Justice

The Justice theme focuses on the intersection of justice and the local religious and community organizations’ work to impact the various needs in the Western New York area.  These videos illustrate the ways that local efforts have been linked to national and global issues and movements.

In the first episode we learn about the commemoration of Ashura by Muslims, Ashura is a religious observance marked every year by Muslims. It is an ancient observance that is observed for the same reasons, but from different viewpoints, by diverse schools of thought within Islam. Professor Faizon Haq, founder of WNY Muslims, spoke with Asghar Alie, Past President and Trustees, and Muslim Medhi Chawla, Imam from the Jaffarya Center of the Niagara Frontier, about the history, meanings, and commemoration of Ashura.

Back in October of 2006, Buffalo, New York, was hit by a major early season snowstorm, which paralyzed the city, destroyed half of its trees, and took months to recover from the damage. On February 12, 2009, Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed into a house in Clarence Center, New York, killing all on board and one person on the ground. In August of 2009, a torrential rainfall caused severe flash flooding in parts of Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, and Erie Counties of New York. During each of these disasters, local religious communities partner with national denomination disaster teams and local agencies and governments to respond to these human crises. Thousands of falling trees were removed, family members of airline crash victims were cared for, and mud was removed from flooded houses and streets. While the often heroic responses of these individual crises made a real difference, it also fostered the building of an ongoing coalition to enable a more coordinated disaster response when and where a disaster occurs in Western New York. Rev. Dr. G. Stanford Bratton is  joined by the Reverend Michael Flannery of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Reverend Rickey Koch, United Methodist Committee on Relief, and Kelly Dodd, 211, who spoke about the mission and work of the Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster, VOAD.