The room was packed. Religious and community leaders from various faith traditions, diverse ethnicities, varied sexual orientations and gender identities, all came together to strategize on how to protect each other. This intersectionality had not happened in another context. However, after the past November election, diverse groups have finally come to understand the importance of building bridges that will help different oppressed communities support each other’s work.
The first few actions took place immediately after this meeting. Two local Christian congregations hosted information sessions on the new sanctuary movement and how faith communities can support immigrants and refugees. A few days later, another working work announced the advisory council for United Against Hate – Building an Inclusive Community. As the group states, their desire is “a nation that is not divided between white, black, brown, Hispanic, Muslim, Jewish, LGBTQ and numerous other groups. We want a country where every life matters.” This engagement from different parts of our citizenry shows the power of the people.
It is true that throughout our history, different racial, ethnic, and religious communities have faced discriminatory and racist policies. But never before have so many different communities felt so threatened, all at the same time. And the threats are coming from our own federal government. This time, however, the people of the heartland was ready to come together and move forward in faith with an action plan of citizen engagement.
The genius of our system of citizen engagement enables us to employ our moral compass to challenge our leaders when they put forth dangerous and destructive policies that threaten our safety as members of the diverse nation that is the United States of America. It is imperative that good people of conscience raise their voices, assemble and rally, engage in civil disobedience when necessary, and resist the assaults on the values and morals this country was founded upon.
We have been here before: throughout history, we have seen tyrants rise in power and dominate nations, and it has been disastrous for both the people and the nation. This is one of the reasons why we cannot permit this to occur in this country today. It is time for all the different communities that have been threatened to rise up and resist evil. The building of alliances and intersectional work is imperative for the success of our moral movement here in the heartland and throughout the country.
In the days following the election and the first few weeks of this administration, we have already seen a flood of Executive Orders and appointments to high office that threaten the fabric of our society.
The president has installed personal advisors with white supremacist views who have demeaned the Federal judiciary, foreign leaders, the Latinx communities, the LGBTQ communities, Muslims, and Jews. He has threatened journalists who challenge him, dismissed agency staff who disagrees with him; threatened American cities that stand in solidarity with their residents of diverse national origins; and disrespected the system of checks and balances built into the three branches of our government. He has issued Executive Orders that put our health care at risk, destabilizes our relationships with other nations; and most egregiously of all, imposes a racist ban on immigrant and refugee populations that goes against this country’s values and history of assisting refugees and has already created chaos in our cities and airports.
Most insidiously and dangerously, he has created an atmosphere which has empowered those in our nation who reject religious, racial, national, or gender diversity, to act on their racist ideologies, thereby sowing fear and insecurity in minority populations.
The people of the heartland of the United States have taken notice and are ready to sand up to uphold our moral values. That is why clergy, people of faith, and people of good moral conscience, have come together to create Forward Together Wisconsin – A Moral Movement. Modeled on Rev. William Barber’s Moral Mondays Movement in North Carolina, but adapted to the needs and realities of Wisconsin, Forward Together Wisconsin seeks to bring together as diverse a community as possible which will join together in public actions, non-violent resistance, and advocacy for policies that promote the public good, that celebrate the rich diversity of our population, and that upholds the inherent worth and dignity of every human being. To join this growing movement, contact Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice at wifaithvoices4justice@gmail.com.
The heartland moves forward, faithfully, because we know that only when communities come together will things change.
(Rabbi Bonnie Margulis contributed to this post.)
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