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  • Home
  • About US
    • History
    • Our Story
    • Our Mission
    • Our Focus >
      • Community Service
      • Dialogue
      • Race, Culture, and Faith
    • Meet Our Team
    • Youth Council
    • Service Partners
  • DONATE
  • Blog
  • Programs
    • Monthly Community Dialogue
    • Social Justice Conference
    • Celebrating the MLK Legacy
    • Youth Activities
    • Holiday Day of Service
    • Multifaith Encounters
    • Urgent Response Projects
  • Get Involved
    • Contact Us
    • Volunteer
    • Volunteer Positions for Youth
    • Schedule a Presentation
    • Start a Chapter
  • News & Media
    • Podcast
    • Gallery
    • Media
    • Press Release
    • Videos
    • COVID 19, Reflections

A Pisa Italy
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February 19, 2021 by Nick Witkowski
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Over 60 million, and no, I am not talking about the number of slices of pizza I thought I have eaten in my life. I am referencing the number of people that live in the beautiful country that is Italy. This country holds many historical roots that emphasize the architecture, culture, and overall atmosphere of anyone who decides to visit. So grab your passport...
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Justice and Coexistence
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January 16, 2021 by Tasneem Sultan 

At first glance, justice and coexistence seem like simple words to define but in reality, they are complex and hold deep meaning. According to dictionary.com, “justice is a quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or...
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Pursuing Active Coexistence in Schools
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January 14, 2021 by Noor Amanullah 

In his blog post “The Ideal Institution: Pursuing Racial Equity in Schools,” my fellow youth council member Asquith Clarke II identifies a root issue of inequity and prejudice in schools: validating the myth of race theory and perpetuating white supremacy through...
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The Ideal Institution: Pursuing Racial Equity in Schools
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January 12, 2021 by Asquith Clarke II
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Today we are constantly battling for racial equity in our states, cities, and schools. These battles are made apparent in our schools, where many students of ethnic minorities are exposed to prejudice. Other students, teachers, and...

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How the Christmas Story Can Bring the East and the West Together!
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January 3rd, 2021 by Jay Tyson

​This Christmas Day, I’d like to give a special shout-out to our Persian friends, whose ancestors provided the first three Christmas gifts.  Each year...
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On Coexistence
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December 2, 2020 
by Noor 
Amanullah 

La Convivencia: the coexistence. What was it? What does it mean for us today? Have we ever achieved it?
When I recorded the first episode of the La Convivencia podcast, I asked myself a lot of questions about coexistence. For me, the most important...
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Social Distance Winter
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November 18, 2020 by Nick Witkowski

Brrrr. It’s getting rather cold and fast as we quickly approach the winter months that usually have the frostbite nipping at your nose! Staying indoors in the winter is usually a given, but with the happiest of holidays rolling around, many hosts or attend indoor gatherings with friends and family to celebrate...
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THOUGHTS: THE OCEAN AND THE LAND
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October 28, 2020 by Jay Tyson

​The religions of humankind can be regarded as the continents.
They are separated by oceans of misunderstanding and sometimes even by warfare.
In a few places, they are ...
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Challenging the Notions of Africa
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October 22, 2020 by  Eshe Lovely

​Growing up, people would always ask me about what life in Africa is like. “Are there cellphones there?” or, “Do you sleep in huts?” were common ones. My mother was born in Ghana and immigrated to the U.S. when she was 14 years old. I grew up taking trips there every summer. I had also attended a school...
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Navigating a Diaspora
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September 15, 2020 by Noor Amanullah
Maybe it's failing to keep up with the flow of traffic. For others, it might be the inability to slow down in time for speedbumps. The ability to steer yourself in the right direction, or the only direction you can, without crashing, but while taking note of the world around you is not a simple...
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Intersectionality: How Identity Impacts Us
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September 2, 2020 by Eshe Lovely
Intersectionality. This word was coined by Kimberlé Creshaw in 1989, and is now becoming more incorporated into our vocabulary. What does it mean? Why does it even matter? Intersectionality is the idea that social categories intersect and contribute to the level of...
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A Culture to Be Recognized!
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August 19, 2020 by Nick Witkowski
​Within our world there are thousands of different cultures, some extremely unrecognized and almost forgotten amongst the majority of the population. All cultures are all unique in some way, with some examples including clothing, dishes, religious practices, music, holidays, and even...
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Solidarity for Justice In Our Communities
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August 12, 2020 by Arnav Joshi
​The July 19th Virtual Community Dialogue was a terrific experience for me! I was really interested in what I could do to be a better ally to the Black community and what I could do to bridge the gap between different races and cultures in general so I decided...
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“Social Distance Summer”
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August 8, 2020 by Skyler Simon
​Social distancing/quarantining can get pretty boring. Most people feel like they’ve been repeating the same mid-March day for months. How can anybody not get bored out of their minds when being stuck at home all day? How can you deal with the stress of a global pandemic while ...

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Bending the Arc of Justice Together
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July 22, 2020 by Noor Amanullah
Sawu bona. I see you. Ngikhona. I am here.
The Zulu greeting, “Sawu bona” and its response, “Nghikona” are an exchange between two people acknowledging the presence of the other and of themselves in their impending interaction. The sayings translate to “I see you,” and “I am here.” Panelist Stephanie R. Strong referenced the Zulu greetings in a comment about accountability and speaking truth to power...

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Time for Change!
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 June 25, 2020 by Tasneem Sultan
 Recent tragic murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor have sparked   ongoing unrest in America. The same racism that we saw this country built on still exists   in  the foundations of our society, proven by the horrifying videos of George Floyd’s   murder and others. Despite the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, we still...

