If you're in the Los Angeles area, you're invited to take part in a solidarity candlelight vigil to honor the lives of those who have passed away in recent attacks, the dignity of Syrian refugees, as well as the safety and justice of Americans, particularly Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Arab American communities. It's happening Thursday, December 10 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo.
Here are some more details:
#VigilantLove: A Solidarity Community Vigil Against Violence and Islamophobia
In the midst of so much darkness, we are inviting all community members to join us for a candlelight vigil to honor the lives of those who have passed away in the recent attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino. We also want to support the safety and justice of Americans, particularly the American Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Arab American communities. This is an intentional effort to counter the mainstream narrative of insularity and to uplift the ongoing legacy of communities showing up in solidarity.
At the same time, we come together with deep concern for the refugees escaping the violence in their homeland as a last resort. With calls by politicians to ban Syrian refugees from entering this country, we see our country’s failure to fulfill its humanitarian responsibility to provide a sanctuary for Syrian refugees. Moreover we condemn how media outlets have capitalized on these horrific attacks by reacting to the Syrian refugee crisis with overwhelming fear, Islamophobia, and a lack of compassion for the men, women and children fleeing for their lives. Political officials, such as the Roanoke Mayor in Virginia even went as far as to exemplify the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, as a precedent for creating similar camps for the Syrian refugees.
This Islamophobia and racism impacts all of us but, especially, the American Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Arab American communities, who are again being harassed and abused just as they were after 9/11. After the attacks on the Twin Towers in 2001, over 300 Japanese Americans gathered in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles to show support for all the victims and to highlight the need to resist the fear driven by hysteria. Now with the attacks in Paris and more recently in San Bernardino, there is a need for us to come together again. We did not know each other in 2001, but since then we have built a relationship across communities based on friendship and understanding. We call on all people to join us in solidarity at JACCC in Little Tokyo on Thursday, December 10th at 4:45pm. Bring your signs promoting love over fear, peace over violence, and justice for all people within our communities and around the world.
Please use the hashtag #VigilantLOVE, and bring your signs promoting love over fear, peace over violence, and justice for all people within our communities and around the world.
LOCATION
4:45pm Japanese American Community & Cultural Center Plaza
244 S San Pedro St., Los Angeles, CA 90012
5:45pm Japanese American National Museum
100 N Central Avenue, Los Angeles CA 90012
Join up in solidarity. Hope to see you there. For further information about the vigil, refer to the Facebook event.
