PITTSBURGH, PA. - Today, marks the 6th anniversary of the Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre when 11 Jews were killed in the largest Jewish massacre in US history. It happened in the neighborhood where I grew up.
Every year on the anniversary of the massacre, I struggle to write something that captures the horror of that morning. As a Jewish reporter, I heard there was an ongoing shooter situation. I called The Guardian and volunteered to go down there to cover it.
The shootout between cops and the gunman lasted more than an hour. As I was arriving at the scene of the shooting, I watched in real-time on Twitter as my friends, who were reporters, tweeted about the hundreds of rounds being exchanged between the cops and the gunman, who had barricaded himself on the top floor of the synagogue.
Nothing has terrified me as much as the feeling that I felt that morning. I still struggle with flashbacks and nightmares from that morning.
I had covered the drug war and paramilitary gangs in Brazil, heard furious gun battles between cops and drug traffickers, and seen my fair share of dead bodies on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. But I had expected to see such violence in Rio de Janeiro.
I had never expected to see SWAT Teams retaking a synagogue in front of a childhood bus stop in the leafy, idyllic neighborhood where I grew up. The experience continues to shake me.
The only thing that helped me heal was what happened later that night in the streets of Squirrel Hill, a few blocks from the synagogue.
Over 5,000 people gathered in front of the church of the real Mr. Rogers, a neighborhood resident. They chanted slogans like "Safety through Solidarity" and marched for immigrants' rights.
For many, it may seem strange that people were marching for immigrant rights following the largest Jewish massacre. This is because right-wing Zionist forces in Pittsburgh's Jewish community have tried to erase the political motivations of the shooter. They have been attempting to make the shooting about support for Israel and genocide in Palestine.
However, the shooter, Richard Bowers, was very explicit about his political motivations behind targeting the synagogue. The shooter said that he targeted the synagogue because they were holding fundraisers for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. He claimed that the Jews were bringing in the migrant caravans.
Unfortunately, now, when you go to the annual memorials of the Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre run by Zionists, you are told that Jews were killed because they were Jewish. There is no mention of the fact that they were killed for standing up for immigrants.
For these reasons, I have stopped attending the annual memorial services because I feel the Zionist messages at these memorials go against what it means to be a Jew.
Instead, last week, I went to an early vote party hosted by Lhotshampa refugees, the Nepalese-speaking ethnic minority of Bhutan, who were driven out of that country by its genocidal dictator king seeking to drive out an ethnic minority that comprised nearly 35% of the small Himalayan country.
See, the shooter Richard Bowers lived in a Mon Valley community, where thousands of Nepalese-speaking Bhutanese fleeing genocide had relocated. He looked around him, and he felt like immigrants were invading this community, but he had nothing to fear from these Lhotshampa refugees.
These refugees were excited to be Americans and help rebuild the deindustrialized Mon Valley. So, last week, I decided to attend a "Vote Early" party with them and head to the polls to cast my vote with them.
They threw a great party in a church social room, complete with dancing and Nepalese food that was nearly impossible to find in Pittsburgh a decade ago. Kids played games and ran around—it was truly a great time. Then, we all went together to the South Park ice skating rink and voted together.
Thank God I was with these Lhotshampa refugees when I went to vote early. The multiple forms and paperwork were very confusing, and I was forced to fill them out three times.
Fortunately, many of these refugees, some of whom were voting for the first time, had been preparing and training others to fill out the complex form to vote early. They came over to help me fill out the form, and I was able to cast my vote without any irregularities. They helped make sure that my vote as an American would be cast properly.
As we left the early voting location, we all decided to take a photo together as we left the early voting location at the ice skate. Lhotshampa refugees fleeing genocide and an American Jew struggling with the trauma of a massacre. However, that day, despite our differences, we were all voting together and creating a new community as Americans.
Today, there will be many people attempting to use the Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre to justify inflicting genocide on Palestinians. Still, nothing could be a deeper perversion of what happened at the Tree of Life Synagogue Massacre. We were targeted because we stood up for immigrants like the Lhotshampa refugees, who helped me vote that day.
As a young Jewish kid, my grandparents, both World War Two veterans who were anti-Zionists, said that our job was always to stand up for the oppressed because we were once oppressed. On the 6th anniversary of the largest Jewish massacre, let us not forget those Jews were killed because their congregations dared to stand up for immigrants.
May the memories of our Jewish martyrs here in Pittsburgh always be a blessing in the fight for immigrants' rights.
Mike Elk was nominated for an Emmy for his work with CNN connecting the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre with racial justice struggles in Pittsburgh.
