New Yorkers Fight Hate with Love

New Yorkers gathered together for the first in-person (since the pandemic) Queens Interfaith Unity Walk on Saturday, October 15, starting at the Sikh Center of New York.

“The antidote to hate is love. With the rise of hate crimes and religious bigotry, it’s more important than ever to keep the flame of mutual support and peaceful coexistence alive,” stated John Choe, President of the Flushing Interfaith Council and Executive Director of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce. “Our recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic must not only include material investments, but also spiritual support and interfaith solidarity to ensure our diverse community continues to thrive and prosper.”

Unity Walk participants visited different houses of worship and learned about the faith of their neighbors, including the Tzu Chi Foundation Center (Buddhist), Masjid Hazrati Abu Bakr Siddique (Muslim), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Christian), and the Sikh Center of New York. At each stop, members of the respective faith highlighted their religious beliefs and faith traditions as well as the historic importance of each house of worship.

“The relevance and importance of our Unity Walk stems from the rising number of hate crimes in our society. In a divided world of 'us' vs. 'them,' the very notion of 'other' needs to be shattered if we are to prevent future acts of bigotry,” stated Harpreet Singh Wahan of the Sikh Center of New York. “Our Unity Walk recognizes all humanity as one – ‘Let there be no strangers’ – through respect and mutual coexistence, we can ensure a better and safer world for all of us.”

The Queens Interfaith Unity Walk arose in response to post-9/11 challenges and developed from a model in Brooklyn called "Children of Abraham Peace Walk," which has been bringing churches, mosques, and synagogues together for more than a decade. The Queens event includes non-Abrahamic religious groups as well as a number of faiths reflecting the incredibly diverse cultures of Flushing.

"Though I look forward to this event every year, it is not only a 'feel good' event. Queens is highly diverse and has experienced some tensions and violence targeting that diversity," stated Adem Carroll of the Muslim Progressive Traditionalist Alliance. "We all need to show our solidarity and I hope the people of Queens will come and walk the Walk with us."

The Queens Interfaith Unity Walk is organized by the Flushing Interfaith Council and cosponsored by the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce, the Bahá'í Community of Queens, the Sikh Center of New York, the Hindu Temple Society of North America, the Muslim Progressive Traditionalist Alliance, Pax Christi Queens, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Eckankar Community of Queens, and Flushing Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

The Flushing Interfaith Council works to help build and foster understanding and common ground among various faith traditions in our community. For the past eight years, participants of the Interfaith Unity Walk have gathered and walked in the neighborhoods of Flushing, Queens, one of the largest and most diverse communities in New York City.

The Flushing Interfaith Council’s work is informed by and intertwined with the history and diversity of Flushing, a place where, as Rabbi Michael Weisser of the Free Synagogue of Flushing says, “If you keep your eyes open, you get to experience the whole world.”

The Flushing Interfaith Council continues to draw inspiration from that history while actively embracing the new groups of immigrants shaping the future of the community. For more information, contact the Flushing Interfaith Council at (646) 926-7844 , FlushingInterfaithCouncil@gmail.com or fb.com/flushinginterfaith.