce any and all heinous rhetoric and acts of violence against those who look and believe different from us. We must study to embrace humanity and realize that all life is purposeful. And we must hope and pray for a better day.

Remembering Kristallnacht

“Remembering Kristallnacht: Muslim and Jewish Reflections” will be presented 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, at Broward College South Campus, Building 71, Room 101, 7200 Pines Blvd. in Pembroke Pines.

Kristallnacht means the night of the broken glass. The free event, which commemorates the destroying of nearly 200 synagogues and over 8,000 Jewish businesses in Germany on the night of Nov. 9, 1938, was the beginning of what was to become the Holocaust — the slaughter of millions of Jews under the reign of Adolf Hitler.

The program is co-sponsored by ADL and COSMOS. Speakers will be Senada Cvrk-Pargan, president, North American BCC Preporod, Survivor of Bosnian Srebrenica Genocide; Gary Gershman, J.D., Ph.D. Nova Southeastern University; Imam Tariq Asad, Masjid Al Ansar, and Rabbi Bradd Boxman, Congregation Kol tikvah. The event will be moderated by Professor Randall Kaufman of Miami-Dade College.

Holocaust studies

The Holocaust and Genocide Studies Program at the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University, will present Thomas Kuhne of Clark University in a presentation, “The Murderers Among Us: Images of Holocaust Perpetrators from the Third Reich to the Present,” at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, 301 Washington Ave. in Miami Beach.

Kuhne is a noted author and serves as director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, where he holds the Strassler Chair in Holocaust History. Kuhne studies the cultural history of war and genocide, focusing on Holocaust perpetrators and bystanders, on masculinities and on the construction of collective identity through mass violence.

The event is free and open to the public. Call 786-972-3175 for more information.

Veteran’s Day

In honor of Veterans Day, Temple Beth Sholom at 4144 Chase Ave. in Miami Beach, will present the film “Bagels Over Berlin” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13.

The new documentary film honors Jewish veterans of the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, as told by the men who volunteered for the dangerous duty. Film director Alan Feinberg will be there to introduce the program and the special surprise guest who will be in attendance.

It’s free and open to the public. Call Mark Baranek, director of congregational engagement, at 305-538-7231 or email him at Mark@tbsmb.org.

PACT meeting

The fight for a safer Miami will continue as members of the community gather at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Greater Bethel AME Church at 245 NW Eighth St. in Overtown to “hold public officials accountable for their commitments in the areas of gun violence intervention, affordable housing, and a municipal ID program,” according to a news release.

Hosted by People Acting in Community Together (PACT) the gathering is the organization’s annual meeting and is a countywide “listening process” that involves hundreds of people in small group discussions that focus on stories of the problems they are experiencing.

Public officials will be there to hear the grievances — and then be held accountable to finding solutions.

Although many people feel hopeless and overwhelmed in solving the problems they face today, “PACT is changing the narrative of hopelessness and scarcity to a narrative of hope and abundance,” said Msgr. Chanel Jeanty, PACT president and Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Miami.

The meeting is free and open to the public.

Diocesan Honors

Congratulations to the more than 200 parishioners who received Diocesan Honors during Solemn Vespers on Oct. 7 at St. Mary’s Cathedral. The parishioners were honored for the work they did in their churches.

The parishioners were selected after each parish in the Archdiocese submitted the names of two parishioners (not employed by the parish or the Archdiocese), who they deemed to be a representative of a missionary disciple in their parish by the witness of their lives and their participation in the life of the parish. The result: a total of 210 parishioners from Miami-Dade. Broward, and Monroe counties were honored.

The service was a part of the Archdiocese’s ongoing 60th anniversary celebration this year, marking six decades of service to the more than 1.3 million Catholics in Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties.

Each honoree received a Jubilaeum Pin awarded by Archbishop Thomas Wenski, and signifies the unity the honoree shares with the Archbishop and in thanksgiving for their service to the Archdiocese.

Hall of Fame ceremony

The Booker T. Washington Alumni Athlete Club will have its 2018 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Banquet at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at Royal Palace Ballroom, 1550 W. 84th St. in Hialeah.

This year’s inductees are athletes: Larry “Sugar Bear” Barney (1968); Walter “Toeball” Crocket (1968); Brandon Harris (2008), and Nitron Stork (2004).

Also being honored: Administrative Inductee William Aristide, current principal of BTW High School; and Meritorius Inductee George Storr (1960).

Posthumous Inductees: Freddie “Ghost” Atwell (1960); Theodore “Pencil Poppa” Carr (1953); Loran “Hotel” Holton (1962), and George “Lefty “ Webb.

Tickets are $50 per person. For tickets and more information, contact Kathryn “Kitty” Hepburn at 786-443-8221.

This story was originally published November 1, 2018 at 4:57 PM.