People usually think of Quakers sitting silently in worship. While this is a common aspect of Friends’ religious practices, our community also has a commitment to living our faith in action.
A group of Quakers from Brooklyn Friends Meeting are just one of the latest examples of Friends upholding this commitment especially in times of injustice. Walking from NYC to Washington, DC over the course of three weeks, they gathered to protest recent policies from the United States government and Trump administration that undermine the universal freedoms granted to all in this country.
They set out to continue a legacy of public witness by rejecting discrimination against members of our communities. These young friends were inspired by the historical advocacy of neighbors in Flushing, Queens who spoke out about abuses their Quaker peers received when the right to freedom of religion was not yet solidified in our nation’s constitution.
Max Goodman, one of the lead organizers of the Quaker walk, spoke out of worship at the Interfaith March for Freedom on May 22 reflecting on the modern importance of carrying on this legacy: “It is a scary time, but it is essential that we, who are in the least danger come into the fullness of our courage, and speak out for those who will be punished themselves. In that spirit, we have written the new remonstrance…”
Walkers took up this interfaith pilgrimage to protect universal freedoms in the face of political attacks against immigrants, just as their spiritual ancestors had been protected by their own neighbors in 1657. They were not dismayed by wet days, strained muscles, or news from Capitol Hill, and were welcomed by meetings throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland as they made their way to Washington, DC to deliver a revised Remonstrance to their representatives.
With the help of partners at Friends Committee on National Legislation, American Friends Service Committee, and Wind of the Spirit, they walked from Friends Meeting of Washington to Capitol Hill to deliver this message: Mass deportation and detention are NOT the answer.
These actions came at a critical time in this year’s federal budget process- days before the walkers’ arrival into the city, the House passed a devastating budget package that would slash funds to Medicaid, clean energy tax credits, and SNAP programs, and direct those funds to anti-immigration efforts. As this legislation moves into the Senate, walkers met with Congressional representatives from NY, NJ, PA, MD, and ME to share the story of this walk and tell them if you want to protect America, you must protect immigrants.
One walker from Philadelphia who works in educational services, noted in a meeting with her senator, Sen. McCormick (PA), how, following the removal of a decade-old precedent that prohibited ICE agents from conducting raids and other action in sensitive locations, 70% of her student body, including legal residents, stopped coming to school out of fear around the potential presence of ICE and immigration officers.
Our democracy has always been a social contract, described in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, to protect citizens and non-citizens alike from the overreach of tyrannical governments. Historically, our country has not always lived up to this promise but just as Friends and neighbors have done over the centuries, we must take an active role in this relationship.
As we continue to see blatant disregard for the rights of due process, freedom of religion, free speech, and more by the current administration, the words of Martin Luther King resonate in the steps being taken by Friends more than 60 years after the historic March on Washington. “Now is the time to make real the promises of our democracy.”
To protect these institutions and the people and communities most vulnerable within them, this community walks “in faith… trusting that the way to justice will open as we proceed.”
