Strength and Beauty in Baltimore

Strength and Beauty in Baltimore

Side With Love

I'm just returning to Boston from the second city uprising I've visited this year. Baltimore, like Ferguson, is still a community where people eat and sleep and chat and work. But they do all these things with police helicopters buzzing overhead and National Guards watching with their machine guns gripped hard.

I know that in my white privilege I can come and go, smile at the officers and not have to worry about my relatives night and day. That's why I show up for these protests wherever I can, to march in solidarity and to learn from the leadership of those who are trying to assert their basic rights to freedom and safety.

Greening Churches, Fighting Climate Change: All in the Name of Love

Greening Churches, Fighting Climate Change: All in the Name of Love

Side With Love

Unlike many other social problems, climate change is an issue that affects all of mankind. And to stand on the side of love with those most affected by climate change means to tackle this problem together. When the very air we breathe is at risk, we have no choice but to think about our loved ones and what their lives would be like if we allow these hazards to exist. And who better to take on such a task but people of faith?

People of all faiths have long played a powerful role in advancing the cause of justice. African American faith traditions, in particular, have been at the center of the most important social movements of the last century—from civil rights to voting rights to anti-poverty efforts.

Volunteer to help women and children in detention

Volunteer to help women and children in detention

Side With Love

As a human rights lawyer and a mother of a toddler, I was personally struck by what I saw on my visit to Karnes detention center in Karnes City, Texas, last month. Refugee women and children, who have come to the United States seeking asylum, are being held in jail-like conditions.

Many of you have asked how can you help these families. We invite you now to volunteer with the Refugee and Immigration Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a UUSC partner, and help detained women and children secure asylum in the United States.

In Baltimore, my liberation is bound up with yours

In Baltimore, my liberation is bound up with yours

Side With Love

We must not imagine that what's happening in Baltimore will be "over" for a very long time. There are cries for "peace" in our city--and from outside our city--which imagine that stopping the violence-spree of angry (and organized!) youth and getting back to normal is desired. I am not sure that this is desired, and I know that it is not even possible. The frustration of the young people in Baltimore is the frustration of a people that have known police harassment their entire lives. The "War on Drugs" created a culture that made it illegal to be poor, to be Black, to live in the neighborhood you live in and to hang out with your friends. This generation has faced a city where the "Zero Tolerance Policy" criminalized childhood, criminalized growing up in East and West Baltimore, and that is not going to change, even when the State of Emergency is lifted and the National Guard goes home.

Immigration Justice Stalled: How can we help keep families together?

Immigration Justice Stalled: How can we help keep families together?

Side With Love

On April 23, Standing on the Side of Love, along with our partners at the UU College of Social Justice and the UU Service Committee, hosted a webinar called Immigration Justice Stalled.  It was a powerful time of building community together, as Unitarian Universalists and our partners on both sides of the Mexico/U.S. border shared their stories, including allies and people directly affected by our broken immigration system.

Due to tech difficulties, the webinar is in two parts, access Part One here, and Part Two here.

Building Community through Detention Visitation Programs

Building Community through Detention Visitation Programs

Side With Love

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. 

Earth Day: The Beginning of New Commitments

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.

Immigration Justice Stalled

Immigration Justice Stalled

Side With Love

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.

Fighting for Air

Fighting for Air

Side With Love

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.

Love is stronger than fear: Responses to RFRA

Love is stronger than fear: Responses to RFRA

Side With Love

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.

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