The Bay Area is about to host the Super Bowl, drawing people from various backgrounds, including an increased law enforcement and federal presence. Nearly 2.5 million immigrants call the Bay Area home. Let’s take this opportunity to ensure they feel loved and safe in our neighborhoods.
On the weekend of Feb 6-8 we are encouraging communities of faith to hold “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”* celebrations, prayer spaces, mutual aid support and/or vigils, that share a message of love to drown out the hate.
There is no one right way to hold one of these celebrations, so we’re offering a cool multifaith toolkit full of ideas and resources – everything from prayers to songs, awesome graphics to logistics, grounding principles to wisdom from our friends in Minneapolis, along with next steps for ways to get involved! Use it – share it – invite another community to join you – add your own unique gifts to this – and let us know when/where you are holding your celebration.
CLICK HERE for Won’t you be my neighbor?* multifaith toolkit.
CLICK HERE for Won’t you be my neighbor?* graphics.
CLICK HERE to let us know when/where you will be holding your Won’t you be my neighbor?* celebration!
Short notice? Yes… but you can do this! Let’s take this opportunity to amplify our faith messages of love, welcome and dignity to our immigrant beloveds. And if you can’t do it that weekend, consider doing it during the week, or after – there is no limit to when we can show up with a message of love for our neighbors.
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”* is an invitation to faith communities to hold a Celebration of Love and Community in support of our Immigrant Neighbors … and do what we do best: LOVE.
We can ALL show up in our communities and remind each other that
People of Faith Love Our Neighbors
People of Faith Demand Dignity Not Detention
People of Faith Believe Families Belong Together
While these vigils are especially designed to serve as an entry point for communities of faith who have not engaged in immigration organizing or solidarity work, EVERYONE can do this. In Minneapolis people said, “There’s a vigil on every corner!” Let’s let our lights of love and welcome shine!
*This theme is inspired by the fact that Lady Gaga is doing a rendition of Mr. Roger’s (who was a Presbyterian minister, by the way!) “Won’t you be my neighbor?” song for an ad during the Super Bowl.
Our faiths teach us to welcome and love our neighbors, including those we do not yet know, even the stranger – asking, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” Now more than ever, we are called to provide a public presence of love, care, hope, and joy. Now more than ever, the Love at the center of all of our traditions is an essential antidote to the hatred, division, fear, and violence we are witnessing and experiencing. Now more than ever we can joyfully and faithfully protect all families, neighbors, & communities. Every one of us can practice being good neighbors to one another, especially to those experiencing fear and trauma during these difficult days.