Over 100 faith leaders and activists are marching 172 miles from Philadelphia to Washington DC to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“We’re bringing this to the front doorsteps of the most powerful place on the planet to really use our moral and spiritual authority to call for a new way of living in this world,” said Reverend Stephen Green, the founder of Faith for Black Lives in an interview with Reckon Thursday afternoon. He and the over 100 supporters who came out to accompany the faith leaders were stopped at a gas station just outside of Wilmington, Delaware after completing seven miles of the 8 day walk

The Pilgrimage for Peace kicked off one day earlier in Philadelphia, where leaders from a variety of faith communities including bishops, rabbis, reverends and imams, spoke about the reason for their journey to Washington, DC. They have three demands to Joe Biden and Congress: call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, release all hostages and prisoners and channel funding toward humanitarian aid instead of weapons for Israel.

Faith for Black Lives initiated the multi-faith pilgrimage in the tradition of the Black faith leaders who led marches all over the country– oftentimes risking their own lives– to bring attention to the injustices faced by Black Americans during the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s.

“As people of African descent in the United States, we know what it means to live under occupation, what it means to live without the freedom of mobility,” Green said. “Living in the Jim Crow south or in apartheid South Africa is very similar to the apartheid that our brothers and sisters living in under the Israeli regime,” he said. “We see this all very clearly. That is what is motivating this action.”

Ramya Vijaya, of Hindus for Human Rights, was motivated to support the march by the legacy of non-violence championed by Gandhi, who led one of the earliest documented acts of civil disobedience, she said at a press conference Wednesday.

“We have all been horrified as we watch the mass destruction of an entire people unfold in front of our eyes. We’re all supposed to just pretend that it doesn’t happen, but we’re here to say that we won’t pretend.” she said before closing with a traditional Hindu prayer for peace and light in times of darkness.

A walk toward a future of solidarity

Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli bombardment since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7th 2023. Right now, Israeli troops have begun bombing the southern city of Rafah, where over 1 million Gaza residents are living in refugee camps after they were instructed to flee there to escape the violence. On Thursday, Israeli forces raided Gaza’s main hospital in Rafah ahead of a looming ground invasion.

“Part of what led so many Jews to support this horrible violence is a sense of fear.” lead organizer of Rabbis for Ceasefire Rabbi Alissa Wise said Thursday, as she and the other faith leaders walked down a street in Delaware. They had walked seven of the 172-mile trek to the White House. And what I have come to understand is that Jews, Palestinians, all of us are more safe in relationship with solidarity across faith and across race. That’s the future that I want to build for the coming generations.”

Wise said she has been encouraged by the hundreds of thousands of Jews throughout the country who have mobilized in massive civil disobedience actions to call for an end to the violence in their name.

“My feet are sore, I’m not gonna lie but it’s been so uplifting to be in this multi faith community,” Rabbi Wise said. “There’ve been all kinds of little miracles sprinkled through this journey”

Today the group is marching 13 miles from Wilmington to Newark, Delaware. After marching through Maryland, the pilgrimage will end in Washington, DC on February 21.