Combatting Cancer of Extremism Panel speakers were Rabbi Sharon Brous from IKAR, Edina Lekovich, spokesperson for Muslim Public Affairs Council and Joumana Silvana from City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission. Introductory speech was made by FBI SAC Elizabeth Robert who mentioned that she was born in Panama and knew at an early age the connectedness of the world. SAC Roberts praised the rebounding and wonderful spirit of the greater Los Angeles community in face of the tragedies that were experienced in San Bernardino terrorist attacks.
Edina Lekovich congratulated Pacifica for holding such a timely event and asked for the continuation of such panels in the future. Mrs. Lekovich said that she wanted to bring the audience up to speed of the American Muslim community particularly in Southern California in the wake of violent extremism and how to counter that and went on to stress that each community can sense an atmosphere of fear for the actions of lunatics on the fringe, later added that in moments like these we have the greatest burden and the greatest opportunities that await every one of us and this is an ongoing challenge for the American Muslim community. Edina Lekovich stressed that San Bernardino had been a wakeup call for our community which happened in our own backyard and whom those terrorists were connected to the mosque and were known to their community. So what the muslim community decided to do was to come out in form of protests to condemn terrorism.
Rabbi Sharon Brous stressed the importance of these kind of events as well and added that all of our religious traditions value the centrality of human dignity and human life. Rabbi Brous said “We learned that peace is the greatest social virtue to attain throughout our lives. All of our traditions have a strain of violent strains in themselves. But it is important to counter that for the sake of peace and human dignity. And how we should respond this acts of violence. This is what we see happening around the world right now. When there is a voice coming from inside to murder another human being, we have to be 100 percent sure that this is not a voice from God. We should be against bigotry, violence and vengeance. Where do we align, with literal understanding of the text or interpretation of the script?” Rabbi Brous concluded by saying let us use fire to offer warmth and radiance to our communities.
Joumana Silyan started by saying that she was blessed with the two other speakers in this panel. “If we look at any extremist groups like ISIS, they are spreading fear to get what they want. Many in that region are caught in the acts of violence. Mrs Silvan said that the city of Los Angeles has an advantage to redefine the idea of pluralism where everybody can prosper together without isolation and fear of the other. Joumana added that the educators, civic leaders and religious leaders each have their roles to play to counter violent tendencies in their communities. April 21st, 2015 was declared the Day of Religious Pluralism for the city of Los Angeles that rejects bigotry and violence against any group and religion.”
The panel came to an end with each of the speakers answering questions of threat of ISIS, Syrian refugee crisis and efforts to counter violent extremism in the Muslim communities.