Fortification Episode 1: Lena K. Gardner & Rev. Sekou

Fortification Episode 1: Lena K. Gardner & Rev. Sekou

Side With Love

Two weeks ago, we announced our upcoming podcast, Fortification, about the spiritual lives of organizers and activists. Recently, we have been in many conversations mapping movement building, and asking how faith communities can be of use. Elandria Williams (organizer and Unitarian Universalist) used the language of political and spiritual ‘fortification’ as a key need of justice seekers, activists and spiritually-rooted organizers at this time. We are using this frame to help us name the kinds of work that folks across the country are so thirsty for.  In case you missed it, check out the teaser here.

Today, we are thrilled to bring you the first episode. The conversation features Lena K. Gardner, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, member of the organizing collective of Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) and collaborative organizer with Standing on the Side of Love, and Rev. Sekou, racial justice advocate and cultural worker, and was recorded in Minneapolis earlier this spring. In it, we talked about practicing “practical love”, curiosity and ongoing learning as organizers, and how art and culture can and will transform our work.

Why we need culture + policy change

Side With Love

Some of you may have already seen A Vision for Black Lives: Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom & Justice from the Movement for Black Lives. Here is a little bit about the "why" and "who" of this platform in their own words:

“In response to the sustained and increasingly visible violence against Black communities in the U.S. and globally, a collective of more than 50 organizations representing thousands of Black people from across the country have come together with renewed energy and purpose to articulate a common vision and agenda. We are a collective that centers and is rooted in Black communities, but we recognize we have a shared struggle with all oppressed people; collective liberation will be a product of all of our work.”

Many people have been asking to see a policy platform from this movement from the first moment where "Black Lives Matter" became a phrase common in households, media outlets, schools, streets, and faith communities across the United States. Some have wanted to movement to advise and instruct on what policy wins could truly make "Black Lives Matter" in the country. Many have asked why it has "taken so long" to see this platform. 

Announcing Our New Podcast: Fortification

Announcing Our New Podcast: Fortification

Side With Love

Movements for justice are expanding and shifting around us. We must take care of each other and ourselves in these times of resistance and backlash. In recent conversations mapping movement and how faith communities can be of use, organizer Elandria Williams used the language of political and spiritual ‘fortification’ as a key need of justice seekers, activists and spiritually-rooted organizers at this time. We are using this frame to help us name the kinds of work that folks across the country are so thirsty for.

We’re asking questions like:

  • Why and how do people come into (and stay in) the work of social movements and justice work?
  • Where do movement leaders and activists find spiritual homes?
  • How can we can support resilience and rigor within movement? 

Announcing Collaborative Organizer Lena K. Gardner

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We are thrilled to let you know that prominent leader in both Black Lives of UU (BLUU) and Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, Lena K. Gardner, will be joining our Standing on the Side of Love organizing team part-time in 2016 and 2017 as our 'Collaborative Organizer'. This work is part of deepening our collaborative work with Church of the Larger Fellowship and BLUU. Lena brings a great deal of commitment, heart, humility, and integrity to this work. 

As many of you know, I am deeply committed to the supporting of key organizers as they develop, collaborative practice between groups in justice work, and organizing with (and alongside) people directly affected by oppression and injustice. In a moment where many forces of power would work to turn people of faith against the Movement for Black Lives, our steadfast and steady commitment to accompany, support and fortify the Black Lives Matter movement must be stronger than ever. That sounds like big work. It is.

Spiritual Solace After the Pulse Orlando Shooting

Spiritual Solace After the Pulse Orlando Shooting

Side With Love

We are sending you much love and grace at this tough time. So many of your reached out to us about the Orlando Massacre that we wanted to make sure you did not miss the invitation to join this incredible and moving online event that we are planning with a large set of social justice partners.

LGBTQ faith leaders (ordained and unordained) of Color will be offering prayers and blessings for the LGBTQ community and all who love us. Their voices will be leading us, but ALL who are in need of this are welcome to join and listen. Sending resiliency and comfort in this time. Sign-up here.

On Sanctuary, Security and Solidarity

On Sanctuary, Security and Solidarity

Side With Love

There are a lot of articles out there about #Pulse. There is a lot of media. A lot of statistics. Some of us are in anguish because we are LGBTQ and we grieve for our people, we rage for our people, we fear for ourselves and our people. Some of us are in anguish because we love LGBTQ people and LGBTQ people of Color deeply and we want to be there for them in this moment. Most of us are also deeply concerned and mourning because we see the media using this tragedy to attack our Muslim family around the country.

We know that there are deep spiritual issues at play for LGBTQ people in this moment. Live wires of cultural pain and history. A few of them that we see:

A love letter from Standing on the Side of Love

A love letter from Standing on the Side of Love

Side With Love

An Open Letter to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer-identified Unitarian Universalists,

Today, we are a people in mourning – mourning not from natural causes but from an unnatural act of hatred directed against us. We hear the horrors of what happened at Pulse in Orlando and it cuts into us like a hot blade. Suddenly our world, which, with the tremendous gains we have made in recent years, had begun to feel a little safer, is ripped open, bleeding and raw, once again. 

We hear the words of US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, just last month, when she addressed the transgender community by saying, “no matter how isolated or scared you may feel today, the Department of Justice and the entire Obama Administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward,” and those words ring hollow today.  “You can’t protect us,” we scream! Not when hatred and division are the order of the day. 

You're Invited to Organizing on the Side of Love: the Online Course

You're Invited to Organizing on the Side of Love: the Online Course

Side With Love

Social movements have cycles: they bloom, grow, and struggle. Like people.  As remarkable numbers of people of faith and conscience flood into movement at this time - where and how we can and will show up of use matters.

This summer, we’re thrilled to be collaborating with the UU Leadership Institute to offer Organizing on the Side of Love: Tools and Tips for Interconnection and Impact. Over the course of eight modules, we will together explore movement building and organizing 101 with spiritual reflections and tools. The course aspires to be an accessible and affordable tool for people who want knowledge on the subject, and a forum to spark conversations. Newcomers to this stuff, seasoned organizers, and those who have left movement work and are looking for places to come back are all welcome. We’re launching the course on next Wednesday - June 1 - and hope you’ll consider joining us. 

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