The St. Louis Metropolitan Clergy Coalition will join with other faith leaders and community members for a rally on the Martin Luther King Jr., Bridge, 700 North Front Street, East St. Louis at 10 a.m. Monday February 16 “to raise a unified moral voice against the violence, fear, and death experienced by immigrants in the region.”
The “Rally to Bridge Faith and Justice,” will include representatives of the two prominent religious organizations in response to ICE actions and other federal efforts that have led to families being ripped apart and mass deportation.
“This urgency of this issue has brought us together,” said the Rev. B.T. Rice, New Horizon 7th Day Church Christian Church pastor.
“We are claiming wholeness for our entire community.”
According to organizers, the rally will include faith leaders “and people of conscious to raise a moral voice in solidarity with immigrant communities and to call for an end to the devastating treatment so many are facing.
Rev. Katie Nix, Grace United Methodist Church pastor, said “our faith traditions call us to protect the vulnerable, [and] reject violence and intimidation.”
“This is a moment to show up grounded in our shared values [and] insist on immigration reform that honors the dignity of every human being,” she said.
“The blood of our brothers and sisters calls out from the ground and from the places where they are forced to hide.”
Rally participants will meet at the east and west bases of the bridge and walk to the middle to meet with those from the other side. The rally includes music, testimonies of those experiencing injustice, and words of faith and hope.