Emergency Summit on Gaza
January 12 and 13: Join us and the Rev. Jesse Jackson in person or on Zoom
Dear Friends,
You are invited to join Rev. Jesse Jackson and a number of peace and justice leaders at an Emergency Summit on Gaza, January 12-13 in person in Chicago or via Zoom.
Since the horrific Hamas attack on October 7 and the near-continuous bombardment of Gaza by Israel that followed, and is yet to stop, we have all been filled with shock and grief.
All of our liberation is bound up in the liberation of the Palestinian people, and so, in response to our government's failure and refusal to stop this horror, we at Freedom Road are proud to be partnering with Rainbow PUSH Coalition and many prominent organizations in convening an Emergency Summit for Gaza, Thursday-Friday January 12 and 13 in Chicago.
Conveners of the summit are: Rainbow Push Coalition, Arab American Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace, Faith for Black Lives, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Freedom Road, IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, Jewish Voice for Peace Rabbinical Council, the Muslim Civic Coalition, Progressive Democrats for America, Red Letter Christians, Tsuru for Solidarity, Sojourners, and U.S. Palestinian Council in Chicago.
As we draw from his moral clarity and teachings, we will convene during MLK weekend to focus on the themes of ceasefire, saving lives, and building peace.
On November 1, Dr. Bernice King, the CEO of the MLK Center in Atlanta, said her father “believed militarism (along with racism and poverty) to be among the interconnected Triple Evils. I am certain he would call for Israel's bombing of Palestinians to cease, for hostages to be released… and for us to work for true peace, which includes justice." Let us celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by continuing his work for justice by coming together to stop the bombs from falling.
RSVP HERE TO ATTEND EITHER IN PERSON OR VIA ZOOM
The levels of death and destruction are horrific: 1,200 Israelis killed and another 240 taken hostage; more than 21,000 Palestinians in Gaza, over a third of them children, killed, countless more buried under rubble; as many as 50,000 Gazans injured; military raids, pograms, settler attacks, and at least 300 Palestinians killed in the West Bank; 60% of the buildings in Gaza’s north destroyed; 1.8 million Palestinians forcibly displaced without adequate food, water, medicine, and essential services; and hunger in Gaza the ‘highest ever recorded.’ globally, according to a UN-backed report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
This can’t go on!
In 1979, Rev. Jackson brought a multi-racial delegation of faith leaders to Israel/Palestine in a bid to get the U.S. to end its "no-talk policy" toward the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). “We understand the cycle of terror, the cycle of pain,” he said, “and yet if America is free to talk, perhaps it can seek reconciliation.” It’s been over 30 years and right now the crises of occupation, apartheid, death, and suffering are now worse than ever. He hasn’t given up, and we aren’t either.
Learn about the history of Rev. Jackson's work for Palestinian liberation.
Dr. James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute; columnist, journalist, and political commentator, Peter Beinart; Congressman Johnathon Jackson; Rabbi Brant Rosen; Rev. Fahed Abu Akel; former Ohio State Senator, Nina Turner; Illinois State Representative Abdelnasser Rashid; Rev. Frederick Haynes; author Wesley Granberg-Michaelson; Dr. Cornel West; IfNotNow national spokesperson, Eva Borgwardt; Chicago Alderwoman Rossana Rodrigues- Sanchez, Paterson, NJ Mayor, Andre Sayegh; Lara Friedman of the Foundation for Middle East Peace; Zaha Hassan of the Carnegie institute; Mehrsa Baradaran ; associate dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the University of California; Palestinian foreign policy analyst Rula Jebreal; Vivian Khalaf of the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, Hani Al Madhoun of UNWRA, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch Omar Shakir, and more.
Along with a death toll of over 20,000, and countless people still buried under the rubble, this war has also had a deeply troubling polarizing impact at home. Hate crimes and discrimination against American Jews and Arab Americans, especially those of Palestinian descent has risen horrifically, and our right to political speech is being suppressed.
This cannot go on. Join us in Chicago to come together to say “ENOUGH.” Enough to the relentless destruction in Gaza. Enough to the decades of U.S. unconditional aid in the form of instruments of death. Enough to the occupation. Enough to war. Enough to violence. Enough to hate.
It’s time for peace.
The Narrative Gap, as coined by Lisa Sharon Harper, is the distance between the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves, including how we got here and what it will take to make things right. In our world today, competing narratives vie for our loyalty, dividing society and the church, therefore making justice impossible. Our mission is help communities shrink the narrative gap, by identifying core issues and building community capacity so they might work toward common solutions for a just world. Here on the Freedom Road Substack, we can converse together on ways to shrink that narrative gap and help ensure everyones’ stories are told.
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