Voter Mobilization with Andrea Miller

Tuesday, September 10
7:30 p.m. ET - 6:30 p.m. CT - 5:30 p.m. MT - 4:30 p.m. PT
RSVP, Online event

Andrea Miller is the Founding Board Member of the Center for Common Ground (CCG) and an inspirational, unwavering fighter for racial justice and voting rights. Reclaim our Vote, popular among UUs, is a CCG project. Andrea will discuss plans during 2024 for getting out the vote (GOTV) in key states, both on the ground and remotely. We will learn more about postcarding, texting, phone banking, and other opportunities with CCG to support UU voter engagement efforts.

Most of all, we will leave with a sense of commitment and enthusiasm for the work ahead of us.

UU Climate Justice Revival

Register Your Congregation Today

Join us on September 28 and 29 for a national UU Climate Justice Revival offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice and the chance to weave together the threads that have always linked our deepest commitments.

An Oblique Gaze

When I visit UU websites, when I attend UU services, and when I participate in UU conversations, I see evidence of deep concern, compassion, and love. For democracy. For the environment. For our global siblings in the Middle East. In Eastern Europe. For people seeking refuge and opportunity in our country. For people seeking to be their true nonbinary selves. I do not wish to imply that these concerns are unimportant, that they are not matters of life and death. Of course, they are. And I am so grateful to all of us who champion these causes. It seems to me, however, that there is one concern that routinely takes backstage, glaringly, painfully, unjustly so: racial equity in America.

Does it take global witness of a Black person’s murder for us to focus on these matters? Is this the only way we can see? Is this the only way we can feel comfortable taking a public stance, for incorporating racial equity topics into our services, our conversations, and our prayers? Do we have a finite capacity for our desire for justice? Do we think because we begrudgingly stood up loudly and frequently in the summer of 2020 to object to the tragedy of George Floyd that, we somehow have met our moral obligation to uphold the quest for justice for African Americans? And now, do we think that if we all stand up to elect a woman of color to lead our country this is enough? It is not.

From the first day we call the United States home, we all participate in and benefit from an economy built over time in large part on the proverbial, if not the literal, backs of African Americans and their ancestors. The most recognizable symbols of our country – the White House, the Capitol Building, the Washington Monument – all rest on foundations forged by enslaved persons. I am not telling you something new. I am confident that, as UUs, you are exposed to this history. Yet, for some reason, it seems easy for these facts to fade from our conscience.

I do not exclude myself here. My husband, who is African American, a direct descendent of Mississippi enslaved persons, recently spit in a vial and received the results of his DNA analysis. It confirmed what we knew – that he was African. Eight-six percent sub-Saharan African, a nearly equal mix of Ghanian and Nigerian. His emotional response was initially of excitement, as the tests revealed distant relatives with whom he plans to connect. He was then overcome with great sadness as he imagined his not-so-distant ancestors chased, kidnapped, shipped, dehumanized, and sold. I, too, was overwhelmed as I was reminded amid doing dishes and folding laundry that torture, rape, and murder are how my husband is even here in America. How my own children and grandchildren are here, living in America. There should be no minute of any day that I should not remember this. 

There should be no minute of any day that we, collectively, should not remember the wrongs upon which our country was built and continues to flourish.

See Kim’s full commentary here.

Our Democracy Is In Crisis – We Need to Act Now

We can feel it in our bones. Our democracy is in crisis. 

The well-orchestrated rise of Christian Nationalism and ultra-conservative forces is right in front of our eyes. Ponder, for example - the Citizens United decision; the initial election of Donald Trump; Mitch McConnell’s cleverly executed rightwing takeover of the Supreme Court; the insurrection on January 6, 2021; the 900+ pages of Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation; the overturning of Roe v. Wade; the recent Supreme Court decisions that give nearly unlimited power to the President and simultaneously takes power from regulatory agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.

It is no wonder so many who believe in an inclusive, representative, pluralistic democracy are scared and depressed. The actions certain individuals and groups have taken over the past many years have been designed to enable their ascent to power, to divide us, and to make us scared and depressed.

But our democracy is not dead yet. 

Elected officials and Members of Congress who care about democracy need to come together, agree that our democracy is in crisis, and build a strong campaign to address this crisis that will take us through election day and beyond. Ideally they should act across party lines, united by a fear of the trend toward autocracy.

It should include a large and effective multimedia communications effort that explains what has happened in recent years, emphasizes the attack on our basic rights and freedoms, and explains what they will do to move us forward. The effort needs to use emotional language to get people’s attention and give us hope. It needs to be forward-looking and positive. 

This crisis cries out for inspirational leaders who can envision a democracy that works for all of us, not just the rich and powerful.

Now that he has stepped aside, Joe Biden should focus the rest of his term on protecting our democracy – adding four more Supreme Court justices, passing critical artificial intelligence legislation, countering disinformation, locking in agreements with NATO and our allies. 

We who care about democracy and the future of this country need to get much more actively involved in what is happening. Radical ultra-conservatives want to turn the United States into an authoritarian state, similar to what Orbán has done in Hungary and Putin has done in Russia. 

The threat of authoritarianism is real, and it is up to us to prevent it. We need to talk about this attack on our basic rights and freedoms with our friends, neighbors, and relatives. We need to engage our elected representatives and tell them to treat this as the crisis it is and ask them to mobilize to take action. We can not wait any longer. 

We need to come together and move forward with strength, confidence, and a will to win. Our country, our children, and our grandchildren are depending on us.

Fred Van Deusen
Democracy Action Team Convener
Concord, MA