Last night, our community held a candlelight vigil on the steps of the Old Courthouse in Downtown Bloomington to show our solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters. All told, at least 200 people came--I'm terrible at guessing numbers or I might give you a more precise amount, but at least 200 were there.
It was cold, but our hearts were warm as people passed light to one another and even handed out cookies. Most everyone had bundled up, except for a handful of folks who joined in on the fly. We heard from a rabbi, a Presbyterian pastor, a leader from the mosque in town, and the Bloomington mayor, if I don't misremember. The general message was thus: we will not allow fear to divide our community, nor bigotry to be tolerated in our midst.
With all of the bullshit flying around in the media and on facebook and all else, it was nice to have a reminder that there are those who will not stand for the hate and fear-mongering. There are other people out there that recognize others as people first and realize that we have more commonalities than differences. I've been so disheartened lately by all the hateful rhetoric, that this event was something that I sorely need. Thank you, people of Bloomington-Normal, for coming out in support of one another.
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