We Need You

We Need You

Side With Love

I was in large part transformed by the political education and grounding I learned within Unitarian Universalism - participating in and facilitating popular education and anti-racism training and organizing for youth and young adults. These spaces created relationships for many of us with local and national movements. The faith also grappled to steadily support this work and in turn hurt me and so many people I love. 

When I joined Standing on the Side of Love, I had a deep thirst for this faith to offer that "steady hand", that Caitlin so eloquently wrote about here, that is of use in supporting movements for liberation for the long term. I have wanted our faith to trust and believe that faith & spirit happens everywhere - and for those we seek to center and who are most impacted by systems of oppression - that's often NOT in our church pews. I have wanted those of us who are white to go beyond apologizing and move resources and shift power.

Save the Date: 30 Days of Love 2017 - Fortifying the Movement

Save the Date: 30 Days of Love 2017 - Fortifying the Movement

Side With Love

So many of us deeply desire to live on the side of love when it comes to social justice movements. Organizer (and Unitarian Universalist) Elandria Williams talks about the role of our faith in social movements as providing ‘spiritual and political fortification’. 

But what does that really mean? How can we be a nurturing, humble and steady hand on the side of justice in the face of violence and backlash? We’re excited to bring you a sneak peak into 30 Days of Love 2017. Each week we will share tools and resources to help congregations reflect, learn and act around different sub themes of fortification. Save the dates – January 16, 2017 through February 14, 2017 – for 30 Days of Love 2017. From worship resources and weekly actions to opportunities to honor courageous love within our communities, stay tuned here and on our website for more information and resources. 

Week One: Relationships and Movements
Movements are made of people and organizations. Organizations are groups of people. Relationships with ourselves, between people and between organizations are the bonds that create and sustain movements. Groups, campaigns, and movements often fall apart because we don’t know how to be in relationship with each other. From our everyday relationships to that person you make eye contact with at a rally, without relationships there are no social movements. Week one includes tools to help congregations reflect on their evolving relationship to self (including self-awareness tools), relationship to individuals, relationships inside congregations, and relationships in partnership with local, regional and national social justice organizations. 

Help us #ReviveLove

Help us #ReviveLove

Side With Love

You may have heard about our #ReviveLove tour that we are working on in collaboration with the Black Lives of UU and Rev. Sekou & The Holy Ghost to kick-off in just a couple of weeks!

We’re so thrilled to share the good news with you that Borealis foundation has committed to $10,000 to help us get started! We are so grateful for these funds. But we know we will need more!

Pledge $50 now to help Revive Love!

This fall we will be going to Knoxville, Nashville, Atlanta and New Orleans. We hope to go to more cities in the Spring -- getting to all of these places depends on your support!!!

Announcing the #ReviveLove Tour

Announcing the #ReviveLove Tour

Side With Love

Last week, we announced the #ReviveLove Tour - providing political and spiritual sustenance for movement. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism and Rev. Sekou & the Holy Ghost to bring support and healing to folks around the country.

In each city, we’ll be connecting with Unitarian Universalists and grassroots movement leaders from across the country including chapter leaders of Black Lives Matter and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ). With the organizing and leadership of BLUU, we’ll be able to support and facilitate spaces for connection and healing for Black UUs in a number of the cities where we meet. 

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

Side With Love

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.

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