A crowd of nearly 125 people showed up on the Iowa State campus Wednesday afternoon to show support for the African-American churches in the South that have fallen victim to acts of arson in recent months.

The gathering, entitled “Unity Day In Our Community,” took place in the area north of the Campanile.

LaTonya Harrell, an associate minister of the predominately African-American Corinthian Baptist Church in Des Moines, was the featured speaker.

“Historically for African-Americans the black church, some would say, is the very essence of who we are,” Harrell said. “When black churches are being attacked, it is an attack on the very essence of who we are.”

Harrell called on unity in the religious community when she paraphrased a quotation from Ben Franklin.

“We must hang together, or surely we all hang separately,” she said.

Members of several Ames-area faiths gave brief statements of faith regarding the burning of the African-American churches. Timothy Radloff, a representative of the local spiritual assembly of the Baha-i faith and an ISU student, introduced the speakers.

“It was a monumental event,” Radloff said after the gathering. “We all gathered in support of the African-American churches that have burned.”

David Arkovich, the president of the Ames Jewish Congregation, related past atrocities toward people of the Jewish faith. He urged people of all faiths to speak out against the recent burnings of African-American churches.

“It should not make a difference which house of worship is being attacked,” Arkovich said. “An attack on one house of worship is an attack on all houses of worship.”

Ames City Council member Judie Hoffman spoke on behalf of the Ecumenical ministries of Iowa. She spoke on the need for unity in the religious communities and to speak out against the recent church burnings.

“As people of faith, we can no longer afford to remain silent,” Hoffman said.

The gathering was a great success, said one of the event’s major organizers, Judy Dolphin.

“It was a wonderful time in the sun,” Dolphin said. “I appreciated all the people who came out in support of the the religious community, specifically the churches that have burned in recent months.”