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A Pittsburgh Jewish group is raising money for the Muslim community in New Zealand after a terror attack that targeted two mosques in Christchurch on Friday and left at least 49 people dead.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh said in a statement on Friday that it will be accepting donations “to help the Muslim community of Christchurch, New Zealand.”
“The Greater Pittsburgh Jewish community was shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific Islamophobic attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, yesterday resulting in the senseless murder of at least 49 people,” the group said in the statement. “We stand in solidarity with the Muslim community in Christchurch, in Pittsburgh, and around the world.”
“Our Jewish community is not the only group you have targeted,” they continue. “… You have also deliberately undermined the safety of people of color, Muslims, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Yesterday’s massacre is not the first act of terror you incited against a minority group in our country.”
Pittsburgh Jewish Group
The effort comes months after at least 11 people were killed and several others injured after a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in October. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the shooting is believed to be the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
Man goes viral after standing outside his local mosque to ‘keep watch’ while Muslim worshippers pray
At the time, Muslim groups came forward to raise money for the victims of the synagogue shooting.
“Unfortunately we are all too familiar with the devastating effect a mass shooting has on a faith community,” Meryl Ainsman, chair of the board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, said.
“We are filled with grief over this senseless act of hate. May those who were injured heal quickly and fully, and may the memories of the victims forever be a blessing,” she continued.
Other Jewish leaders in Pittsburgh have also come forward after the terror attack on Friday in efforts to repay the acts of kindness received from the Muslim community last year.
Brian Schreiber, president of the Jewish Community Center, told a local CBS station on Friday that “our responsibility as the Islamic Community was here for us in our time of need is to be right back to be in their time of need to support.”
“It also means we need to be sharing with them at the Islamic Center our grief and our feeling of our support for them so they don’t feel alone in that journey,” he added.
In every bit of honest writing in the world, there is a base theme.
Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love. There are shorter means, many of them. There is writing promoting social change, writing punishing injustice, writing in celebration of heroism, but always that base theme.
“There is a lot of talk going on between members of the Venezuelan parliament and military elements in Venezuela about what can happen and how they can move to support the opposition,” Bolton said in an interview with ABC television.
Bolton’s announcement follows the rally of thousands of Brazilians in Caracas in demonstrations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and a major power cut that has plunged Caracas and most of the country’s cities into darkness for four days.
Meanwhile, supporters of Maduro took part in demonstrations in support of the president, who accused “imperialism” of causing his country’s crises.
Maduro had said the power failure was caused by an “electronic attack” on the electronic monitoring system at Gori Electric Station, which supplies Venezuela with 80 percent of electricity.
Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who have each announced their 2020 candidacies, were among those in attendance for services and a march to mark the anniversary. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who is considering his own White House bid, was also in attendance.
On March 7, 1965, an estimated 525 to 600 civil rights marchers headed southeast out of Selma on U.S. Highway 80. The march was led by John Lewis of SNCC and the Reverend Hosea Williams of SCLC, followed by Bob Mants of SNCC and Albert Turner of SCLC.
Steven Kasher Gallery, New York
Martin Luther King Jr. with Ralph Abernathy, James Forman of the SNCC, and Reverend Jesse Douglas leading the march around the state capitol, Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965; photograph by Spider Martin from the exhibition ‘Selma March 1965,’ at the Steven Kasher Gallery, New York City, March 5–April 18, 2015
Throughout March of 1965, a group of demonstrators faced violence as they attempted to march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, to demand the right to vote for black people.One of the pivotal days was March 7, when 17 people were injured by police, including future Congressman John Lewis.
Since that time, March 7 has been known as “Bloody Sunday.”
For some reason, GOP congressional leaders decided they didn’t need to be there, even though Senator Tim Scott is one of the day’s co-chairman and former President George W. Bush will attend. (Reports are the House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is attending. Good for him.)
February 1965 – Marches and demonstrations over voter registration prompt Alabama Governor George C. Wallace to ban nighttime demonstrations in Selma and Marion, Alabama.
February 18, 1965 – During a march in Marion, state troopers attack the demonstrators. State trooper James Bonard Fowler shoots and kills Jimmie Lee Jackson. Fowler was charged with murder in 2007 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2010.
March 7, 1965 – About 600 people begin a march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, led by Lewis and Hosea Williams. Marchers demand an end to discrimination in voter registration. At the Edmund Pettus Bridge, state and local lawmen attack the marchers with billy clubs and tear gas, driving them back to Selma.
March 9, 1965 – Martin Luther King Jr. leads another march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The march is largely symbolic; as arranged previously, the crowd turns back at a barricade of state troopers. Demonstrations are held in cities across the United States to show solidarity with the Selma marchers.
March 9, 1965 – President Lyndon Johnson speaks out against the violence in Selma and urges both sides to respect the law.
March 9, 1965 –Unitarian Universalist minister James Reeb, in Selma to join marchers, is attacked by a group of white men and beaten. He dies of his injuries two days later.
March 10, 1965 – The US Justice Department files suit in Montgomery, Alabama, asking for an order to prevent the state from punishing any person involved in a demonstration for civil rights.
March 17, 1965 – Federal District Court Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. rules in favor of the marchers. “The law is clear that the right to petition one’s government for the redress of grievances may be exercised in large groups.
“March 18, 1965 – Governor Wallace goes before the state legislature to condemn Johnson’s ruling. He states that Alabama cannot provide the security measures needed, blames the federal government, and says he will call on the federal government for help.
March 19, 1965 – Wallace sends a telegram to President Johnson asking for help, saying that the state does not have enough troops and cannot bear the financial burden of calling up the Alabama National Guard.
March 20, 1965 – President Johnson issues an executive order federalizing the Alabama National Guard and authorizes whatever federal forces the Defense Secretary deems necessary.
March 21, 1965 – About 3,200 people march out of Selma for Montgomery under the protection of federal troops. They walk about 12 miles a day and sleep in fields at night.
March 25, 1965 – The marchers reach the state capitol in Montgomery. The number of marchers grows to about 25,000.
June 4, 2015 – After a state resolution to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge is not acted upon, Lewis and Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Alabama), publish an article in the Selma Times-Journal in favor of keeping the name. “Keeping the name of the bridge is not an endorsement of the man who bares its name but rather an acknowledgment that the name of the bridge today is synonymous with the Voting Rights Movement which changed the face of this nation and the world.”
