February 2014 Interfaith Center of New York E-Announcements
Dear Friends,
ICNY welcomes news of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision that the City will drop the legal appeal in two class-action lawsuits challenging the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk practices and Judge Charles Haight, Jr.’s order that New York City hand over investigative documents from the NYPD’s surveillance of Muslims as part of a long-running lawsuit. ICNY believes these steps are critical in the process of restoring trust between NYPD and New York’s diverse racial, ethnic and religious communities. For more information, see these articles on the Huffington Post and NYCLU websites.
This past Martin Luther King Day The Harlem Vicariate invited Rev. Al Sharpton, founder of the National Action Network, and Imam Al-Hajj Talib ‘Abdur Rashid of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood to Remember Dr. King’s Non Violent Resistance. For the fourth year in a row, Catholics in Harlem convened an ecumenical and interfaith celebration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Read Dr. Sarah Sayeed’s article about this event in the Huffington Post here.
On January 15, The Interfaith Center of New York and Dewitt Clinton High School’s Model United Nations Club hosted a discussion (picture below) of the current proposal to add two major Muslim holidays to the New York City public school calendar. Differing perspectives on the issue were offered by two Muslim community leaders and educators — Faiza N. Ali, the Advocacy and Civic Engagement Coordinator at the Arab American Association of New York, and Dr. Hussein Rashid, who teaches in Religious Studies at Hofstra University and elsewhere. The conversation was moderated by Dr. Henry Goldschmidt, ICNY’s Director of Education Programs.
Looking forward we note the upcoming holidays of Nirvana Day on February 15, Shiva Ratri or Festival of Shiva on Feb. 28th, and Presidents Day on February 17th. A full calendar of festivals, sacred days, and secular holidays can be found at the end of these e-announcements.
To access this month’s e-bulletin, please click here.