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A Meditation on Racism and Its “Me First” Root Cause in America
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 June 14, 2020 by Jay Tyson
 ​A review of the history of racism in America, from its slavery phase to its Jim Crow phase to its   segregation phase to its modern mass-incarceration/police brutality phase forces me to wonder why, in   spite of centuries of work against it, it seems to keep popping back up.  Every time we think we have   destroyed the old...

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COVID-19: A Time of Solidarity and Reflection!
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  April 8, 2020 by Tasneem Sultan
  An organism invisible to the naked eye is threatening humanity’s very existence. As the COVID-   19 virus rapidly spreads throughout the world, we are becoming anxious and stressed by the       possibility of being infected and losing our loved ones. This pandemic is taking us to an   unprecedented national and global... 

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The intersection between COVID-19 and already-occurring crises
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 March 24, 2020 by Raimy Khalife-Hamdan
The world has erupted with fears, with tears, with mistrust. 
 In an ironically collaborative way, every country on this globe is experiencing the same non-human, non-discriminatory beast: COVID-19. And who knows how long this internationally collective battle will last? Chinese cardiologists have been collaborating with American ones. The U.S. has sought the.... 

Coexisting as Plurality Increases
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December 31, 2019 by Raimy Khalife-Hamdan
Recently, in Monsey, New York, there was another heartbreaking anti-Semetic act against Hasidic Jews. For most of us, when we read about these horrible incidents, these events shock us, tear at our hearts, and force tears into our eyes. And yet, it is important to note that these incidents accumulate in our past, adding onto a history of pain, violence, and intolerance...

Why Community Service?
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November 22, 2019 ​by Zain Sultan
La Convivencia will be hosting its 2nd annual Holiday Day of Service event on December 7, 2019. As part of its mission, La Convivencia aims to bring diverse members of the local community together to help families in need. But where does this idea of community service come from, and why should we...​

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When talking about human rights
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July 26, 2019 ​by Raimy Khalife-Hamdan 
I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the Oxford Consortium on Human Rights at Oxford University this July. This year’s focus was on migration and human movement— and what a relevant topic today, in a world where earth, location, and humans blend together.
I have been thinking about human rights, and wondering...

LA CONVIVENCIA: RESTORATIVE JUSTICE BLOG SERIES AND FORUM
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July 8, 2019 by Brandi Hebert ​
The genesis of this blog series emerged from a course at United Lutheran Seminary on Justice and Judgement. Approximately 25 students from across the United States gathered together to explore this subject theologically and within the context of Christian scripture.  The hypothesis that the students engaged was the question, “Is God nonviolent?” This is an important question...

A Lost History of Convivencia --- Co-existence
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May 29, by Tasneem Sultan
In the summer of 2018, I went with my family on an inspiring trip to Spain, the land of coexistence and mutual understanding between Muslims, Jews, Christians and many other ethnicities during the Medieval times...

Together We Rise!
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April 17, 2019 by Noor Amanullah
On Sunday, March 24 over 150 community members joined the La Convivencia team for a day of conversation, solidarity, and reflection at the 2nd Annual Social Justice and Interfaith Conference at the Princeton University Friend Center. . Before the commencement of the conference, attendees and local faith leaders held a moment of silence in a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Christchurch mosque attacks only a week prior...

“My Muslim Story of Love and Hate”
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March 17, 2019 by Noor Amanullah
Perhaps unsurprisingly to most, a Muslim identity is almost always served with a side of Islamophobia and conversations concerning terrorism. From a young age, I have been no stranger to hate. I have, however, also been engulfed in love, and have been blessed to live where I do, in an era when although hate seems rampant, love multiplies every day...

What Does Coexistence Look Like: The U.S.
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Febuary 25, 2019 ​by Raimy Khalife-Hamdan
 All People are a single nation - Qu’ran
Religion is the core of humanity. The actual percentage of non-religious humans is miniscule to the immense history of human civilization. Even before literacy, humans have practiced religion to explain mysterious phenomenon. Historically, Muslims, Jews, and Christians have lived and worked together in coexistence in Western Asia and North Africa...

Visiting the Historical Landmarks of Spain
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       December 23, 2018 ​by Bilal Sultan
​  Spain was an intriguing experience to say the least. There are many historic sites there that hold the stories of Islamic   Medieval Spain. This period is also known as La Convivencia, which means coexistence, a time of peace and harmony   between people of different religions and cultures (especially Muslims, Jews, and Christian), cultural exchange and   scientific exploration...

One Nation Under God
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  November 30, 2017 ​by Tasneem Sultan
It was a cold and windy day, but the Mall was quite busy as holiday season is just beginning. My son and I were in a store browsing books when suddenly a tall man walking behind us came in front of us and started to shout Islamophobic rhetoric: “You Muslims want Sharia Law,” followed by similar accusations... 

We The People
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​August 27, 2017 ​by Bilal Sultan
Facing the future sounds scary. We do not know what will happen and for all we know, it could be disaster or utopia. But the future is what we live for. It is the most important thing in our lives, despite how unpredictable it is...

​Religious Freedom and the 4th of July
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July 6, 2017 ​by Jay Tyson
221 years ago, the Founders of our nation wrote a document that has echoed across the world and down through the generations since that time. Among the principles it proclaimed was that the main purpose of government is to protect the rights of the people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When the Constitution was written, about a decade later, it amplified this theme by listing some of those rights in the first 10 amendments, called the Bill of Rights. One was the right to follow the religion of one's choice...

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​Princeton Junction, NJ 08550

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