Joining us on this episode are Umar Hakim and Dominique DuBois Gilliard.
Umar is a native of Compton, CA, and serves as Executive Director of ILM (Intellect Love Mercy) Foundation. He is the chair of the board of LA Voice, a Faith in Action affiliate. As an active alumnus of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute (or AMCLI), Umar is a facilitator and trainer for its national program housed at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture.
Dominique is the Director of Racial Righteousness and Reconciliation for the Love Mercy Do Justice (LMDJ) initiative of the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC). He is the author of Rethinking Incarceration: Advocating for Justice that Restores, which won the 2018 Book of the Year Award for InterVarsity Press. His forthcoming book is Subversive Witness: Scripture’s Call to Leverage Privilege, and it will drop on August 24th. An ordained minister, Rev. Gilliard has served in pastoral ministry in Atlanta, Chicago, and Oakland.
This episode is part of a series recorded in early April during Faith in Action’s Keeping Faith Week of Prophetic Action. Umar, Dominique, and I have all lived in communities known for escalations of gun violence. In this episode, we shared some of our personal stories, unpacked root causes, and reflected on how addressing the issue of gun violence is a way to live out our collective faith.