It was a bold choice, no doubt: holding an event in Pittsburgh about bridging painful differences, and then having the owner of the New England Patriots attend. But if you can make that work, can world peace be far behind?<\/p>\n
And indeed, there was Robert Kraft at the front of a University of Pittsburgh ballroom on Wednesday evening, conversing warmly with former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch and Gov. Josh Shapiro. Bitter sports rivalries were treated lightly, and at one point Kraft seemed to endorse a national political role for Shapiro himself.<\/p>\n
Most of the discussion, however, focused on the unifying power of sports and the importance of strengthening alliances to fight against bigotry.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aIf you look at the profound advances we’ve made as a country in recognizing more civil rights for more people, it’s always been because there’s been a coalition of different people coming together,\u201d Shapiro told a largely college-age audience with a large number of Black and Jewish students.<\/p>\n
He cited the civil-rights alliance between the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, as two leaders who \u201ccame together and advanced the cause of freedom. \u2026 You are the descendants of that work, and I would argue you have a responsibility to carry forward with that work.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was the spirit of Wednesday\u2019s Unity Dinner, which was hosted by organizations that include the NFL, Jewish and Black student groups, and the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, founded by Kraft himself. The goal of the dinner was to address the fact that, as Kraft lamented, \u200a\u201dYoung Blacks and young Jews don’t have that rapport\u201d even though they share a heritage of suffering bigotry and oppression.<\/p>\n
Students participating in the program this week will also visit local Black and Jewish landmarks, including Freedom Corner in the Hill District and the Tree of Life synagogue, site of the 2018 mass shooting that represents the deadliest act of antisemetic violence in American history.<\/p>\n
Kraft, who, like Shapiro, is Jewish, said Wednesday that the Alliance took shape after that shooting and the 2017 \u201cUnite the Right\u201d rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided we had to start something to fight and try to slow down the growth of hate in this country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n