A Call to NC: Defend Our Voting Rights July 13

A Call to NC: Defend Our Voting Rights July 13

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Fifty years after Selma the fight for equal voting rights is still going on, and this summer a major battle is heating up in North Carolina. On July 13 the Federal Court in Winston-Salem, NC, will begin to hear the lawsuit that the North Carolina NAACP brought against Governor Pat McCrory (NC-NAACP v McCrory) to challenge the voter suppression law in North Carolina. This law is the first and worst since the US Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision, which gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The outcome will impact voting rights across the nation, and UUA President Rev. Peter Morales has accepted the invitation of NC-NAACP President Rev. William Barber to come to Winston-Salem for a Mass Moral Monday March for Voting Rights and Justice at 5pm on July 13.
We hope to build on the Moral Monday movement that has helped mobilize a broad coalition in our state, and also to begin to make real the faithful pledge that Unitarian Universalists made at the 50th anniversary events in Selma this year. We stand on the shoulders of giants like Jimmie Lee Jackson, Unitarian Universalists James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo, and countless justice warriors who have gone this way before us. We stand on the side of love, and on the side of justice. 

Cleveland UU's Stay Focused on Systemic Change in Criminal Justice

Cleveland UU's Stay Focused on Systemic Change in Criminal Justice

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Although Cleveland Ohio has been one of the cities suffering some of the worst instances of police violence against unarmed African Americans, it has been a city in the shadows of the national spotlight highlighting activism around “Black Lives Matter”. That changed this week, and it changed in a way that Cleveland UU’s were proud to be part of. Alongside our interfaith community based coalition partners, Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC), we were on the streets of Cleveland on May 26 to embody our four year call for criminal justice reform, a call that was reflected back and embodied in turn moments after our march concluded, with the announcement of a Consent Decree on police department reform between the US Department of Justice and the City of Cleveland.

Mar's Story

Mar's Story

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Thank you for the invitation to share with you my passion for social justice, for promoting UUism, and for helping bring about a more peaceful and interconnected world by encouraging people to cross all the borders that separate us. These borders include linguistic, cultural, socioeconomic, theological, and many others.

MY LIFE AS A UU
I have been a UU for over six years. I greatly envy those of you who are lifelong UUs. I wish I had stumbled upon it sooner when my kids were still little. As they say, better late than never. I actually came across UUism at a gathering with fellow Esperanto-speakers. I noticed that many of them were UUs. After some research the reason was crystal clear. The ideologies of both movements are so similar! They both encourage us to move beyond a culture of monolingualism and into a world community that is truly universal in its embrace of diversity and in its ability to speak, listen, covenant, and act as “We, the Peoples of the Earth” by crossing all the borders that separate us. At international Esperanto gatherings I can chat with people of over 100 countries with a language that only took me about six months to learn.

Standing on the Side of Love with Deported Veterans

Standing on the Side of Love with Deported Veterans

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My name is Mar Cárdenas Loutzenhiser, and I am a dedicated Unitarian Universalist, helping to bring the Del Lado del Amor campaign to Mexico. One of our partner organizations is the Deported Vets Support House, better known as “The Bunker”. Two years ago, my husband Gary and I found out that since 1996, the US Government has been deporting veterans who joined the Armed Forces as legal permanent residents, served their country proudly, and received honorable discharges. Veterans who have been deported served in wars such as Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Iraq & Afghanistan, and served in both combat and peacetime.

In most of the cases I know, the vets got in trouble after being discharged because they had severe PTSD and made the mistake of using drugs and alcohol to alleviate the pain while waiting for the VA to give them the medical care they needed.

Going to GA? Join our Beacons of Light workshop!

Going to GA? Join our Beacons of Light workshop!

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Last month we issued a call to join us at the upcoming General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Portland, Oregon. We’ve heard back from many of you who are doing some wonderful justice organizing and actions in your communities. So join us! We have one spot left share in our workshop. Read below for all the details, and if you aren’t planning on going to GA, we will share all the great resources afterwards. Stay tuned!

Walking With Jeanette: Help us take action today!

Walking With Jeanette: Help us take action today!

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Jeanette Vizguerra is a fixture in the Denver justice community. Along with her three young children, we often see her at rallies, hear her speak at monthly vigils at our local detention center, and witness her tell her story at the state capitol to influence policy change. For the last 15 years, Jeanette has worked hard to bring more justice to Colorado- for workers, for immigrants, for families.

Many Unitarian Universalists in the Denver area have had the pleasure of spending time with Jeanette, inviting her to speak in our congregations or share her story with our social justice ministries. Over the years, she has helped us to better understand the ins and outs of the immigration system, what it’s like to live with the constant threat of separation from one’s family, and the impossible choices often faced by immigrants in this country. She has inspired us with her courage and her passion. And she has become a friend and mentor to many of us, when some of our own families were experiencing the threat of deportation, detention, or separation. 

Strength and Beauty in Baltimore

Strength and Beauty in Baltimore

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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

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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.

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