A Local Event in Support of Muslims
On the day of the attacks on the mosques in New Zealand, I enlisted a friend for support and organized a public event for the following day, in our local park, called “Solidarity with Muslims in the Wake of the Christchurch Mosque Attacks.”
Muslims have been a significant part of our central-city neighborhood since it was developed in the early twentieth century, so we reached out especially to the imam of our neighborhood mosque, who attended and spoke at the event. We thought maybe only ten or so people would attend on such short notice, but there was a diverse crowd of about forty-five people.
I spoke briefly, saying it was important that our Muslim neighbors not have to face this type of situation alone. I invited everyone in attendance to do a three-minute-each “listening exchange.” Everyone did (and some who were skeptical about the concept mentioned later how powerful it had been). After that, everyone had the chance to speak to the whole group. I picked who would speak next, using an RC-style speaking order (without saying so), which I think worked great.
As a straight white man it was a little tricky [challenging] to be in the most visible leadership role and not fall into oppressive patterns, and tricky for entirely different reasons as a working-class person, but as far as I can tell [perceive], it went pretty [quite] well.
Our Area Reference Person, Gayle Cribb, has been leading a monthly support group called “Getting the Tools of RC Out into the Wide World.” I think our work in that group played a huge part in my being able to act quickly to organize this event.
Sacramento, California, USA
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion
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