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Chicago: We Stand against Islamic Slaughter in Africa

September 13, 2024 /

Historic press conference at Chicago City Hall

On September 13 in Chicago, City Alderman Raymond Lopez held a press conference to introduce a resolution he is submitting to the City Council next week condemning the slavery and slaughter committed by radical Islamists across Africa.

This effort was led by APT’s African Jewish Alliance.

Below is the list of the resolution’s Jewish, Christian, and Muslim supporters.

Here is the text of the resolution:

WHEREAS, All human life is precious, and all people worldwide are worthy of safety, dignity, and freedom; and,

WHEREAS, The ongoing enslavement of Africans within some Arab states by radical Islamist terrorist organizations is a violation of international humanitarian law and a crime against humanity; and,

WHEREAS, The United Nations’ refusal to address modern African slavery and persecution illustrates the hypocrisy and cherry-picked, selective moral outrage of the greater international community; and,

WHEREAS, The City of Chicago recognizes that slavery directed against black Africans is an abomination that exists across much of northern Africa and the Middle East that can no longer be tolerated; and,

WHEREAS, According to the Global Slavery Index, 84,000 Africans are held as slaves in Algeria, 47,000 in Libya, and 149,000 in Mauritania; and perhaps 35,000 Africans remain enslaved in Sudan nearly two decades after the end of the jihad which caused the south to secede and constitute itself, since 2011, as the world’s newest nation — South Sudan; and,

WHEREAS, The terrorist organization Boko Haram along with Fulani Muslim death squads and other jihadists in Nigeria have murdered tens of thousands of Nigerian Christians over the past decades and have, according to the U.S. State Department, enslaved thousands of children, teenagers, particularly young girls and women, for the purpose of sexual bondage; and,

WHEREAS, According to research in 2020 by the office of Tolulope Akande-Sadipe, member of the Nigerian House of Representatives for Oyo State and Chair of the House Committee on Diaspora Affairs, perhaps 80,000 women from Nigeria alone have been trafficked as sex slaves across Lebanon, Mali, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates; and,

WHEREAS, jihadist massacres and displacement of innocent people are occurring simultaneously in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, and Sudan; and,

WHEREAS, Due to the difficulty in obtaining accurate, in-depth information, as well as the mainstream media and human rights groups’ typical disinterest in these atrocities, which they deem “sensitive” matters, it is highly likely that such slavery exists in other countries in North Africa; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO, That we, the Mayor and Members of the City Council of the City of Chicago, gathered here this Twenty-second Day of May, 2024, stand in solidarity with all victims of slavery including the people of Sudan, South Sudan, Nigeria and Mauritania, who have endured centuries of oppression and enslavement; and,

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CHICAGO that the City of Chicago stands in humanitarian solidarity with all enslaved people, demanding their immediate liberation by every legal means possible.

List of speakers and supporting clergy:

Speakers (African Survivors):

  • Simon Deng: Sudan; Co founder African Jewish Alliance
  • Stephen Enada: Nigeria: President and Co-founder ICON
  • Reverand Zamani Kafang: Nigeria
  • Hacen El Khair: Mauritania
  • Peter Buhl: Sudan, Chicago Association of Lost Boys of Sudan

Speakers (Faith & Organization Leaders):

  • Charles Jacobs: Co-founder of African Jewish Alliance;
  • Peggy Shapiro: National Director Outreach for StandWithUs
  • Alison Pure-Slovin: Midwest Regional Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center

Clergy:

  • Rabbi Capers Funnye: Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation
  • Rabbi James Brazelton: Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation
  • Rabbi Michael Siegel: Congregation Anshe Emet
  • Pastor Shando Valdez: New Jerusalem Baptist Church
  • Pastor Mark Julian: Dean, Dayspring Bible College
  • Pastor Calvin Linstrom: Church of Christian Liberty
  • Pastor Jose Acevedo: Iglesia Mone Sion
  • Pastor Mark Julian: Quentin Road Baptist Church
  • Mr. John Vincent: Dayspring Bible College Director of Online Academics
  • Apostle Daniel Matos: Agape Church of Chicago

Lay Leaders:

  • Pamela Scheinman: Chair, Israel Action Committee, Lakeshore Drive Synagogue
  • Kyle Abts: Co-founder of International Committee on Nigeria (ICON); Founding member African Jewish Alliance (AJA)

Video of the press conference is being edited and will be released shortly.

If you would like to help the African Jewish Alliance have this resolution introduced in your city, please contact us at charlesjacobs123@gmail.com.