The role faith leaders are playing in Minnesota's economic blackout on Friday
On Friday, community members, labor unions, schools, local businesses and more are committing to an economic blackout – a day urging Minnesotans not to go to work, go to school, or shop in response to Operation Metro Surge.
For Minister JaNae Bates Imari, Co-executive director of ISAIAH — a progressive, multi-faith non-profit — it's an idea that was set into motion weeks ago. Even prior to the federal government sending thousands of agents into the Twin Cities, she says hundreds of people were meeting together – looking for a tangible way to make change.
"It was immediate," Bates Imari said. "I think that there's a call for all of us, especially people of faith, to be able to declare what is truth in this time. Separate from partisanship, separate from ideological sides — what does it actually mean to stand in truth?"
The result, she says, is what she is calling a "Day of Prayer and Fasting," as others call it "A Day of Truth and Freedom." Bates Imari says the need is strong for faith leaders to step up in this moment – drawing parallels between the issues of today, and the issues of the Civil Rights era. Then too, she says, faith leaders were at the forefront – pointing out that Dr. Martin Luther King's final speech was in support of striking sanitation workers.
"[King] was calling for a real economic shift, in order to get the gaze of those who'd been silent for so long – those corporations, those who sit and high seats and believe they can remain untouched while people are hurting and dying," she said. "He was calling for that – knowing that the call for that would get people to operate together in unity, that would create that notion of a promised land."
BIGGER THAN BELIEF
You can find the full interview with Minister JaNae Bates Imari on bonus episode the WCCO Original Podcast: Bigger Than Belief.
Bigger Than Belief is a weekly podcast exploring faith, belief, and religion – all through the stories of believers. With an emphasis on understanding belief through personal experience, we aim to create a conversation about faith that is fair, honest, and easy to understand - regardless of what you do (or don't) believe. We'll also take a journalistic approach to concepts and questions that are difficult to understand, while helping to make sense of current events impacting believers in our communities. You can find this week's episode wherever you get your podcasts.