December 23, 2010

Last Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council differentiated themselves as national and international leaders. In a popular climate of xenophobia, the LA City Council unanimously passed a resolution that clearly admonished Islamophobia and affirmed America’s long standing tradition of pluralism and respect for diversity. 

Los Angeles City Human Relations Commissioners and staff testified in favor of the resolution and backed it as integral to their work.In addition, faith leaders from different religious traditions also came out in strong support of the resolution. The Progressive Jewish Alliance, MPAC’s main partners in advocating for this resolution in addition to a number of Interfaith Allies and organizations such as Progressive Christian’s Uniting, AllSaints Pasadena, NewGround fellowship alumni, and California Faith for Equality, all joined MPAC in showing their support for the resolution at the City Council meeting when the vote took place. 

The resolution is significant because it puts Los Angeles in forefront of leadership, clearly articulating support for American values of pluralism and speaking against Islamophobia. Executive Director of the Inter-Faith Youth Corps, Eboo Patel discussed the importance of the resolution in the Washington Post and encouraged other communities to follow suite.  

Fox 11 broadcasted an interview of the faith leaders in support of the resolution live on the day of the vote.

Help us spread the word about this historic resolution passed by LA City Council. Post it on Faceook and twitter. Let others know, so that we can get similar resolutions passed in other cities.

For more information on how to get elected officials in your city to pass similar resolutions, please contact Aziza Hasan, MPAC's Southern California Government Relations Director, at aziza@mpac.org.

Marium F. Mohiuddin (marium@mpac.org)
Communications Coordinator