Squirrel Hill: mourners find ‘safety in solidarity’ as they grieve after shooting
(A woman stands at a memorial outside the Tree of Life synagogue after a shooting left 11 people dead in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh on Saturday. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
Writing for the Guardian, Payday Senior Labor Reporter has a look at how activists are using the massacre to organize for immigrants’ rights:
Riffat Chughtai, a Muslim activist, took the microphone. She spoke of how when hate crimes were directed at Muslims after 9/11, Muslims in Pittsburgh used the opportunity to build support systems for immigrants.
“Immigrants are a huge component now of the success of Pittsburgh,” she said. “Pittsburgh is one of the cities that hosts a lot of immigrants from every corner of the world and we always do.”
“Remember,” she implored: “Pittsburgh Strong.”
Ru Emmons led the crowd in a chant.
“Ignoring antisemitism will not make us safer,” Emmons said.
Mike Elk is an Emmy-nominated labor reporter and alumni of the Guardian. A native of Pittsburgh, Elk grew up in a UE union family. Elk was the only American reporter in the room with Lula on the morning of the election & traveled with him to the Oval Office. Credited by the Washington Post for being the first reporter to track the strike wave systematically, Elk started Payday Report using his NLRB settlement from being illegally fired for union organizing in 2015. He lives in his hometown of Pittsburgh and attended journalism school at PUC-Rio de Janeiro. He speaks both Portuguese and Pittsburgh fluently. His email is [email protected]
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