Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we will provide a brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment, share immediate actions you can take, and provide helpful resources to deepen knowledge and practice of our collective work to side with love.
Nothing is inevitable. All justice movements are powered by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and build a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together we can practice and win a just and loving world where all of us thrive.
Remember we build strong movements when we take action together. Organize teams and networks that can take these actions together. For support on practical organizing skills and support check out our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.
Top Lines for this week:
Climate: Trump has demolished years of climate action in days, but solar is surging ahead, renewables generated more energy than coal, and they’re also cheaper to deploy than coal.
Decriminalization: ICE is escalating their kidnapping of immigrants and off the street like Rumeyza Ozturk, and people are mobilizing quickly and all over the globe in protest.
Democracy
We are witnessing the consolidation of power in the hands of the few instead of the many. Democracy is a process and practice grounded in our values of interdependence that affirms the inherent worth and dignity of all. We are the majority, but we must organize our communities to build the power to defeat authoritarianism and build a truly multiracial democracy.
The Update
Donald Trump again succeeded in generating a media storm with an Executive Order (EO) aiming to impose several voter suppression tactics. But as the UUA reported last month, Presidents cannot make law unilaterally, and EOs merely guide federal employees on how POTUS wishes to see existing law applied.
Yet Congress may vote this week on a voter suppression bill, HR 22, that Trump could sign into law. The bill, promoted as the “SAVE Act,” would force states to require that people show proof of citizenship every time they register to vote. More than 21 million eligible voters lack accessible proof-of-citizenship documents. Nearly 70 million married women who took their husband’s surname could face problems registering and many transgender people could be blocked from voting entirely because their birth documentation differs from current identification.
A Crucial First Amendment Case
A federal judge will hear arguments Thursday on whether the Trump Administration can bar Associated Press (AP) reporters from covering presidential events. Trump has punished the AP, whose reports reach billions of people worldwide, for continuing to include the Gulf of Mexico's globally-recognized name, rather than using only Trump’s preferred, “Gulf of America.” Allowing government officials to coerce media into favorable coverage would gut the First Amendment and undermine everyone’s ability to receive accurate information.
Act:
Nationwide Actions April 5. Hundreds of organizations are joining to support HandsOff 2025, coordinated actions around the U.S. to defend civil society, Social Security, public education, and other institutions under malicious attack. See the website for actions near you and consider joining the April 1 orientation call.
Read:
Louisiana voters decisively rejected a ballot measure that would have led to many more youth being prosecuted as if they were adults. Pre-election reporting by Bolts illuminates the importance of this victory.
Rutgers and other universities are showing how institutions can fight back against authoritarian threats in solidarity via a mutual defense compact.
Join
Rise for Freedom trainings
Thursday evenings through May 8, Rise for Freedom is offering a series of eight webinars to help participants gain understanding and skills on a range of topics, including building critical mass locally, talking to people you disagree with, mutual aid, and more. Schedule and registration link.
Watch/Listen:
It’s always welcome when people produce audio and video formats to share some of the most important published resources on resisting oppression and building democracy. In this 10-minute video, the late John Lithgow reads 20 vital lessons from historian Timothy Snyder’s book, On Freedom.
Gender & LGBTQ Justice
Every body is sacred. Side With Love unapologetically affirms that trans people are divine, that abortion is a blessing, and that no one is disposable. Attacks on identity is a part of a divide and conquer tactic that relies on the belief that one group's safety comes at the expense of another group's safety. Solidarity is the moral and strategic mandate of our time, and we must rise to challenge these attacks and build communities of care and safety for all.
The Update:
This week, we continue to emphasize the importance of building inclusive communities of care and safety for survival. Key upcoming actions include becoming a facilitator for SACReD Journey Curriculum which focuses on reproductive justice, reading about the experiences of a trans seminarian, engaging with Lambda Legal's Speak OUT campaign to uplift trans voices, joining a webinar on defending trans lives, and watching the documentary Under G-D, which highlights the Jewish response to abortion bans and the protection of religious freedom. We continue to call upon faith communities to rise in solidarity, resist division, and support the rights and dignity of marginalized groups.
Act:
Become a SACReD Journey Curriculum Facilitator! May 5-6, 2025 in New Orleans:
“Trained facilitators will be ready to lead a curriculum that: deepens understanding of Reproductive Justice, engages complex theological approaches to liberation and systemic oppression, and introduces practices of healing, and strengthens our community organizing.”
Read:
Embdoied Faith: Living My Truth as a Trans Seminarian, by G Williams, a UU trans seminarian who is studying at Pacific School of Religion.
“My name is G Williams, my pronouns are they/she/he (whatever comes to your mind works for me, you cannot be wrong.) And I’m a Unitarian Universalist seminarian—and I’m also a mix-race Black, queer, trans person who walks this world with deep gratitude for the body I live in and the communities that have shaped me.”
Learn:
Speak OUT: Trans + Nonbinary Voices via Lambda Legal:
“One year ago today, on Transgender Day of Visibility, we launched our Speak OUT campaign to uplift the voices and stories of trans and nonbinary people!
During our first year of Speak OUT, we shared the experiences of our plaintiffs, grassroots activists, outspoken young people, artists, and more. Now more than ever, we must recognize the power of trans and nonbinary storytelling. Every story is powerful, and every contributor is remarkable in their own way!”
Join:
Defend Trans Lives: A Webinar for People of Faith, Tuesday April 8, 8:30-10pm Eastern / 5:30-7pm Pacific, Register Here. Organized by the Transforming Hearts Collective in partnership with enfleshed, Soulforce, and Queer Theology, this trans-led webinar will equip Christians and other people of faith to understand and respond to the current anti-trans crisis in the U.S.”
