Metro-east faith leaders gather to discuss ICE, call for love and unity
Community leaders from the United Congregations of the Metro-East, an interfaith nonprofit dedicated to social justice issues, gathered Friday at the Southern Mission Missionary Baptist Church in East St. Louis to discuss recent issues involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis, where two protesters have been killed by federal agents.
Leaders said they wanted to increase accountability, oppose expansion and call for public investment in alternatives to escalatory law enforcement. Many highlighted passages in the Bible that encourage followers to care for foreigners or to be wary of those who use Christianity as a way to justify wrongdoings.
“Today we’re talking about how recent federal immigration enforcement actions are affecting our communities,” said Robin Davis, the president of the East St. Louis branch of the NAACP, in an opening statement.
“The fear they create, the families they disrupt, and the urgent need for accountability, transparency and care for those who most need it.”
Church and coalition leaders touched on a range of topics, but above all encouraged their respective congregations to love their neighbors. Between each speaker, moderators and the congregation chanted “Everyone in, nobody out” — a message calling for unity and inclusion.
Reverend Charles Burton of Unity Fellowship Church in Godfrey called for the metro-east’s faithful to reject Christian nationalism and focus on what he calls “true discipleship.”
“Christian nationalism is empire dressed in the garments of the church,” Burton said, “but lacking the heart, compassion and the grace of Christ.”
“The ‘which one of these is not like the others’ draws us to differences that subtract and divide, not one that adds and multiplies,” echoed Wade Halva of Faith in Place, an organization that advocates through spiritual-based environmental justice.
While faith leaders addressed hatred and political division, members of political action groups, such as George McClellan of the NAACP, pointed out funding concerns and how this affect communities.
“The EPA has no power,” McClellan said, referring to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Now the cities of East St. Louis and Cahokia Heights have six chemical companies and no enforcement to go to.”
Attendees to the event brought signs displaying slogans, calling out ICE, encouraging love, and most prominently, the slogan “Everyone in, nobody out.”
