Apr 24

Apr 24 Building Community through Detention Visitation Programs

I am very sad today. Jose, who I have been visiting at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange County for a year, was deported last week. If I want to see him, I must travel to Mexico, which I will do soon, because Tijuana is only 2 hours from my house and Jose has become like a son to me. I would like to take his mother with me, but she has no documents to come back to Orange County where her job is, where her life is. She would probably be apprehended at the border and put in immigration detention, eventually to be deported. Why doesn’t she just move to Mexico where her only child now is? She may decide to do that; I don’t know. But she considers the U.S. her country, has been here for many years. And so does Jose; English is his first language and he wants to continue the life he had before incarceration. Once President Obama’s executive action becomes reality, she will probably be one of the first to apply.

Apr 22

Apr 22 Earth Day: The Beginning of New Commitments

Side With Love

Today is Earth Day, when people all over the planet celebrate our beautiful, life-giving, and fragile Mother Earth.

This year our eight Unitarian Universalist organizations teamed up and created an unprecedented network of concern and action: Commit2Respond. Climate Justice Month, which has been running since World Water Day (March 22), ends today-and we ask you to join us in committing to action in the face of climate change!

Saving our biosphere is possible, but it will take a paradigm shift and a revolution of values to get there. Our framework is simple: to meet this challenge, we need to shift to a low carbon future, advance the human rights of affected communities, and grow the climate justice movement.

Apr 13

Apr 13 Immigration Justice Stalled

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Throughout the country, Unitarian Universalists continue to take action to transform our broken immigration system. Rooted in faith and justice, UU congregations and individuals have taken action calling for human rights and compassion in the face of violent policies that break up families and communities.

Join the monthly Standing on the Side of Love webinar on Thursday April 23, at 4pm ET/1pm PT. Our focus this month is Immigration Justice Stalled. We will be joined by Immigration Justice partners and UU immigration experts, including Hector Barajas (Deported Vets, based in Tijuana) and Mar Cárdenas Loutzenhiser (Centro GaryMar in Tijuana), Rachel Freed (UUSC) Hannah Hafter (UU College of Social Justice) and Katia Hansen (UURISE) who will discuss where we stand now after President Obama’s administrative action has been stalled in the courts, and how deportations continue to tear families apart.

Apr 10

Apr 10 Fighting for Air

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In Denver, we talk a lot about air—mostly because there’s less of it here, up at a mile high. It’s a reality I confront during a long, exhausting ultimate frisbee game.

I think there’s value in feeling the fatigue, in really experiencing it. When I gasp for breath after chasing down a receiver or defending a pass, I feel acutely air’s vital importance. Each sprint renews my commitment to protecting this invaluable resource, for my lungs find themselves fighting for air.

Apr 7

Apr 7 Love is stronger than fear: Responses to RFRA

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Last week, Unitarian Universalists throughout the country showed up in support of LGBTQ people in Indiana as they contested the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). We know that Indiana’s bill is just one in a series of recent of bills nationally that dehumanize people, limit their protection under the law and will impact civil rights, LGBTQ rights, reproductive justice, healthcare access and more. Because several state legislatures are considering similar bills, we encourage you to stay up to date with your UU State Advocacy Network (see if there is one in your state here) or other trusted voter awareness groups in your state.

Over twenty UU clergy in Indiana, along with many other UU Ministers, issued a statement in response to the RFRA.

“Ours is a faith tradition that has long supported the rights of all, including same-sex couples. Already under Indiana law, no faith or religion is forced to marry same-sex couples or recognize same-sex marriage within the context of its religious beliefs. As people of faith, we affirm that the right to both believe in our faith and to act on our beliefs is fundamental and protected in the state and federal constitutions. We also know that our faith does not give us the right to ignore laws or to harm others.” You can read their full statement here.

Apr 2

Apr 2 Telling Better Stories of Justice Together

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Mar 26

Mar 26 Going to General Assembly? Let us support your creative change-making!

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We are excited to announce our upcoming Standing on the Side of Love workshop at that 2015 UUA General Assembly, called: Beacons of Light: Inspire and Fund UU Changemakers. This workshop will be an exciting chance to hear from folks who are on the frontlines of creative change-making, including leaders like Jen Hayman, who together with her congregation at All Souls Church Unitarian DC, helped create a flash mob for voting rights on the steps of the Supreme Court.

We know all of you are committed Love Activists, and we are always looking for ways to bring new folks into our spiritual and justice communities, right? Infusing our justice work with not only love, but the arts and creativity is a phenomenal way to encourage more multigenerational involvement, and pique the interest of folks who may not otherwise get engaged in justice work.

Mar 24

Mar 24 Let's Get Free

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Reflections by Chris Crass from recent work with Unitarian Universalists in Minnesota and the Selma 50th Living Legacy Conference in Alabama.

With nearly 200 UUs joining the March 17th webinar on Black Lives Matter led by two justice movement leaders and young adult Black UUs, Jova Lynne Vargas and Kenny Wiley, I want to share some of the powerful ways UUs are putting our faith into courageous action for Black Lives Matter. I had the recent opportunity to lead workshops with the Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance and at the Marching in the Arc of Justice Selma 50th conference, where I spoke with UUs about the work we’re doing for racial justice.

Mar 19

Mar 19 Healing the Waters, Healing Ourselves

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There is a potent stream running from the 50th anniversary of the civil rights struggle in Selma, through the fast-growing movement of Black Lives Matter, to our Unitarian Universalist-inspired Climate Justice Month, which begins on World Water Day this Sunday. The stream springs from stories of pain, resistance, and renewal, and it is enlivened by the truth that these stories are intricately and inherently connected.

This weekend we, and forty others, were bathed and renewed, hearts changed in that stream at the “Healing the Waters” conference organized by DRUUMM (Diverse, Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries) and ARE (Allies for Racial Equity).

Mar 13

Mar 13 Join the Border Justice Education Program: May 21-26th, 2015

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This new year marked a time of hope and anxiety for those of us dedicated to the immigrant rights struggle – both for people and families whose lives are deeply impacted by U.S. immigration policy, and for those of us committed as allies. In February we learned that President Obama’s executive order on immigration, which would allow up to 5 million undocumented immigrants to stay with their families in the U.S., was threatened threatened by a court ruling of a Federal District Court in Brownsville, Texas, and was temporarily stopped.

After many years working with No More Deaths - a humanitarian aid and social justice organization on the U.S./Mexico border, and a ministry of the UU Church of Tucson, Arizona – I always ask what these developments will mean for the death and suffering occurring at our border. While working with people being deported to Mexico, I have heard the stories of many parents aching, and risking everything, to return to their children in the U.S. I have also met hundreds of Central Americans fleeing both gang and government violence. No matter what relief comes for parents and young people currently in the U.S. without papers, the devastating and deadly effects at the border will continue as long as the border is treated as a “security” issue rather than a human rights issue.