National Urban League: Conviction in Pittsburg Synagouge Massacre a Step Toward Justice But the Work to Combat Hate & Violence Continues

 NEW YORK (June 16, 2023) – The federal conviction of the anti-Semitic gunman who murdered 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue in 2018 is a step toward justice, National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said today, but the lax gun policies and racist conspiracy theories that fueled the massacre rage on. 

“Our hearts are with the families who suffered imaginable loss and the community that was torn apart by a monstrous crime,” Morial said. “Our gratitude is with the Department of Justice and the determined prosecutors who mustered the full force of federal law and the highest standard of American ideals.” 

Morial called on state and federal lawmakers to honor the memory of the Tree of Life 11 by banning assault-style weapons like the one that took their lives, and by enacting common-sense gun safety measures to keep firearms out of the hands of violently unstable people. 

“Expressions of outrage and sorrow are meaningless unless we work for positive change,” Morial said.