A group of several Maine organizations has established a six-part framework for interfaith, community initiatives to promote economic justice and take local actions to combat the rising national bias against immigrants, Muslims, African-Americans and refugees.
1) “Beloved Community” sermons: The weekend before the MLK Monday holiday, participating clergy in various faith communities will deliver sermons based on the liberation theology themes contained in Rev. King’s “Beloved Community” sermon. Eric Smith will send word to MCC member churches and, along with Fr. Seavey (and perhaps with assistance from Thomas Jackson) will develop a series of bullet/talking points summarizing Dr. King’s themes. A copy of the King sermon will also be distributed and some clergy may choose to simply read that. Jonathan and Rachel will work on contact with the Jewish community. Dawud will do outreach to the Muslim community. Congregants will also be notified about the other elements of the initiative against bias and encourage to attend some or all events. In addition to the sermon, houses of worship will be asked to collect food donations during their services to add to the food drive taking place on the King Holiday.
2) MLK Dinner: On the evening of Sunday, January 16, 2011, NAACP will be sponsoring a dinner at the Holiday Inn, taking the place of the traditional MLK Breakfast. Because this is a fundraising event, tickets will be $75 per person, and to get a diverse crowd many tickets will be distributed at no cost. Children from the three Portland Public Housing Authority facilities will read their responses to the question of what it would take to make their communities healthy and safe. Photos will also be shown. Wade Henderson, CEO of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights and Human Rights, will be the main speaker, perhaps introduced by Thomas Jackson, author of From Civil Rights to Human Rights. Each table will be asked to engage in a short (10 minute?) conversation on topics relevant to economic justice. Steve and Jonathan will develop “prompts” for those conversations.
3) MLK Day March, Food Drive and Dialogue: at 1 p.m. on January 17, 2011, people from various faith communities will be asked to bring healthy food (list to be distributed) to the steps of City Hall. Short remarks will be followed by a march from City Hall to the Preble Street Resource Center. Faith leaders will be asked to help lead the march. At Preble Street the food will be officially donated. Rachel will coordinate with Preble St. folks. There will also be an interfaith dialogue on issues of economic justice which may involve small group discussions, depending on how many people attend. Steve and Jonathan will coordinate facilitation and develop a structure.
4) Intra-faith Dialogues on Economic Justice: Within a month of the MLK holiday, participating congregations will be asked to hold conversations with their own congregants about the nature of economic justice as called for in their respective faith traditions. While these events will primarily be aimed at individual faith communities, some congregations may choose to invite people from other faith traditions to attend and enrich the dialogue.
5) Series of Community Conversations: A series of 3-4 community conversations on economic justice issues will be held over a series of weeks in the spring (perhaps centering around April 4, the date of Dr. King’s assassination.). These will be held in a secular venue, such as the library or a gym. They will be coordinated by the Center for the Prevention of Hate.
6) Social Action Project(s): The culmination of the entire framework will be participation in one or more social action projects, through the spring and summer of 2011. All those who have participated in any part of the initiative will be encouraged to suggest specific projects. We will have to decide who is willing to coordinate this piece.
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