Faith communities across the nation will stand alongside working people, civil rights groups, students and immigrants on the days around April 4 to tell hard-working families under attack that “We Are One.”

In a telephone press conference this afternoon, prominent African American and evangelical faith leaders joined with civil rights and labor leaders to announce coordinated actions this weekend and on April 4 in support of working families.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker told the reporters that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s power grab reignited a huge movement of people standing up for human dignity and human rights. Holt Baker, who also is a member of the Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) national board, said:  

We’re standing together to make our country better for all working people.  We honor Dr. King with our determination to stand up and build the future our children deserve. These attacks on the middle class aren’t about the economy or the state budget.  It’s about politics and payback.

IWJ has produced a set of resources for the We Are One mobilization–prayers, sermons, a bulletin insert, and pieces on what congregations, students, and worker centers can do.

Rev. Nelson Rivers, vice president of the NAACP, said the right-wing is engaged in a “gigantic effort to turn the clock back.”  He said the NAACP will hold a major national event in Nashville, Tenn., April 4 featuring a teach-in with three historically black colleges in that city.

“We know that God is concerned about workers, who are consistently vulnerable to exploitation if they aren’t protected. When workers are treated badly, that matters to us, no matter what faith tradition we come from—including the evangelical community,” said Rev. Troy Jackson, pastor of University Christian Church in Cincinnati.

IWJ is coordinating with dozens of groups holding prayer vigils in multiple locations across the country, using the same prayer for workers (available here) around the We Are One faith events happening April 1-4 and into the coming weeks.  Events include:

• A rally and candlelight vigil with Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders and a choir at Denver City Park from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on April 4.
• An April 4 rally and press conference at the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King Memorial Plaza on the campus of the University of Maine.
• Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice will hold a theatrical reenactment of biblical passages around worker justice in San Diego on April 4.
• Detroit Interfaith Worker Justice will hold a prayer vigil in concert with labor union rallies on April 4.

You can also find out how to take action on April 4 or write a message of solidarity to workers at the “We Are One” Facebook page.  Follow the action on Twitter with the hashtags #statesSOS, #notmywi, #StandUpOH, #wiunion and get the latest updates at www.aflcio.org/blog.