3/6/24: SACRED Launch Event

On Tuesday, March 5, 2024 SACRED brought together over 50 supporters coming from across ages, faiths and walks of life to commit to the preservation and advancement of democracy, equality, nonviolence, and collective liberation.

SACRED announced that 15 candidates in the 2023 Chicago municipal elections had committed to REJECTING donations from anti-democratic and discriminatory organizations within the South Asian community (12 of whom are now Chicago City Council Members). Read more coverage about the event in WBEZ and the Cook County Chronicle.

During the event, we heard from impactful speakers emphasizing why it is critical to act NOW, including:

• Pushkar Sharma (SACRED) on the shocking rise of Hindu supremacy in Illinois politics, and the pressing need to organize multiracial, multifaith, anti-caste coalitions to combat the rise of hate;
• Denali Dasgupta (SACRED and 2023 SACRED pledge signatory), on both SACRED (501c3) and its advocacy arm SACRED Acts (501c4);
• Stevie Valles, Chicago Votes CEO, on the crucial need to revive the historic alliance between civil rights icons in the U.S. and nonviolent, anti-imperial leaders in colonial South Asia;
• Maaria Mozaffar, civil rights attorney, on the disturbing infiltration of hate into our communities in Illinois; and
• Kalman Resnick, HSPRD Legal, on the importance of standing up to these extremist ideologies as a united, multiracial, multifaith community to defeat hate.