“Go with Strength, Mayor Wu,” by Rabbi Dan Slipakoff
Tomorrow morning, Mayor Michelle Wu will testify before the House Oversight Committee and Government Reform. The reason? Boston’s Trust Act limits police cooperation with ICE, and protects individuals from being held in custody based on a federal demand. It is a vital policy which defends due process and promotes public safety for all.
Mayor Wu will represent all of us on Capitol Hill. She will speak for our city which celebrates our diversity as its strength. She will preach “love your neighbor” to those who sit on false thrones built on hate; those who aim to make our city a battleground for national identity politics.
Last Tuesday morning, I joined clergy from across the faith communities in Boston to meet with the mayor as she prepared for this testimony. The mayor gathered us to hear firsthand accounts of what is at stake for our people as we remain a place of welcome and dignity for all who call Boston home.
What the mayor heard in that meeting was twofold. Firstly, that fear is pervasive across our communities, and that current federal policies present a risk to our health, safety, and local economies. And secondly, she heard that the gathered faith leaders stand behind our mayor 100%.
And of course, we prayed for her.
Twenty diverse clergy standing together, our hands on shoulders and backs, as in spirit, we all laid our hands on Mayor Wu. We prayed for her as our leader, as our champion, and as the human being bravely rising up to face this challenge.
We invoked the story of Purim, and the words which Mordecai shares with Esther before she appears before the king, “Perhaps you have attained this position for just such a crisis.”
Our prayer was not only a request to the Divine, it was a statement of our city:
We shall not back down, we shall not be moved, we shall overcome.
Go in strength, Mayor Wu.
Go knowing that we are with you with our hands and our voices lifted in support.
Go knowing that justice is with you, that history is with you, and that God is with you.