NEW YORK – Overcoming religious, ethnic and cultural difference, hundreds of New Yorkers of all faiths gathered at a single table in the east Village to share Muslims on Ramadan iftar.

“Look at this long table that you’re sitting on,” said Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, Gothamist.com reported.

“I pray that we create tables like this in every corner of our country. A table that invites people to sit across from each other and say I see you, I love you, I respect you for who you are.”

Sarsour is one of the organizers who helped this iftar to see the light last Thursday, June 23.

Attendants of the event, Iftar in the City on East 10th Street, spread out across a single long table, enjoying hummus, dates, falafel, vegetable salad, and chicken served by members of city Office of Immigrant Affairs staff.

Estimated by 400 people, attendants included Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Sikh, and non-believing New Yorkers.

The successful Iftar was organized with the hopes of strengthening bonds between New York’s Muslim community and the city’s greater population.

“We wanted to take a stand as a city and make the message clear that this is a city for all,” Commissioner of the City Commission on Human Rights Carmelyn Malalis said.

“We’ve been really focused on communities in New York City that have been particularly vulnerable and vilified. In this past year, we’ve seen how Muslim Americans and Muslim New Yorkers have been so under attack.”

Diversity

For two hours, attendants of the iftar enjoyed diverse traditions and discussions.

Such events were becoming more urgent due to America’s increasingly-Islamophobic political discourse, Sarsour said.

“We live in a country that is consumed by hate, those who are hateful are louder than us,” she said.

“But I am an activist because I am a Muslim. My faith is not just a religion of peace, which most people say. My faith is a religion of justice and equity and equality for all people.”

As dozens of attendees prepared for the evening’s prayer gathering, Sarsour encouraged listeners to be “unapologetically Muslim.”

“We have everything to be proud of as a Muslim community,” Sarsour said.

“We have nothing to apologize for. We have contributed to this nation before it was called the United States of America. It was on the backs of black people, and immigrants, and Muslim people that it was built.”

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