Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting

[Content Note: Gun violence; anti-Semitism; terrorism; stochastic terrorism.]

On Saturday, an anti-Semitic terrorist walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began shooting. He killed 11 people.

Joyce Fienberg, 75
Richard Gottfried, 65
Rose Mallinger, 97
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66
Cecil Rosenthal, 59
David Rosenthal, 54
Bernice Simon, 84
Sylvan Simon, 86
Daniel Stein, 71
Melvin Wax, 88
Irving Younger, 69
My condolences to their families, friends, neighbors, and community. I am so sorry.

The shooter also physically injured six people, including four police officers. Many more people have been traumatized. I hope they all have the resources and support they need to recover.

I am very sad. And I am very angry.

I am also aware that those words are insufficient. Please don't mistake my terse brevity for indifference. To the absolute contrary, I am overwhelmed by the hatred and violence being unleashed in escalating, accelerating measure across my country, and I find myself shutting down when I try to write about what I feel. My body aches all over, all the time. I feel like I'm drowning in grief, and it's hard to find the words to convey how deeply sad and how profoundly angry I am.

I share that not because I think I'm special, but because I know that I'm not — because I know that many of you are mourning and scared and full of rage, too, and I want you to know that you are not alone.

None of us who still care about one another are alone.

I take up space in solidarity, urgently and unyieldingly, with my fellow marginalized countrypeople. With anyone who still and always believes that we are stronger together.

* * *

We know who pulled the trigger, and we know who else is to blame. I've been talking a lot about stochastic terrorism on Twitter the past couple of days. I'm not going to talk about it again here (although such discussion is welcome in comments). Their names do not belong in this post. I will not give them that space.