Responding Together - February 2026
Our co-founder, Mary Anne and staff member, Kyle Gookins, each answered a question from the our Listening Cards.
Mary Anne Inglis, Co-Founder
According to your faith tradition, how would you describe your responsibility toward our immigrant population? Any examples?
Faith, Justice, and Mercy Category
In these fraught times when we are seeing unbridled cruelty on our streets against immigrants, I have often turned to the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testament to find comfort. The verses below are self explanatory as to what my responsibility is to my immigrant neighbor. I start out with verses from the Old Testament that are the basis for the verses in the New Testament.
As you will see from these Scriptures, it is not only my responsibility to love my immigrant neighbor, it is my joy to do so, for loving my neighbor is what brings life and health not only to myself, but to my community. What does it look like to put feet to the verses below? It looks like showing up with food, medicine, warm blankets and any other essentials for well being. It looks like standing up for and beside our neighbors in prisons and courts. It means peaceful protests of the violence and injustice that is ongoing. It sometimes even means death as we have witnessed recently in Minneapolis. It means weeping at the depths of these injustices and asking ourselves what we can do to build community and not tear it down. So, I end with these verses in hopes that they will be an encouragement to you as we walk this path together towards healing.
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:18
Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens from Egypt. Exodus 23:9
When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living among you must be treated as one of your native born. Leviticus 19:33-34
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. Zechariah 7:9-10
You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy’. But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you. Matthew 5:43-44
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27
Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13:10
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Hebrews 13:1-3
God’s peace be with you.
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Kyle Gookins, Staff Member
Peaceful public protesting is a powerful tool. If you had the time, resources, and felt free to do so, what might you choose to protest at this moment and why?
Who Are We Category
In 2013 my wife spontaneously made us tattoo appointments in Charlotte, NC. I knew just the quote that I wanted etched into my skin. “Peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.” I wanted this Dr. Martin Luther King Jr quote as a reminder that peace is an active part of life and not just something we hope for as an end result.
This past spring, my family, and I made signs and joined a “No Kings” protest in the streets of downtown Atlanta. We felt very strongly to peacefully protest with our 7 year old son to introduce him to activism and to stand up and speak out against authoritarian policies. We also wanted him to understand the local history of Atlanta and its connection to protesting and the Civil Rights Movement. Growing up, we never discussed politics or social issues and I am 100% sure that it was not until college did I truly understand protests and their power. It was not lost on me that I was peacefully protesting in an area walking distance from Dr. King’s childhood home, with his powerful words literally on my back.
While “No Kings” protests are still periodically happening, I would currently spend my energy to protest ICE and its policies/attacks on our community.
It is hard to read the news without reading about the horror stories about ICE and the effects on our communities. People are being taken by masked “agents” in unmarked cars and moved to various facilities without giving the location information to family members. ICE is doing this without warrants or any due process to the individuals as stated in the Constitution.
While I have not come into contact with ICE agents, I have been told many stories by those who have. I was told yesterday by a youth soccer player that he could no longer come to practice or games for fear of leaving his mother alone. She was taken by ICE two weeks ago, then released and her family was unaware of her whereabouts during her detainment.
As citizens and reporters have been speaking out and protesting ICE, there have been numerous arrests and assaults. Most recently there were two protesters tragically killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis, MN. As someone who believes in the right to, and power of, protest I am not able to sit silently while communities near and far are facing these acts of wickedness.
As Gandhi said, “Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”
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Thank you for joining us for this special opportunity to hear the voices of the women who started it all, Mary Anne and Victoria.
Want to share YOUR voice? Join us for an upcoming event!