Skokie coalition of faith groups visit Little Village to support ICE-impacted businesses

On a frigid and snowy Sunday afternoon, congregants from five churches, two synagogues and one mosque gathered in a Skokie parking lot in and shared a prayer. 

The group consisted of members from the Niles Township Clergy Forum, an interfaith coalition of approximately 30 different area houses of worship. 

After taking turns contributing to the inclusive prayer, the leaders handed out flyers with names of 20 different businesses in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood that needed help. 

The meeting and the subsequent drive to Little Village was organized by Hazzan Sarah Alexander of the Skokie Congregation Kol Emeth after she learned that shops in the Chicago neighborhood have seen a 40-60% drop in revenue compared to this time last year.

Understanding that the commercial decline in the predominantly hispanic neighborhood may be connected to federal immigration raids in the past few months, Alexander reached out to other congregations.

“What was really wonderful was that it wasn’t a Jewish initiative, it wasn’t a Christian initiative, it wasn’t a Muslim initiative, it was everybody saying this is social justice and we care,” Alexander said of the Niles Township residents who committed to spending money at the businesses. 

The group of about 25 people — with funds donated from 15 more — scattered in Little Village to buy food from family-run grocery stores and restaurants and knock out their holiday shopping at local clothing shops, art stores and street vendors, Alexander said. 

Alexander recalled she first learned in October about lower spending in Little Village via her husband who works at a credit union with a branch in the neighborhood. 

She then got in contact with the Little Village Chamber of Commerce to confirm that federal immigration enforcement is not only impacting the detained individuals and their families, but also the businesses they run and patron.

In early November, she brought the issue to the Niles Township Clergy Forum, which already raises money every year through a charitable interfaith Thanksgiving service. But Alexander said the group has been looking to expand its joint efforts. 

“Most if not all of us had already said things to our congregants about justice issues raised by ICE activity, but this was something concrete that we and our congregations could do to help that wasn’t just writing letters,” Alexander said. 

“It was helping people on the ground, because I think both things are necessary,” Alexander said. 

As her family saved up its Hanukkah budget to purchase gifts from the Little Village shops, Alexander said they purchased “beautiful” Mexican pottery pieces and toys from vendors. The hope is that the gifts, for their family and teachers, have extra meaning behind them. 

Alexander also noticed that prices at the locally owned grocery stores were sometimes 20-40% higher than name-brand supermarkets. The overall experience, she said, was eye-opening for both her and her children.

“It made me really aware of the privilege that, even as a Jew and even as someone who has been subject to some pretty ugly antisemitism, I’m still a white American who has an American birth certificate,” Alexander said. 

While the purpose of the Skokie-led caravan was to help bring economic resources to Little Village and spread awareness of the impact of the immigration crackdown, Alexander said a second, if not larger, goal was to foster more connection between Skokie’s and Niles Township’s various faith communities. 

With many synagogues, mosques and church members on the receiving end of bigotry, Alexander said social justice activities like the one she helped facilitate on Dec. 7 may help foster more understanding among their congregations despite their religious differences.

“You just have to open the newspaper to see so much anger and hate and a lot of it is directed against faith groups, a lot of it is directed against Jews,” Alexander said. 

“As a Jew I think it’s important for us to work with people of other faith groups and have them not be able to just put us all in a bucket and say ‘Those Jews,’” Alexander added. “Because as soon as they say ‘Those Jews,’ it’s like, ‘Oh wait a second, what about all those people were just going down to Little Village with?’”

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