For the Martyred

Last week fifty innocents were killed and another fifty injured in the name of hate and fear. 100 shot as they gathered to worship with no refuge save their faith. 100 men, women and children. I’ve heard people say, we shouldn’t politicize their deaths and I agree – it feels disrespectful to the horror of what’s happened.

And yet, isn’t it also wrong to disregard the fact that fifty were killed by a terrorist who proclaimed our president as the symbol of white identity? How can we ignore the culpability of the man who proclaims Nazis are ‘very fine people’; who touts nationalism as an ideal; who on the very day of sending thoughts and prayers continues his assault on immigrants by declaring a fake invasion as justification for a fake emergency just days after threatening Americans with “his” army and “his” police force should he lose in 2020? How can we ignore the danger around us lead by his words? Isn’t it more disrespectful not only to the fifty martyrs but to all of those in recent years who have fallen in the name of fear and hate?

When we shine the light we honor the fifty from Queensland; the eleven from Tree of Life Synagogue; the seventeen from Stoneman Douglas; the one in Charlottesville; the forty nine at Pulse; the twenty six in Sutherland Springs; the nine at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church; and to all the others who came before and sadly those yet to come. Hundreds sacrificed to hate. We honor these martyrs but not only by remembering them; but by standing united against the viral hate that seeks to destroy the sanctuary that once was this great nation.

I know the worth of this refuge. I am a proud member of an ancient people. I am a Jew -- the great granddaughter of a great Rabbi born of a long line of rabbis – an immigrant who fled pograms when his right to worship led to death threats and injury. The granddaughter of a man who was smuggled out of Europe as a child so he couldn’t be used as cannon fodder – ripped from his family and easily sacrificed for the sake of his Jewish blood. Entire lines of my family extinguished to the gods of fear and hate. And those who survived found shelter here – so they could live without terror. Isn’t it disrespectful to ignore how the tide turns toward the hate and fear they fled?

So how can we honor the fallen? How can we honor our forefathers? Yes! I am a proud member of ancient people. But even more importantly I am a proud member of a community. And in my community. My world. My America – there is no room for fear of other because that fear begets hate. And hate begets sorrow and injustice and darkness.

Martin Luther King said, “darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” And so in my community. My world. My America – we must be the light that brings justice and by doing so we honor the fallen; protect the innocent; and we drive out the dark.

Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha`olam. As-salamu alaykum. God’s peace be upon you and upon us all.

With respect and admiration
Deb Roseman, President Katy Area Democrats