MLK Shabbat dinner at East End Cooperative Ministry emphasizes solidarity

A group whose goal is to bring together people of different backgrounds held a dinner Friday night in East Liberty that it called the MLK Shabbat Dinner.

The focus for the night at the East End Cooperative Ministry was creating solidarity.

The dinner was hosted and organized by Repair the World Pittsburgh, Grounded Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network, Za’kiyah House, 1HOOD Media, Bend The Arc Jewish Action Pittsburgh, and East End Cooperative Ministry.

“The pinnacle of Repair the World’s work is learning and service,” Executive Director of Repair the World Jules Mallis said.

The gathering was held just before Martin Luther King Jr. Day and was about these same tenets, Mallis said. Repair the World seeks to be relevant around what is happening in the world and contextualize it around Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy.

Before the dinner, “Shalom Aleichem” a traditional Jewish song, and “This Little Light of Mine” were sung.

According to Mallis, there have been a lot of tensions regarding solidarity, and having discussions can help push the conversation forward.

The Shabbat dinner was catered by Jackie Page-Heidelberg, owner of Love Rocks Cafe.

Along with the dinner, there was a panel discussion that addressed racial justice.

The panelists included Ronna Davis-Moore, CEO and founder at Za’kiyah House; Khadiza Massey, program manager at Grounded Pittsburgh; and Yael Silk, executive director at the Arts Education Collaborative and newly elected school director of Pittsburgh Public Schools.

“People want to live, and people want to have a future,” said panel moderator Miracle Jones, a community organizer and queer activist. “And it is going to be up to us to create the world that we see and the world that we deserve, irrespective of our governments. It will be up to us … to do the heavy lifting and bring people in the room and figure out what we are striving for. What is local is abroad, and what is abroad is also local.”

“All working together for one real purpose: the basic needs that people take for granted for other people,” Davis-Moore said. But what she thinks will really help Pittsburgh, “is if we become an unbiased people.”

Strengthening connections is important, as is acknowledging the nuances of relationships.

Silk spoke about the disparity in the education system.

“Any study that you see will consistently show that we are failing out Black children the most,” Silk said. “When we have schools where Black children are thriving, we will have schools where all of our children are thriving.”

Massey addressed food justice.

“The people in the community really have inspired me to do this work,” she said. “If we all just come together, it builds the community. And you get to learn and grow and build from each other.”

Silk advised for everyone to understand that “none of us will complete the work, but we will move it along,” she said. “And it is important to make peace with that.”