Hate crime leaves silence

By Abigail Vidals

At first glance you can see a police car parked in the nearby parking lot outside the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The sight of the car itself bringing attention and lending itself to creating a feeling of wonder on whether you should feel safe or alarmed.
On Nov. 3, at 5:30 p.m. Port Angeles community members came together under one roof to attend an interfaith vigil held for the shooting victims of the Jewish Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA and of those killed in the Kroger supermarket in Jeffersontown, KY.
With the idea of the vigil being brought to the attention of Rev. Kristin Luana by local community activist and Peninsula College Professor of Sociology Tara Martin Lopez. Other locals also persisted that some kind of acknowledgement should be shown to stand against these kinds of events of gun violence and racial hate. “Something we know about the perpetrators who commit these kind of terrorist attacks is that most of them are isolated, lonesome men. They don’t know many people in real life and are therefore much more prone to fall for racist and anti-semitic propaganda in the media.” said by Rev. Luana.
In these past events two African American people were shot and killed while they were at a Kroger Supermarket in Jeffersontown, KY. The assailant was seen earlier trying to break into a First Baptist Church, he left and later on entered the Kroger supermarket where the tragedy happened.
The second shooting took place in Pittsburgh, PA where a man angrily entered the Tree of Life Synagogue and shot six police and eleven worshippers in the synagogue. Making it clear beforehand that he wanted to kill jews.
Community members in Port Angeles came together to remember the victims of these two tragedies, speakers at the mass also talked about racial hate in America and how there have been way too many shooting crimes in this year alone. Lopez touched upon querencia in her speech and about bringing unity to the community by not staying silent when moments like these happen. “I wanted to acknowledge that people were coming together…. which is important because if we don’t do that, one, silence creates a space for those who are hateful so we have to fill that space first. Then the second is coming together so that you don’t feel isolated, that’s really important because if you feel isolated then you feel like you lack efficacy, or any type of power to do anything about it and we do.” Lopez said.
The interfaith vigil was open to the community and had many attendees that were from different faiths. Due to religious places becoming targets for shooting violence, Rev. Luana felt the need to inform police that they would be holding an interfaith vigil, as well as hiring private security for the mass.
Two other vigils that were organized by progressive groups that took place in Sequim and Port angeles. “These are the times that we live in and it is important to know where you stand.” said by Rev. Luana.