We enjoyed a reprieve — but it was oh so short. During the first year of the pandemic, a certain event was notably absent: mass shootings.
Even as we awaited the vaccine with heightened anticipation, dreaming of a “return to normal,” how many of us considered a return to a “normal” that we desperately wished were abnormal. Yet, almost simultaneous with the launch of the mass vaccination campaign, mass shootings returned, including right here in Colorado. At the Table Mesa King Soopers in Boulder, 10 fellow Coloradans were brutally cut down.
Each of these shootings has its own set of circumstances, each of these shooters has his (and it’s almost always a male) own twisted motivations. The one in Buffalo frightens our community in particular. The perpetrator was an avowed anti-Semite and white supremacist, filled with hatred of and paranoia about anyone who is not white. Then, only a day later, another perpetrator, this time in California, targeting a Taiwanese church. His beef? China-Taiwan relations. Then there was the man in New York who attempted to blow up the subway and shot at multiple passengers. In his case, racist black nationalism was, it seems, the driving force. Sadly, we could go on and on. These events roll over us, one after the other, mirroring the uptick in violence —specifically, gun violence — plaguing the US.
In the case of the Buffalo shooter, one might be quick to call for anti-racism education and efforts. To be sure, this is needed, but it addresses but one level of the mass shooting epidemic. Equally critical is to develop the resources and services to get at the root causes, such as mental health services. It takes government investment, but it also takes community centers and houses of worship. There is no single address and no single solution. After a given mass shooting, it cannot be only the affinity group of the killer that protests and condemns. All potential perpetrators must be reached out to and healed. Prisons. Rehab centers. Schools. Social media. All potential seedbeds of mass shooting must be addressed.
Here is a good, down-to-earth example:the example of Rabbi Litvin of Chabad of the Bluegrass in Louisville, Ky. Earlier this month he recounted hearing the shout “kike” from a neighbor’s front porch when a graduation was being celebrated. Litvin knew the neighbors well. He went over and waited close to an hour until the guest who uttered the word came out.
“I asked him to repeat what he said & asked him if he knew the blood stained history of those words. I explained the damage such words have done & still do,” Litvin wrote on Twitter. “I pointed out that by using those words he aligns himself with those actions.
“He apologized profusely and tearfully, and I asked for assurance he wouldn’t use such language in the future, and encouraged him to drop by the Jewish Student Center for a coffee and to learn a little bit about Judaism, anti-Semitism, and the power of words, both hateful and kind.”
We need to have the courage of Litvin, to confront — and to heal — straight on.
The one thing all these shootings have in common is deadly weapons. The ease of access to and normalization of high-powered deadly weapons in a civilian population cost ever more innocent lives and erodes everyone’s sense of security and trust.
We are becoming numb from repeating this over and over.
Copyright © 2022 by the Intermountain Jewish News
