UUSC Bridge Building Gets Timely Start, with Obama Speech

President Barack Obama's New Beginning speech stands beside President John F. Kennedy's Ich Bin Ein Berliner speech as a turning point in U.S. foreign policy. Both are attempts — symbolic in their settings and transcendent in their language — to reach across political fault lines to create a more peaceful and inclusive global community.

In his 55-minute speech, Obama denied the inevitable clash of civilizations (touted by many in the Bush administration) and departed from the language of fear and distrust that has characterized U.S.-Muslim relations for too long.

In their place arose a new vision of cooperation, "one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition." It was a promise from an American president of better things to come:

There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground...The interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.

UUSC's first building bridges workshop

The speech was an ideal backdrop for UUSC's first Building Bridges for Civil Liberties Workshop, held just two days later, on June 6, at the Unity Temple UU Congregation, in Oak Park, Ill.

With Obama's words still fresh in their minds, 30 UUs and Arab and Muslim Americans came together for a day-long workshop to build bridges — and lasting relationships — that would strengthen rights for all Americans and move America closer to its founding ideals of justice, equality, and religious tolerance.

The main topic was how Arabs and Muslims in this country have seen their civil liberties eroded by policies adopted after 9/11 — and how UUs can work in solidarity with Arab- and Muslim-American communities to restore those rights.

"Obama's speech fit so perfectly," commented UUSC's Fatema Haji-Taki, who co-led the event. "It generated a lot of excitement going into the workshop. What came up again and again was Obama's recognition that a lot of damage has been done and that there needs to be a reversal."

Together, participants watched Got Rights? an educational video made by UUSC partner Muslim Advocates for Muslim, Sikh, Arab, and South Asian Americans, who have faced increasing rights infringements since 9/11. UUs in attendance were shocked to learn for the first time about the extent of civil liberties violations. For Arab and Muslim participants, it was heartening to know that they have allies in the UU community.

Partners' response

New Beginning also sent ripples through many UUSC program partners, some of which have spent years advocating policies that Obama outlined in his speech.

Within hours, Muslim Advocates sent out a press release welcoming Obama's pledge to make it easier for Muslim Americans to fulfill their religious obligation to give charity (zakat). Muslim Advocates has been a long-standing champion of improved policies on charitable giving. In 2008, it initiated the Muslim Charities Accreditation Program — a joint initiative with the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance — to strengthen Muslim nonprofit institutions and protect the right of American Muslims to fully practice their faith.

Similarly, for the American Islamic Congress (which founded our partner Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance), the speech was an affirmation of calls for greater freedoms in the Arab and Muslim world and closer ties between people in the United States and Muslim-majority states.

Dalia Ziada, who heads AIC's Cairo Office, attended the speech in Cairo and was interviewed by CNN directly afterwards. She remarked on Obama's ability to transcend social divisions:

The hall was full of people from different walks of life...Muslims, Christians, Coptics, Baha’is...Obama succeeded to do what we always fail to do, which is bringing all of us together in one whole and agreeing on certain things and certain points.

Ziada also noted that because Obama's support for women's rights was framed in language that supports (and is supported by) Islam, "Everyone clapped, including men who are against women's rights or consider women's rights not something good to speak about."

Dialogue to action

With support from local activists, the building bridges dialogue in Chicago will not end with the first workshop. Newly built bridges will strengthen with time and lead to positive change at the community level and then at the national and international level.

With more UUSC building bridges workshops planned for San Francisco and Washington, D.C., UUs are helping to lead the movement for greater cooperation and understanding between communities. UUs are connecting to their neighbors and the task at hand - securing stronger rights in the United States and better U.S. policy.

As Obama envisioned, "Around the world, we can turn dialogue into interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action."

Stay tuned for news on upcoming building bridges workshops.