A New Year's resolution for America: An attack on one group is an attack on us all

Ruben Navarrette Jr. on Jan 8, 2020

When my gay brother heard the news, he was shaken to his core. Honestly, while I too was shocked by the shooting, it didn't affect me the same way. But, as a Mexican American, my time would come.

This past August, 22 people were killed and 24 others were injured -- most of them Mexican or Mexican American -- when a white gunman drove 10 hours to the U.S.-Mexico border and the heavily Latino city of El Paso, Texas, entered a Walmart and opened fire with the singular objective of killing, he reportedly told police, "as many Mexicans as possible."

What in the world is going on? We make a terrible mistake when, after one of these tragedies, we shift the conversation to gun control, or mental health, or video games. These horrible occurrences are all about the same thing, something we don't like to talk about: hate. We should call it by name. How else can we expect to fight it?

My Mexican-born wife has Jewish cousins through her mother's second marriage. So that means I have Jewish cousins. A few days after the attack at the rabbi's home in Monsey, my cousin Amy posted a meme on Facebook, a photo of her and her husband above the words: "I Stand Against Anti-Semitism." I posted back: "These are my cousins. I stand with them." She posted back. "Thank you. We stand with you, too."

Now was that so hard?

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.