Week Two of our 30 Days of Love is On!
We enter week two of 30 Days of Love lamenting the immoral blocking of the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Acts. It is disheartening to witness our elected leaders sided with vote suppression and against democracy. As a faith community committed to showing up for justice and for our communities, this will not stop us.
Join us for Week Two of 30 Days of Love. From January 24-30 we are focusing on Democracy & Voting Rights. This week’s offerings include multigenerational resources, healing meditations, political education, and collective action to support our community in our democracy and electoral work.
Our live events this week include:
Action: Phonebank for Voting Rights on January 30.
Political Education: January 27: Webinar: Building Power and Democracy.
Worship: January 28: Friday Songs of Joy.
The sharp increase in voter suppression tactics and laws in the last year not only reflects how much work remains, but also how much power we have already shown. In 2020, communities showed up in force to get out the vote, register voters, and promote the values of care, equity, justice, and a liberating love as we cast our votes. Unitarian Universalists around the country organized to #UUtheVote, #VoteLove, and #DefeatHate in our national, state, and local elections. Our movement towards achieving a mutliracial democracy gained so much momentum because we the people claimed our power.
Because of the strength of our love, hate is doubling down its efforts to remain in control. The suppression tactics we are witnessing today - from state legislatures in places like Georgia and Texas, to national electeds refusing to alter legislative procedures shaped by Jim Crow segregation - are fights we are facing because we are a liberating force that hatred fears.
One of the essential truths we must acknowledge is that the colonized land currently known as the United States has always been based on accumulation of wealth through racialized capitalism. The attacks on democracy are a part of that legacy. Resisting oppressive power has always depended on people's movements that have fought for democracy, equity and justice. The fight for a multiracial democracy that is accountable to the people, is rooted in our ability to build the networks and communities that build enough power to contest and defeat these attacks.
For this second week of our 30 Days of Love, we are inviting you to deepen your connection to community, and strengthen your engagement in the movement to create the true democracy we have yet to realize in this nation. Within all of us lives the legacy of prophets, the wisdom of ancestors, and the fierce power of community to continue the momentum of not just the past two years, but the past 200+ years. There is so much we and those who came before us have accomplished to create a world where every vote counts and every life is treated as sacred. And there is still so much more that we can generate together.
This week, we are focusing our faith and power on Democracy and Voting Rights with a series of offerings that remind us that our liberation is built on organizing and change that happens at the local level, in our own neighborhoods and communities.
Join us for our January 27 Political Education session “Building Power and Democracy,” where UU the Vote leaders and local activists share why this election year is critical for our movement towards multiracial democracy and collective liberation.
Practice (or brush the dust off!) your phonebanking skills with our January 30 Democracy Phonebank to mobilize Unitarian Universalists for critical voting rights actions.
Find community amongst other UUs ramping up to #UUtheVote in 2022 at our monthly Action Center Community of Praxis gathering on January 31, whether you are looking to build up specific skills or learn new strategies for engagement in your community.
And save the date for our February 20 #UUtheVote Skill Up to learn how to amplify a faith voice through Letters to the Editor, Op Eds, and other media.
You are essential to our faith’s dream of Beloved Community. We invite you to take the time to nourish your spirit with this week’s worship offerings. Together we can care for one another and build resiliency to remain committed to showing up. The love that drives our work during and beyond these 30 Days is here to hold you and welcome you to take action as we move into midterm elections and UU the Vote 2022.
In faith, love, and power -
The Side with Love Organizing Strategy Team