A candlelight vigil was held in Poughkeepsie at the Christ Episcopal Church on the evening of Thursday, November 16, 2023 in support of the 240 hostages being held by Hamas. Several speakers from different faiths spoke, including a Baptist leader.

“Interfaith” Vigil Did Not Include Imams or Priests

While the event was titled “Interfaith Candlelight Vigil In Solidarity With 240 Hostages Held In Gaza,” there were no Muslim Imams or Catholic Priests in speaking positions. A Little Beacon Blog reached out to Jesse Lunin-Pack, president of the Beacon Hebrew Alliance, to see if any Imams or Priests were invited to attend. He responded: “I'm afraid that my only role in planning the event was to request that it happen - so I'm not really sure how the speakers were invited and who was reached out to.”

With Jesse’s help, A Little Beacon Blog reached out to the organizer of the event, Karen Hochhauser, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Dutchess County, with the same question. She did not respond.

The vigil was held in the dark, within a perimeter lined with white paper bags that had a candle inside of them and a name of a hostage printed on each bag. Poughkeepsie police were in attendance to direct parking.

Timing Of The Vigil Was During The Massacre Of Palestinian Civilians, Doctors and Nurses At Al-Shifra Hospital

During the vigil that was dubbed “interfaith,” was no mention of the Palestinians who are being buried under the rubble. This may have been the first vigil in the Hudson Valley region - 41 days after the hostages were taken. The majority of whom are Israeli, but there are other nationalities have been taken as well. It should be noted that 11,000 Palestinian children and adults have been killed as of this writing.

In the Al-Shifra hospital alone, there were 2,000 displaced people, 400 patients and 200 medical professionals. Several doctors and nurses were shot at by IDF in the Al-Shifa hospital. An Israeli spokesperson justified the killing when telling MSBNC, “You see a doctor? Anyone could be a Hamas.” And so now, medical professionals and families leaving the hospital are being targeted with snipers and shot to death.

On this day - November 16, 2023 - the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) confirmed that there were no hostages found in the Al-Shifa hospital, where IDF created mass death. The IDF has as of this writing woken up Al-Ahli Baptist hospital by surrounding it with Israeli tanks. Which is how the murders at the Al-Shifa Hospital started.

Oddly Timed Song Lyrics Read During Vigil

Karen, the organizer, read lyrics from a song, which sat oddly, being that this genocide is being done by one side to the other - Zionist Israeli genocide (funded and supported by the United States and other European nations) to the Palestinians. While she may have meant it as a way to sympathize with Jews, it landed with the opposite interpretation to someone listening who is supporting and defending Palestinian lives and Jewish lives from Zionists.

The lyrics of the song are as follows, and are read at minute 10 of the video below:

“You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught”
by Rogers and Hammerstein in South Pacific. The song was controversial in its time.

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught from year to year,
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade—
You’ve got to be carefully taught.

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate—
You’ve got to be carefully taught!
You’ve got to be carefully taught!

I was cheated before
And I’m cheated again
By a mean little world
Of mean little men.
And the one chance for me
Is the life I know best.

To be on an island
And to hell with the rest.
I will cling to this island
Like a tree or a stone,
I will cling to this island
And be free—and alone.

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After the sun went down on the blocked Election Certification attempt at the nation’s Capitol, Beacon4Black Lives organized an impromptu and peaceful vigil at Pohill Park, Beacon’s destination for public gatherings. They brought a projector and screen to project the news onto a screen. Stefon Seward, one of the original members of Beacon4Black Lives and current committee member on Beacon’s Police Chief Search, was one of the first to speak about the difference between the white people storming the Capitol who seemed to do it with ease and no punishment, versus Black people who get shot in the back sometimes in front of their children.

A handful of speakers spoke, including Xavier Mayo, a founding member of Beacon4Black Lives, sharing a story of him getting pulled over yesterday twice for a tail light being out, and of the two different emotional experiences he went through when pulled over by two different police officers. The experience with the first officer was normal and helpful as to how to fix a tail light, yet the second experience invoked fear as the officer smirked and laughed at Xavier when the he said he felt afraid.

Justice McCray, who is also a founding member of Beacon4Black Lives, spoke about how Black people are treated differently and how basic needs for some Beaconites are not being met, and how the Black community in Beacon does not feel safe with police. Justice is connected to several food insecurity initiatives like the Community Fridge, and is an advocate for community safety in new ways. “We’re here to build something better. What’s happening now is not OK, and is a slap in the face of democracy.”

Paloma Wake also spoke, who is a member of Beacon4Black Lives and has been involved in several Beacon based organizations including the Beacon Farmers Market when she was its manager. She currently holds a seat and is the Vice Chair on Beacon’s Human Relations Commission.

Other speakers included former regular participants of past protest marches down Main Street over the summer in favor of Black lives mattering more, as well as the protest of the Beacon 2021 budget.

One speaker was new to the group, after moving to Beacon recently. He said that having been down in the dumps earlier, he turned to his wife and they agreed to come down to the vigil. He expressed happiness that he came, and sadness at the new life navigations he needed to make with his family who are Trump supporters and he is not. He expressed dismay at not being able to communicate with them because of their political differences, which was a choice he made, after not being able to tolerate tolerance any longer.

Beacon Councilperson for Ward 4, Dan Aymar-Blair, spoke about his experience during the day with his child at home who was asking questions about democracy. Dan has a BA in Political Science and Government and stated that while watching the events unfold, he expressed desire to explore his own relationship with democracy, as he tried to answer his son’s question.

The day seemed to have launched a deep dive for many as events developed. Listen to all of the stories and speeches at the vigil here at Beacon4Black Lives Instagram.