Loading ...Rev. Graylan Hagler disinvinted to speak on Palestine, sent death threats
Reverend Graylan Hagler, a veteran civil rights activist and outspoken supporter of Palestinian human rights, was invited by the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School and Rochester, NY Friends of Sabeel Chapter to speak about Palestine on September 24. Mere days before he was going to travel to upper New York state for the talk, Hagler was disinvited.
Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a right-wing Evangelical Christian Zionist group; Roc4Israel, a local pro-Israel group; and the Jewish Federation “pressured and threatened the Divinity school to cancel my speaking engagement,” Hagler told Mondoweiss.
This past week, Rev. Hagler also received numerous death threats via phone and email. In some of the phone calls, Hagler said those threatening him identified themselves as members of CUFI. They said things like “We are going to kill you in the name of Christ if you come to Rochester” and “I hope you come here so I can spit in your face.”
Hagler, who serves as Senior Minister of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C., strongly condemned CUFI. “CUFI basically is a white supremacist group,” he said. The organization is led by John Hagee, a megachurch pastor and Holocaust revisionist who blames anti-Semitism on Jews. CUFI’s theology holds that Christians must support Israel no matter what, so that Jesus can return in the Second Coming—at which point he will save the world’s Christians and send people of other religions, including Jews, to Hell. “It’s not mainstream… It’s really not Christian theology at all. It is really imperialistic ideology,” Hagler explained.
Despite being disinvited to speak, Hagler said, “in the spirit of defiance, I am going to Rochester anyway.” Because he was disinvited by the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, he is looking for a new venue at which to speak.
“We cannot let bigots win with threats and intimidation. I intend to go to Rochester in a statement that I am not afraid or intimidated,” Hagler affirmed. “If we just surrender to that basically we are just surrendering” in the overall struggle, he added.
The title of Rev. Hagler’s talk is “From Ferguson to Palestine.” He will speak about the connections between the struggles of Black Americans and Palestinians for justice and liberation, a theme he often addresses.
“What happens in a place like Ferguson also happens in the West Bank. And what happens in Palestine also happens in Baltimore,” Hagler told Mondoweiss, referring to police repression of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement in the US.
Israel’s separation wall is similar “to what existed in Jim Crow America,” Hagler pointed out. “There is a clear relationship that cannot be denied.” Those who seek justice must combat “racism in all of its manifestations,” he insisted.
In January 2014, Rev. Hagler traveled to the West Bank with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center. He was joined by activist Bill Fletcher, several hip hop artists, and more. Recalling his experience, Hagler said “what I clearly saw there was clearly an expression of white supremacy, of racism, and a real system of apartheid.”
“When I came back I felt compelled and I needed to speak about that and uncover the truth, particularly in faith circles,” Hagler added. He noted that there are people “who want to clamp down the discourse in centers of spirituality.” Hagler dedicates himself to opening up the debate in the religious realm and pursuing justice.
For decades, Rev. Hagler has been involved in various social and economic justice movements. In the 1980s, he was deeply involved in the international movement against apartheid in South Africa. Today, he is a leader in the Palestinian solidarity movement.
He formerly served as president of the United Church of Christ’s association Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice. In June, the church voted to divest from and boycott companies profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories. Hagler has also served on the steering committee of anti-war organization United for Peace and Justice.
In March, Hagler spoke at a rally organized by the DC Metro chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. “We’ve got to be the ones that stand up for justice,” Rev. Hagler maintained. “We’ve got to be the ones that stand up to end the occupation of Palestine. We’ve got to be the ones that stand up to cut off funding to Israel. We’ve got to be the ones that stand up and really begin to drive home what democracy looks like.”
“It’s important to go to Rochester to not allow bigots to intimidate us,” Rev. Hagler said, reflecting on his plans to continue with his planned speech. “The truth cannot be crushed through violence.”
Source: mondoweiss.net