“We are concerned about scapegoating and hate attacks, which may well be visited at this time,” Gerson said.

The organizers of last night’s rally, who represented a wide spectrum of peace organizations, handed out a joint statement, passed around candles and occasionally broke the silence with statements of their hopes for peace.

“I’m desperately worried about the safety of people in Palestine, and there’s great concern about the safety of Arabs in this county,” said Hilda B. Silverman ’60. Silverman, who helped organize the vigil, represents Jewish Women for Justice in Israel and Palestine.

As she spoke before the gathering, Silverman took the hand of Merrie Najimy, a representative of the BCPR, in a show of solidarity.

“It’s amazing to see, in exactly 24 hours from the time Joseph Gerson called us together, that hundreds of people have come in sympathy,” Najimy said to the crowd. “An eye for an eye for an eye, leaves us all blind,” Najimy read from the statement prepared by all the organizers.

Najimy—who lost a family friend in one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center—emphasized that all Americans were affected by Tuesday’s catastrophe.

“With the experience we had with the Oklahoma City bombing, we knew that the most predictable scapegoat would be the Arab community,” Najimy said. “We’re Americans as well as Arab Americans.”