Afrigather (RNS) — As a storm loomed over Springfield, Ohio, Sunday afternoon (Sept. 22), some 60 Ohio religion leaders gathered exterior town’s Larger Grace Temple to welcome the Rev. William Barber II, who was invited to town by clergy to push again in opposition to former President Trump and vice president-hopeful J.D. Vance’s marketing campaign messages about Haitian immigrants within the metropolis.
“Don’t reject God by rejecting your Haitian neighbor,” mentioned Barber, the Disciples of Christ pastor and founding father of Repairers of the Breach, a civil rights and anti-poverty group. “Take your lies, take your foot, take your oppression, take your distortion off the again of our immigrant brothers and sisters. It’s gone on far too lengthy, and we received’t be silent anymore.”
Barber’s go to got here as Repairers of the Breach issued an open letter signed by greater than 230 religion leaders. “Within the title of the God we serve and worship, we name on you to repent your lies and inform your supporters to let the folks of Springfield dwell in peace,” learn the letter, which is addressed to Trump and Vance.
Barber mentioned religion teams could be distributing the letter to gather extra signatures within the coming days. 9 different letters from nationwide and regional religion teams — from the United Church of Christ to the Ohio Council of Church buildings — additionally denounced xenophobic rhetoric and referred to as folks of religion to help Haitian companies and nonprofits, together with Springfield’s Haitian Group Assist and Assist Heart.
These responses come weeks after Trump’s Sept. 10 remarks through the ABCNews presidential debate about Haitians consuming pets in Springfield. However as most of the non secular leaders notice of their letters, the declare is not any joke and has prompted the arrival of hate teams and a flurry of bomb threats within the metropolis.
Moreover heading up Repairers of the Breach, Barber is co-chair of the Poor Folks’s Marketing campaign and founding director for the Heart for Public Theology and Public Coverage at Yale Divinity Faculty. On the vigil, he readily quoted Scripture and condemned the “pet-eating” misinformation, calling it a distortion.
“If we had been actually involved in regards to the politics of justice, what we actually could be speaking about is how we’re going to repair the truth that there are 3.7 million poor and low-income folks in Ohio, 32.8% of the inhabitants,” mentioned Barber, whose group has been working to place poverty discount on the agenda forward of the November election. “What we should be speaking about is that despite the fact that Ohio has a minimal wage of $10.80 an hour, you set to work 76 hours per week simply to afford a modest two-bedroom condominium.”
Barber additionally pointed to Springfield’s historical past as a cease on the Underground Railroad. At present, that custom of offering refuge ought to prolong to Haitians, he mentioned. “The poverty of Haiti is immediately tied to unhealthy politics that compelled individuals who had been enslaved to in truth pay their enslavers for his or her freedom,” he mentioned.
He was joined at Sunday’s occasion by Rabbi Karen Bodney-Halasz, senior rabbi of Temple Israel in Dayton, Ohio, who famous that within the Torah, God instructions his folks to guard the stranger 36 occasions. “Haitian migrants, like all folks, are created ‘b’tzelem Elohim,’ within the picture of God,” she mentioned. “When worry and prejudice dictate our actions in direction of others, we fragment our world additional.”
Youssef Elzein, a member of the Islamic Council of Dayton, which contains 12 mosques in Ohio’s Miami Valley, mentioned that as an immigrant who arrived to the U.S. 40 years in the past, he was aware of being focused as an outsider. In prayer, he requested Allah to assist these current to be devoted companions dedicated to justice. “Could Allah reward you abundantly to your selfless acts of kindness and your unwavering compassion in direction of those that search assist,” he mentioned.
The occasion concluded with phrases of gratitude from Lana Joseph, a Haitian lawyer primarily based in Atlanta who got here to Springfield in solidarity with town’s Haitian neighborhood. Quoting the biblical prophet Micah, she referred to as on the folks of Springfield and nationwide politicians to do justice and love mercy, notably within the face of wrongdoing. “As we stand right here collectively, you remind us, as Haitians, of our motto that claims, ‘l’union fait la pressure,’” she mentioned. “Which means, ‘unity makes power.’”
Following a rendition of the religious and civil rights anthem “We Shall Not Be Moved,” the Haitian advocates led the group within the Haitian nationwide anthem, “La Dessalinienne.” “ Pour le Pays, pour les Ancêtres, marchons, marchons, marchons unis,” they sang. In English: “For the Nation, for the Ancestors, allow us to march, allow us to march, allow us to march united.”
Jack Jenkins contributed to this story.
