OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Members of the Jewish Community Center are leaning on each other to cope with the tragedy. Three friends, all proud to be Jewish, now say they’re afraid to openly practice their faith.
Berkley Selvin alerted her friends, Rachel Trout and Logan Cole, of the text her father sent. A shooting at the Jewish Community Center parking lot and Village Shalom left three dead. The friends met at the JCC for a youth group meeting, only yards away from the danger.
“At this point, I was not safe being Jewish. I wasn’t proud to call myself Jewish because of what happened. And that’s unsettling to hear. That’s not something I should feel,” said Cole.
A 73-year old man gunned down three people in what police described as a hate crime. It’s a tragedy that’s stunned the Jewish community.
“You’re being persecuted for something you believe in. That’s not how life should be. We are all people,” said Trout.
“I go there all the time, almost every week and it’s going to be hard going back there,” Selvin added.
But the friends are unwilling to let hate define who they are.
“I feel a little unsafe being Jewish and telling people that I am Jewish, but I will forever be proud to be Jewish,” said Cole.
The girls say it will be difficult to go back to the community center after what has happened.
This Friday, the Jewish community is coming together to support and grieve. The youth group at the JCC organized a walk starting from the center to Village Shalom and ending at Valley Park. It’s open to the community and will start at 7 p.m.
