On Jan. 12, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey’s office hosted an event called “Building Bridges,” where an Israeli and Palestinian peacemaker presented a message of hope and ideas for achieving peace. In his introductory remarks, the mayor said his job is to “make sure in this city that everybody felt safe, that everybody felt respected. … Our job is not to offend.” He presented a message of unity and hope, which was echoed by the night’s speakers.
However, at the end of the evening, attendees were confronted with what I felt was a completely contradictory message from the mayor. Members of a pro-Palestinian group distributed flyers with extremely divisive language, the mildest of which read, “Beware the ‘peace’ industry and its culture of normalization.” When asked, members of the group said a staff member from the mayor’s office gave them permission to stand inside the building and distribute the flyers. When more than one attendee showed the flyer to a member of the mayor’s staff, it seemed evident to me that she was aware of its contents.
After an evening that the mayor promised would “inspire dialogue and strengthen connections across cultures,” Gainey’s office had the last word, and it was a disappointing, hypocritical message of divisiveness.
Meira J. Russ
Squirrel Hill