The faith community of Santa Clara County came together on Aug 20th to express their concerns, grief, and righteous indignation through the prophetic voice. Using words, rituals, and a “commitment to action”, the prayers addressed what happened in Charlottesville, the rising tide of racist attacks and political intolerance by white nationalists, racists, nazis, and the alt-right. Guests also signed a commitment to fight the alarming rise of hatred throughout the country and here in Silicon Valley.
The event started with calls to prayers; muslim call to prayer -adhan- by Mahmut Altun of Pacifica Institute, blowing of the shofar by Debbie Coutant, and ringing of a temple bell and sutra by Gerry Sakamoto of San Jose Buddhist Church.
Father Dana welcomed everyone with the following message: “Let our voices rise above the chaos of white nationalism and savagery of neo-nazism. Because, love unites us, not hate. We love all who are here with us today: black, white, latino, asian, native american, LGBTQ, straight, american-born, immigrant -undocumented and documented-, muslim, hindu, catholic, protestant, jewish, unitarian, jain, buddhist, sikh, and all those who do not follow a religious practice.”
Former Pastor Jerry Fox added the following remarks: “We confess before the spirit of wholeness and reconciliation that we have needed to be right, and needed to be white, we needed to be christian, to be straight, to be male more than we needed to listen. We have entrenched our racial, religious, and gender obliviousness in our identity as ‘good people’. So much has been lost!”
The co-sponsors of the event were:
- The Office of the Mayor, City of San Jose
- Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County
- First Unitarian Church of San Jose
- American Muslim Voice
- PACT
- Diocese of San Jose
- Emmanuel Baptist Church
- Pacific Institute
- and other groups & congregations
We would like to thank all that have joined us, and especially the following distinguished guests for recognition of their support, that made this a memorable day:
- Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren
- Supervisor Dave Cortese
- San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo
- San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia
