Standing, lit-up phones in hand, more than 200 members of Chicago’s Jewish and African-American communities recommitted to speaking out on each other’s behalf at the fifth annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemoration program in January. The event was orchestrated by JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), Stone Temple Baptist Church, the North Lawndale Historical and Cultural Society, Sinai Health System, and the Firehouse Community Arts Center.

“Speaking Truth to Power: Standing in Solidarity,” held at the historic Stone Temple included reflections on King’s legacy and on the relationship between the Jewish and African-American communities.

“If the house is burning, we have the responsibility to become firefighters,” said Bishop Derrick Fitzpatrick, who leads the Stone Temple community. “We have to put out the fire of racism, discrimination, and injustice.”

The commemoration was particularly poignant after a challenging year that was marked by a rise in the prominence of white supremacist and neo-Nazi ideologies showcased at last August’s march in Charlottesville, Va. JCRC Chair Bill Silverstein referenced JUF’s unequivocal response to that disturbing development in his remarks.

“Such hate flies in the face of our American and Jewish values, and has no place in our country,” he said.

To confront it, all must follow the example of King and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and “pray with our feet to do the work necessary of standing up for each other,” Silverstein urged.

Rabbi Max Weiss, of Oak Park Temple, drew parallels between the event’s theme and that week’s Parashat Bo , the Torah portion that includes the final three plagues and God’s invocation to Moses to speak truth to power.

“We live in a city where we are immersed in a culture where brutality is a way of life. Over 50 shootings in our city so far this year, and it’s the middle of January. The economic brutality, the lack of equitable access to quality education, to health care, to clean streets, to good food, and affordable homes. That is pharaoh just as much as the man sitting on top of the pyramid,” he said. “May we use our power to speak truth to power.”

In his keynote address, Rev. Dr. B. Herbert Martin, senior pastor of Progressive Community Church in Bronzeville, invoked the need for new prophets, who would energize the movement for peace and justice.

“If ever there was a time to speak truth to power, now is that time,” he said. “If ever there was a time for our diverse communities to stand in solidarity, now is that time.”

Students from the community also offered reflections. Prior to the event, volunteers from JUF’s TOV Volunteer Network joined Stone Temple members for a special service project, preparing and serving a hot breakfast to the North Lawndale community.

As the sounds of “We Shall Overcome” faded, Fitzpatrick echoed King and urged attendees to speak up because “silence can be deafening.”

Jane Charney is director of Domestic Affairs for JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council.