Countering White Supremacy Forum with Rep. Adam Schiff

How faith communities are rallying against the threat

August 6, 2019

“Theres a lot to discuss tonight, but there’s no better way to address it than with love and community. This gathering represents the America that we’re fighting for. I wish this was not such a timely discussion, but after the attacks in El Paso and Dayton there is no escaping the clear and present danger of white supremacism in the United States. Simply put, it is domestic terrorism.” - Rep. Adam Schiff

When we started planning our panel on “Countering White Supremacy with Congressman Adam Schiff” at All Saints Church in Pasadena, we had no idea that the need for this conversation would be punctuated the way it was after a week of back to back mass shootings. Our panel on Monday, August 5th was exactly what we needed - an evening of hope, love, community and concrete actions that we can take together.

Along with Congressman Schiff, our panelists represented several affected communities; Rev. Susan Russell (All Saints Pasadena), Omar Ricci (Islamic Center of Southern California), Brooke Wirtschafter (IKAR), Andre Henry (activist, author, musician), and Rector Mike Kinman (All Saints Pasadena).

Something that Congressman Schiff said while quoting Bono last night stuck with us “America is just an idea.” He was right, the values that make up the core of our country are just that; values and ideas and nothing more. It’s up to us to embody them and make them a reality. That’s what last night was about. It was a collective pledge from community leaders, community members and elected officials to take action.

“History is not a story about what is happening to us, but it is a story that we are writing together. They can’t be carried out by one person. If the status quo is preserved by our collective yes, it can be changed by our collective no.” - Andre Henry

"When we talk about it as domestic terrorism, we make it sweet and internal, just like we do with domestic violence. If a person is Muslim and born in this country, how is that an international terror attack and the man in El Paso is not?" - Brooke Wirtschafter, IKAR

Over 1,000 people from all over the country were able to join the conversation by attending in person or watching our livestream online. Our message was spread even wider thanks to the local and national news outlets (including ABC, Fox and CBS) that were there.

Americans on American soil are at the greatest risk of being the victims of white supremacist violence than by terror of any other form. Thankfully, we know what to do and we already have allies, like Congressman Schiff, who are working with us to make that happen.

“MPAC’s white paper on white supremacism provides steps we could take to address the problem, and one of the proposals that we need to move on would be to establish a crime of domestic terrorism. We’re apparently trying to shoehorn this into different statutes.” - Rep. Adam Schiff

It's up to each and everyone of us to take a stand against white supremacist ideology that seeks to divide our communities. Use the button below to download our White Supremacist paper.