Never Again Calls Us to Action

Today marks three years since the Poway shooting, when a white supremacist entered a synagogue on the final day of Passover, intent on killing all the Jews inside. Lori Gilbert-Kaye was murdered, and several others were injured before the gun jammed and the shooter fled.

And as the sun sets, that solemn commemoration will transition to another -- Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The words “never again” will be invoked in countless speeches and social media tributes. At a time of budding neo-fascism and rising hate that has manifested in horrific attacks like we saw in Poway, these cannot be empty words. They must serve as an urgent call to action.

The Holocaust didn’t start with concentration camps. It started with demonization and dehumanization. With conspiracy theories that vilified Jews and other minorities, scapegoated them for the nation’s problems, and incited violence. With discriminatory policies that grew gradually more draconian over time.

It doesn’t take hundreds of Nazis marching in the streets to see parallels in our current moment -- though of course, that’s precisely what happened five years ago in Charlottesville.

Cable news hosts and elected officials normalize the neo-Nazi ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory that motivated the Poway shooter and many others. Ancient tropes are used to scapegoat the AAPI community for COVID. Immigrants are vilified. Voter suppression efforts are directly targeting the Black community. Books are being banned. And the rights of transgender people are being stripped away with policies and rhetoric aimed at delegitimizing their very existence. On and on it goes, so often leading to real world violence and trauma.

“Never again” calls on us to stand up and fight back against all these forms of hate, discrimination, and violence, wherever they arise.

Our Charlottesville lawsuit demonstrates that we not only have the tools to wage that fight -- we have the power to win. Our legal victory against the Unite the Right extremists has already created a model that’s holding other dangerous hate groups and leaders to account.

As we remember the horrors of the past and confront the challenges of the present, this victory is a much-needed sign that a better future is possible.

I hope it inspires you to continue fighting alongside us to make that future a reality.