"Today you haven't just created a Ring of Solidarity around our Islamic Center, you have created a Ring of Solidarity around our hearts because when our children feel dismayed and depressed, when the next news item happens, when the next Fox News report comes out and they feel alone, we'll be able to tell them, 'Remember? Remember the people who came to our Islamic Center? Remember the ones who formed the Rings of Support around us?' We're going to get them to focus on that. So you have no idea what a gift you've given us!" - Hina Khan-Mukhtar
On March 27, approximately 200 members of the faith communities from across Contra Costa County, California formed a Ring of Solidarity around the Islamic Center of San Ramon Valley, just as the Muslim community recently encircled the Jewish community in Oslo, Norway and Copenhagen recently. The event was cosponsored by the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County (ICCCC), a URI Cooperation Circle. The event was inspired by a member of an ICCC women's interfaith prayer circle who told her fellow members she was feeling a heavy weight of being a Muslim in America -- and this is how they responded!
The organizers of this event would love to see others pop up across the nation. If you would like to organize a similar event in your community, you can contact them by emailing [email protected].
The Contra Consta Times published a fabulous feature article about this event. Click here to hear the rest of Hina's speech.