CHARLOTTE, NC, May 19  — In recent months, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region has experienced a

distressing rise in religious prejudice and targeted hostility. In January, antisemitic graffiti and Nazi

imagery were discovered at Shalom Park in Charlotte, a central site of Jewish communal life and a

gathering place for several Jewish organizations and institutions. Across North Carolina and the country,

communities have also witnessed vandalism targeting houses of worship, the distribution of extremist

propaganda, threats directed at religious minorities, and increasingly dehumanizing rhetoric aimed at

Jews, Muslims, and other vulnerable groups. Notably, this week, a horrific attack at the Islamic Center of

San Diego left multiple worshippers dead and reverberated across Muslim communities nationwide.

 

These developments are not isolated events. They are unfolding within a broader statewide increase in

antisemitic activity and a national climate in which religious minority communities are experiencing

heightened fear, intimidation, and social hostility. Although much of this rhetoric and many of these acts

originate beyond Mecklenburg County, their effects are felt deeply here—in how neighbors assess their

safety, how communities interpret public hostility, and how individuals navigate belonging within civic

and interfaith life. The consequences extend beyond any one community, weakening trust, undermining

social cohesion, and straining the relationships that sustain our shared public life.

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MeckMIN affirms, without qualification, that every person—of every faith or no faith—possesses

inherent dignity and belongs fully in our shared civic life.

 

We are especially mindful that members of our Jewish and Muslim communities, along with other

religious minorities, are experiencing this moment not as an abstraction, but as something deeply

personal—touching their sense of safety, identity, and belonging. We stand in solidarity with all who are

affected by antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred, and all forms of religious bigotry and exclusion.

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As an interfaith network rooted in Mecklenburg County, MeckMIN believes that moments of tension and

fear must not be allowed to fracture the relationships that sustain our common life. We reject all forms of

religious hatred, dehumanization, and exclusion—whether expressed through acts of vandalism, violence,

intimidation, or the spread of hateful rhetoric and materials intended to marginalize or threaten any

community.

 

At the same time, we affirm something equally important: that the strength of our region lies in its

pluralism. Our religious differences are not a threat to be managed, but a source of richness, moral

insight, and resilience to be cultivated.

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In this moment, we recommit ourselves to the work that defines MeckMIN’s mission: fostering

understanding, strengthening relationships, and helping build a community in which all people can live

with dignity, safety, and belonging.

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We invite religious leaders, congregations, civic institutions, and neighbors across Mecklenburg County

to join in that effort.