5.12.26 Action Center Update

Side With Love

Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we’ll share:

  • A brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment

  • Immediate actions you can take

  • Resources to deepen knowledge and strengthen our collective work to side with love

Nothing is inevitable. Justice movements are built by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and nurture a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together, we can create a just and thriving future.

Movements are strongest when we act together. Organize with your teams and networks, and take these actions in community. For practical tools, see our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.

Democracy

Core Principle: Democracy is not a destination but a practice rooted in interdependence and the worth and dignity of all. While authoritarianism consolidates power, we are the majority—and we must organize to build a truly multiracial democracy.

The Update: The US Supreme Court’s Callais decision, which gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, have been swift and devastating. Here are some of what has happened:

TN: Within one week, Tennessee lawmakers called a special session and eliminated the state’s only majority-Black congressional district centered in Memphis, dismantling the only Democratic-held seat in the state.

VA: Courts moved to block implementation of voting and representation reforms that advocates argued would have expanded equitable political participation for communities of color, citing the new legal landscape created by Callais.

SC: South Carolina lawmakers and operatives have signaled renewed efforts to defend and expand racially dilutive congressional maps that had previously faced Voting Rights Act challenges.

MS: Mississippi officials announced plans to revisit judicial and congressional district maps that had been challenged under Section 2, threatening Black voter representation statewide.

AL: Alabama leaders have discussed redrawing districts and even delaying or disrupting elections tied to previously court-ordered majority-Black districts.

GA: Governor Brian Kemp has so far stopped short of calling a special session but has publicly suggested that the legislature could revisit congressional maps next year in light of the Court’s ruling.

LA: Louisiana’s second majority-Black congressional district, created after years of litigation and organizing by Black voters, was struck down directly by the Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais.

The attack on Black political power in America has been relentless. As we have witnessed time and again, their strategy is to divide and conquer. Ours must be solidarity. This is a moment to deepen relationships, strengthen our infrastructure of care, and mobilize in defense of our communities when they come under attack.

For too long, the South—its people, its organizing, and its culture—has been dismissed or ignored. Yet so much of what the nation is witnessing today was first tested on Southern soil. All roads lead to the south. The South has always been both a battleground of resistance, and the future of our democracy will be shaped by how we organize together now.

Take Action:

Decriminalization & Immigration

Core Principle: Criminalization and dehumanization deny the dignity of our communities. Safety cannot come at the expense of others. As people of faith, we proclaim a future of care, abundance, and mutuality—not domination.

The Update:
As UUs, we believe that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and no one deserves to have their family torn apart or their home terrorized whether in rural Alabama or southern Lebanon.  We also believe in the strength of community: from the Michigan clergy who waged a solidarity fast with hunger striking detained immigrants in Michigan to those showing up to defend democratic representation in the Tennessee and Louisana State houses.  We hope that you are finding your way to act with  strategic courage in your local community.   

Take Action: 

Majority leadership are now working on a plan to fund ICE and CBP through reconciliation, which would not require any minority support. They plan to introduce a narrowly focused reconciliation bill that would fully fund ICE and CBP for three years, and President Trump has endorsed this approach. The reconciliation bill would provide about $70 billion in funding for ICE and CBP to sustain them until at least the end of Trump’s term.  The UU Solidarity Initiative is considering another phone call blitz - sign up here to get updated and join.  

Resources:

Solidarity Sessions are an opportunity for folks working for immigrant justice to connect with one another, take action, and learn about the most recent changes in immigration laws and policies. This week is our deeper dive into the administrative updates and the impact the changes they will have on folks seeking immigration relief. 

How do we stop the authoritarian administration from becoming full on fascism? This hands on workshop will overview some of the answer: Pillars of Support, non-cooperation, and strategy to defeat authoritarianism. Then we’ll talk specifically how UUs can play a key role in growing networks of Fourth Amendment Workplaces, helping employers and workers understand their rights if ICE shows up. We’ll send you out with training and materials to recruit your local businesses to take a stand while building relationships within your congregation and community. Co-sponsored by Side with Love and UU Justice PA.

Climate Justice

Core Principle: A just and loving world is also a flourishing one. A fossil-free future is possible, where clean energy is a human right and all beings thrive. To get there, we must create new systems, norms, and practices.

The Update:
Oppose Legal Immunity for Big Oil

After months of fossil fuel industry lobbying, Republican lawmakers have introduced federal legislation to grant oil and gas companies immunity from any laws or lawsuits that could hold them accountable for their role in the climate crisis.

More than one in four Americans live in a community fighting in court to make Big Oil companies pay for lying about how their products fuel climate change. At at least a dozen states have passed or proposed climate “superfund” laws to make polluters, not taxpayers, cover the growing bill for climate damages. The fossil fuel industry’s allies in Congress are trying to block these accountability measures by introducing a total liability shield for fossil fuel companies based on the 2005 law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits.

No industry should be above the law, especially not Big Oil. Tell your Members of Congress to oppose S. 4340/H.R. 8330, the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act, and condemn the fossil fuel industry’s effort to strip communities of their right to take corporations to court.

Thanks to People vs. Fossil Fuels for the text of this week’s Action Center Update

Take Action: (2–3 partner actions)

Resources:

 Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.






5.5.26 Action Center Update