Watch/Listen:
Under G-D, “Inspired by the lawsuits filed in Florida challenging the state's abortion ban on the basis of religious freedom, Under G-d is a documentary short film about the national Jewish response to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization U.S. Supreme Court decision woven through the lived experiences of impacted Jewish women and the various lawsuits currently being launched by rabbis, Jewish organizations and interfaith leaders to challenge the overturning of Roe v. Wade, state by state. Through the lens of maintaining the separation between church and state, these nationwide efforts are predicated on ultimately protecting religious freedom – and democracy – for all.”
Decriminalization & Immigration
Criminalization and dehumanization are a political and spiritual project. We must dismantle the false idea that safety for some must come at the expense of safety for others. As people of faith, we cannot affirm the worth and dignity of all while privileging the well-being of a chosen few. We proclaim a future where care and safety are abundant because our relationships are cultivated through mutuality, not domination.
Migrant detention and deportation. The school to prison network and mass incarceration. Unceasing police violence toward Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. Bills making protest and resistance movements illegal. Laws criminalizing poverty, gender identity and expression, sex work, abortion, accessing and providing health care. All of these forms of criminalization are used by the state to disrupt, disempower, and dehumanize our communities.
The Update:
ICE is escalating their kidnapping of immigrants off the street like Fulbright Scholar Rumeyza Ozturk, and people are mobilizing quickly and steadily to protect one another. May are being deliberating moved far from their communities, including Ozturk from Massachusetts to Louisianna against a court order, and Venezuelans expelled to a notorious prison in El Salvador. The Tenneesse Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) successfully organized two stop two bills attacking immigrant students’ right to education (one that would have required students without a social security number to pay for public schooling and another that would require proof of immigration status or to pay for public schooling). TIRRC is now working to stop SB 0836, a bill that would once again try to deny children an education based on their immigration status.
Act:
Donate funds for the legal support of Rümeysa Öztürk, the Fulbright scholar and Tufts University graduate student residing in Massachusetts on a valid student visa who is detained by ICE for advocating for human rights and dignity for all.
Support TIRRC’s “Education For All” campaign to defend the right to public education for every child, no matter who they are or where they were born. If you live in Tennessee, call and email here. If you live elsewhere, donate to support their work.
Submit a Comment Opposing "Alien Registration"
The Trump administration published an interim final rule bringing back a provision of U.S. immigration law that has not being used for decades which requires immigrants who did not enter with a visa to register with the federal government and carry proof of their registration, or face criminal penalties. This rule is revamping a World War II-era statute that will create fear and distrust in immigrant communities, forcing them to choose between two risky options: submit information for registration and be placed in removal proceedings, or not submit and be at risk of criminal prosecution. Submit a comment opposing the implementation of this policy before April 11, 2025.
Read:
Scot Nakagawa’s piece about offshoring detention of dissidents and immigrants. “By outsourcing state repression to foreign regimes, the U.S. government effectively disappears people into detention systems where human rights violations are rampant, surveillance is unchecked, and oversight is nonexistent.”
Learn:
Defend and Recruit is an incredible workbook chock full of useful strategies and concrete tools for immigrant defense.
Download “The Criminalization of Solidarity: A Practical Guide for Movements and Communities Navigating Material Support for Terrorism from Muslims for Just Futures
You can also sign up to Attend the Movement Briefing about the guide on April 10th 12-1:30 CT
Join:
Empowering Communities: Guidance on Know Your Rights in Health Access & NILC Office Hours, April 2 @ 1:00-2:00pm ET / 10:00-11:00am PT
Sensitive Locations, Sacred Spaces Interfaith Prayer Vigil
Unitarian Universalists across the DMV are invited to join an interfaith prayer vigil on Thursday, April 3rd at 6:30 PM at National City Christian Church in Washington, DC. Held on the eve of the first hearing in our historic lawsuit challenging the rescission of the DHS Sensitive Locations Memo, this gathering is a call to lift up prayers for justice, compassion, and the protection of immigrant communities. Learn more and register here.
Watch/Listen:
Climate Justice
A just and loving world is a flourishing world. If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence.
“To meet the apocalypse, you must embody an intention that this experience will not consume you, that this experience is calling you into a deeper labor of transformation and creativity.” - Lama Rod Owens
The Trump administration’s assaults on environmental protections continue, but there is hope in the struggle. The National Institutes for Health has ended funding for climate and health. Trump has demolished years of climate action in days (check out the Timeline in that article for some perspective on the depth and breadth of policy changes. FEMA has removed their main climate webpage has removed any mention of the climate crisis from the National Risk Index. Yet people are figuring out ways to help keep us safe. The Guardian recreated the extreme weather risk tool that FEMA created and recently deleted. Solar power is surging ahead despite opposition, wind and solar generated more energy than coal, and renewables are cheaper to deploy than coal. UUs all across the land are working together to identify the threats in our communities and the many, many ways we can overwhelm them with community care. When the national outlook is dreary, turn to your community - where so much work can still be done - and start organizing.
Act:
Sign the GreenFaith faith leader letter to Trump and others in the administration taking a strong stand against federal LNG and fossil fuel subsidies.
Read:
Years of climate action are being demolished in days by Trump
Learn:
Review the Extreme weather risk tool. Start conversations in your community about the risks, and start building community resilience together. The new Green Sanctuary 2030 materials (more action, less paperwork!) can help!
Join:
Green Sanctuary 2030 Orientation - More action, less paperwork! - April 2
What’s Next after the Revival? Community of Practice - April 9
Watch/Listen: