Spare me your thoughts and prayers. The U.S. has betrayed its Jews
The United States Constitution, and the government sworn to uphold it, is not protecting its citizens.
It did not protect Lori Gilbert Kaye, the 60-year-old woman with a kind smile and a generous disposition, who was murdered by an anti-Semitic terrorist as she prayed in synagogue yesterday, the final day of Passover.
It did not protect the others who were injured in this horrific hate crime, including the rabbi who bravely continued to teach and implored his Chabad congregation to stay strong.
Just like it did not protect the 11 worshippers who were similarly murdered in their Pittsburgh synagogue exactly six months ago.
Anytime there is a hate crime inspired by extremist online discourse, committed with an assault weapon, targeting a vulnerable minority — this time Jews, but other times African Americans or Muslims or gays and lesbians or random children in a school — it signals a total abnegation of the central job of the federal government: to protect its people.
The elected officials charged with this responsibility have failed us. They have failed by hiding behind a perverted, outdated, self-serving view of the Constitution that allows the carnage to continue and continue.
To these officials – from the President, to the Congress, to state lawmakers and county officials — I say, spare me your thoughts and prayers. We don’t need your pious Tweets. We need you to do your job to protect us.
Anti-Semitism is a real threat in this country now, far more so than any moment in my lifetime. Black churches are burning to the ground. Mosques are under fire. Children cannot attend school without genuine fear.
A virulent white nationalism is allowed to fester in an Internet netherworld that resists real responsibility for the hateful discourse it spreads. When this toxicity is paired with the ridiculously easy access to assault weapons — as it appears to have happened in the case of John T. Earnest, the accused gunman in yesterday’s shooting — we get Poway, California.
And Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And Escondido, California. And Opelousas, Louisiana. And Parkland. And Newtown. And so on. [Continue reading…]