What may lurk behind increase in hate crimes

George Washington, in his 1790 letter to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., told Jews they would be safe in this new nation:

“The government of the United States...gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance...”

Fast forward to the tragic Oct. 27 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue — merely the latest in a knotted string of hate crimes against various minorities. Fear, prejudice, and political strife are nothing new in human civilization, so why the sudden surge?

According to a plethora of news reports and data, hate crimes have been on the rise lately — at least in America’s largest cities. The FBI reported 2014 had the lowest hate-related crime rate since first tracking it in 1992. In 2016, the FBI data showed an increase of 11.7 percent over 2014. In 2017, according to data collected by CBS News, hate crimes rose another 12 percent over the previous year.

If that sounds overwhelming to you, you’re not alone. But perspective, and ethics, help.

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.” — The Talmud.

One man did not “abandon the work,” modeling a turn-the-other-cheek ethic which is tempting to forget when the pain of violence takes hold.

Dr. Jeff Cohen lives down the street from the synagogue, so he heard the gunshots and ensuing chaos. He is also the president of Allegheny General Hospital where the shooting suspect (who exchanged gunfire with police) was being treated.

Cohen, who is Jewish, visited the shooter in his hospital room just hours after the suspect shouted that he wanted “all Jews to die.” Cohen simply checked on him, asked how he was doing, if he was in pain. After being told no, he quietly left.

Cohen wasn’t the only one who rose above what was undoubtedly emotionally difficult to do. A Jewish doctor and Jewish nurse also treated the shooter.

The FBI agent who was guarding the shooter remarked to Cohen that he couldn’t have done that, in Cohen’s place. Cohen responded thus, according to CBS News:

“I thought it was important to at least talk to him... You can’t on one hand say we should talk to each other, and then I don’t talk to him. So you lead by example.”

I’m no religious leader, but I can’t help thinking that’s would Jesus would do. Along with the Dalai Lama and other examples of humanity’s best.

Pope John Paul and local pastor Tim Remington both quickly forgave their would-be assassins, as local reader T.H., who inspired this column, aptly reminded me.

Ethics are easy to talk about; it’s when they’re tested that we really know if we have them.

So why does it seem to be open season on minorities, not only here but ­— at least in grievances — across the Atlantic too? The short answer may be diversity’s growing pains.

A study on religion and race in America, released in September 2017 by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute, revealed a remarkable shift. For the first time in our history, people who identify as white Christians are a minority of Americans (and have an older median age). Four out of every five Americans — 80 percent — in 1976 self-described as white Christians. But today that group constitutes just 43 percent of the population.

The newer, more ethnically diverse generations are far less likely to affiliate with any religious group, the landmark survey found. Because that demographic is also younger, this trend is likely to increase.

That’s also true outside the U.S. Europe is undergoing a similar phenomenon, with similar (if less fatal) problems. As technology, travel, and economic pressures ease across the globe, that metaphoric melting pot is becoming a reality.

As more people are discovering thanks to DNA kits, nearly all of us are more ethnically blended than we realized anyway.

Perhaps it’s natural to feel threatened — by a loss of relative influence, by the differentness of others, by the simple fact of change. Fear is a strong motivator, although too easily it motivates us toward the wrong answer.

It’s a shame, beyond the loss of innocent human lives, that we lose the heightened strength and knowledge which unity provides.

As Saint Ambrose said, “No one heals himself by wounding another.”

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network who, like most humans on the planet, is more mutt than purebred. Contact her at Sholeh@cdapress.com.