My dear community,
My heart is heavy thinking with the news of the horrific shooting in Pittsburgh. The impact carries a very real and painful reverberation for the Jewish community in SSW and beyond. To you all, we are all thinking of you and the safety of your community and loved ones. More than words of sympathy, on behalf of the School, we offer our solidarity. Anti-Semitism is hate. It kills, harms, and destroys.
The shooting of 11 individuals in Pittsburgh for being Jewish, the killing of 2 Black people in Kentucky and their killer’s intention to harm more people in a nearby Black church for being Black, the threat to erase transgender folks by the President, the ongoing violence toward Black folks for going about their lives, the separation of migrant children and families at the border, the hostile treatment of Latinx families travelling on foot in Central America – this heinous list is ongoing and rests of a system of white supremacy and hatred.
How do we take care of ourselves and our SSW community through these onslaughts? How shall our solidarity take shape? How do we fight back? Love and compassion and finding gentleness with each other is part of the answer. Being willing to see and listen to each other is part of the answer. Recommitting to be and acting as voices for justice is part of the answer. And voting. Voting won’t stop the hate alone but it is surely part of the answer as well. Go to the polls and take others with you.
Today, connect with others. Ask for and give support. Rest and breathe. And take a moment to know that you are not journeying through these times and these threats alone. We do have an SSW community, loving and imperfect, to stand together.
Take care,
Marianne RM Yoshioka, Ph.D., M.S.W.
Dean and Elizabeth Marting Treuhaft Professor
Smith College School for Social Work
