Sunday, Oct. 27 marks the first anniversary of the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that claimed the lives of 11 Jewish worshipers. It was the largest lethal attack on the Jewish community in American history. The murders continue to reverberate through Jewish and other communities under threat of extremism.
Since the Tree of Life massacre, a recent study published in the Washington Post has found that 3 in 10 American Jews have avoided publicly wearing anything that displays their Jewish identity.
Nationally, bias incidents and hate crimes directed at Muslims are significantly more common than in previous years. Anti-LGBTQ hate crimes are also rising across the country.
The hate-inspired carnage did not stop in Pittsburgh. The perpetrator of the massacre at The Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March of this year cited Pittsburgh as an inspiration for his heinous attack. The shooter at another at a synagogue near San Diego in April was similarly influenced by the Pittsburgh gunman.
In recent years, mass murderers also targeted African-Americans in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., and the LGBTQ community at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
Latinx families were gunned down this summer shopping at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas.
Minnesota is not immune from hate crimes and violence. The FBI reports hate crimes in Minnesota have gone up every year since 2014.
In 2017, Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington was firebombed. Last month, several East African-owned stores on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis were vandalized by a man driven by racist motives.