Kennedy School Vigil Promotes Unity

Students from the John F. Kennedy School of Government held a candle-lit, walking vigil last night to promote inclusive, interfaith dialogue about the recent acts of terrorism and subsequent attacks on members of the Islamic community.

The vigil began at 6 p.m. in the John F. Kennedy Park on Memorial Drive and included stops at places of worship before concluding on the Mass. Ave Bridge.

Before the walk began, the crowd was addressed by key event organizers as well as Father Bryan Hehir, dean of Harvard Divinity School (HDS).

Other speakers kicking off the walk were Swanee Hunt, former U.S. Ambassador to Austria, and Rina Amira, a doctoral student at Tufts University whose family had immigrated to the U.S. from Afghanistan.

Amira said she hoped the vigil would be a starting place for people of different religions to unite in addressing recent concerns.

“Those who practice extreme ideologies and beliefs have used Christianity, Judaism and Islam as a political tool in a bad way, and I hope that tonight we’ll use religion for what its supposed to do,” she said. “As something that brings comfort, and brings unity.”

The first planned stop was Hillel where Rabbi Sharon Cohen-Anisfeld addressed the challenges that face Americans in view of the tragedy.

“In the season of absence and loss, let us offer a prayer of presence and hope,” Anisfeld said. “We must try to turn even this disaster into a new creation.”

The walk then proceeded on to Cambridge City Hall, where the mayor of Cambridge as well as former Mongolian Ambassador to the U.S., Elbegdorj Tsakhia, spoke to the walkers.

Cambridge Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio said that the vigil was an important first step in getting people of different faiths to come together and reexamine the American way of life.

“As a society, we now look in the mirror and we are not comfortable with what we see,” Galluccio said .

He stressed the need to unite and look and act more like a community.

“The [terrorist] attackers did not discriminate against Americans. Americans cannot discriminated against each other,” he said.

According to Galluccio, the tragedy that has occurred is an opportunity for Americans to move forward.

“In all the ignorance that has been uncovered and divulged, let us hope it leads us to a more enlightened time,” Galluccio said.

The walking vigil proceeded to the Islamic Society of Boston, where Walid Fitaihi, an Islamic Society of Boston board member and a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School, addressed the crowd.

The next stop was the MIT campus where more students joined the walkers. From MIT to the final destination of the Mass. Ave Bridge, the group participated in a candle-lit, silent vigil to memorialize the lives lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist atacks against the U.S.

Elizabeth Willmott, one of the event’s organizers, said the vigil had three main goals—to remember the people who lost their lives in the tragedy, to start the community healing process, and finally, to create a long term movement toward interfaith dialogue that will address the societal consequences of the attacks.

The crowd was composed of Cambridge community members, students of Harvard College, the Harvard Divinity School, the Kennedy School, and the Episcopal Divinity School.

Participants said the vigil helped them deal with the events on a more personal level.

“I feel like there is some meaning in ritual. It’s an opportunity to both gauge the past and look forward,” said HDS student Joshua Good.