Shalom Orlando: We must speak out!

Keith Dvorchik sent via email a statement from Shalom Orlando on the recent Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs in which five people were murdered and 25 wounded. The statement went out to all members of the Federation, but it needs to be shared on as many venues as possible.

Here is the statement:

Sunday morning the Jewish Community Relations Council, a committee of Shalom Orlando, published an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel about the rise of anti-Semitism and the threat to the Jewish community. That same morning, many of us woke up to the shattering news of the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, another hate crime aimed at a different minority group. I have said over and oover again that we mst stand up and speak out against all hatred. This is an example of what hatred against ‘the other’ does. It doesn’t matter if ‘the other’ is Jewish, LGBTQ+, African American, Muslim, women or any other group. We must not tolerate this type of hatred.

We mourn the deaths of the five people killed and send all our wished for a refuah shleimah, a full recovery, to the 25 people who were wounded. To the victims’ loved ones: we hare your heartbreak and hold you in our hearts.

To the entire LGBTQ+ community: We all deserve to celebrate safely in our cherished spaces. We deserve to live in a country that values human life. And we deserve to live without attacks on our humanity and fundamental rights.

We mourn, we remember, and we resolve to keep fighting for a world where all of us can live in safety and dignity.

May the memories of those lives lost at Club Q be a blessing and may we all work together to stand up and speak out against hatred. If we allow hatred against any group, we allow hatred against every group.