why i'm marching
On Monday, August 28, I will be traveling to Washington, D.C. for the day to participate in the One Thousand Ministers’ March for Voting Rights, Health Care, Criminal Justice Reform and Economic Justice. Fifty-four years after Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, we will stand in front of the MLK Memorial and march to the Department of Justice.
Just before MLK delivered his speech, a Rabbi named Joachim Prinz, who had been trained in Germany, spoke. “When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned many things. The most important thing that I learned under those tragic circumstances was that bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence.”
I will not be a bystander during these turbulent times.
My faith is the ground on which I stand. It is the source of my moral conviction, which impels me to stand up and show up for God, my people and our country. At a time of painful polarization, I want to march with other faith leaders to demonstrate the possibility of healing and hope for us as individuals and as a country. I want to reach across lines of religion, politics, race and class to show our common desire for unity amongst diversity.
- We will be marching for civility and decency in public discourse.
- We will be marching for the 1.68 million Floridians who cannot vote because of former felony convictions.
- We will be marching for accessible and affordable health care for all Americans.
- We will be marching against racism, anti-semitism and misogyny and for civil rights and human rights.
- We will be marching to show our children and the children of America that it is possible to be different together.
At the heart of the Bible, at its very center, we find this moral teaching: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” We will demonstrate that love on August 28th, and hopefully everyday.
