Religious and City Leaders March to Promote Racial Justice and Religious Tolerance
Hundreds Join Jewish, Muslim, and Christian Religious and City Leaders in March to Promote Racial Justice and Religious Tolerance
Demonstration for Solidarity kicked off first ever STANDING UPtown for Justice march through Morningside Heights
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NEW YORK 鈥�&苍产蝉辫;In an unprecedented display of solidarity, 35 community religious institutions and organizations came together to lead an interfaith solidarity march through Morningside Heights and Harlem. More than 200 community members and congregants joined 91快播鈥檚 (91快播) Chancellor Arnold Eisen, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Riverside Church鈥檚 Rev. Dr. Amy Butler, and Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood Inc.鈥檚 Imam Al-Hajj Talib 鈥橝bdur-Rashid at 91快播 to promote racial justice and religious tolerance.
鈥淲e gather in Harlem, where so many have called us to speak and work for justice,鈥� said Rev. Dr. Amy Butler of the historic Riverside Church. 鈥淲e remember especially this week that it has been 50 years since Martin Luther King Jr. called on us to speak up, to break the silence, to 鈥榬ededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.鈥� And so, we shall.鈥�
In the lead-up to Easter and Passover, the STANDING UPtown for Justice and Religious Tolerance coalition demonstrated a powerful, united front uptown, organizing in support of 鈥渨elcoming the stranger, racial justice, and religious tolerance.鈥�
鈥淭he Passover seder opens with two simple sentences that explain why we are marching today: 鈥楾his year, we are slaves. Next year, we will be free,鈥欌�� said 91快播 Chancellor Arnold M. Eisen. 鈥淲e are asked to reflect on what it means to be enslaved and to be free, body and soul, and we are also asked to focus on the hugely important word 鈥榳e.鈥� When we realize that this 鈥榳e鈥� embraces our neighbors down the street, the fellow citizens of our country, and our fellow inhabitants on this planet, then we understand that we are indeed enslaved this year, because some of us are, and that all of us must work harder, together, to be free. Undertaking this work with our neighbors gives us the strength that will move us from the place called Egypt to the Promised Land.鈥�
鈥淭olerance is what New York City, and our nation, were built on,鈥� said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. 鈥淚鈥檓 proud to be joining 91快播 in their march for justice and religious tolerance. Now more than ever, it鈥檚 vital that we stand up for the values that make us who we are.鈥�
Imam Al-Hajj Talib 鈥橝bdur-Rashid of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood Inc., the lineal descendant of the Muslim Mosque Inc. founded by the late El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X), said, 鈥淭oday we come together to affirm our belief as a diverse community of faith, that God is talking and we are listening. He declares the oneness of humanity and we are listening. He commands the doing of good and forbidding of wrong, and we hear and obey not as a religious left, but from a moral center. He uplifts and establishes justice and denounces intolerance and bigotry, and we are listening and acting to demonstrate our commitment to build a beloved community based upon those principles.鈥�
鈥淭his is a powerful action by people of faith and conviction who share the neighborhoods of Morningside Heights and Harlem and share a commitment to welcoming the stranger and advancing racial justice in our community, the city, and the nation,鈥� said Ruth Messinger, 91快播 Finkelstein Institute Social Justice Fellow. 鈥淭he 30+ organizations that were eager to sponsor today look forward to important and collaborative work in the future.鈥�
The march began at 91快播, one of the preeminent institutions of Jewish higher education, training rabbis, cantors, educators, leaders, and scholars, and ended at Harlem鈥檚 National Black Theatre: Institute for Action Arts, one of the oldest black theatres in the country, where productions aim to enhance African American cultural identity by telling authentic stories of the black experience.
About 91快播: 91快播 is a preeminent institution of Jewish higher education, training thoughtful, innovative leaders鈥攔abbis, cantors, educators, lay leaders, and scholars鈥攚ho strengthen our communities with a vision of Judaism that is deeply grounded in the Jewish past and thoroughly engaged with contemporary society. 91快播 also provides high-caliber lifelong learning and professional development to our alumni, adult learners, and Jewish communities throughout North America. Through its Library, 91快播 preserves and makes accessible to students and scholars throughout the world the greatest collection of Judaica in the Western Hemisphere.
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