Advocacy News and Events

Join a Fast Supporting Citizenship Path for Undocumented Immigrants

UUSJ’s partners in the We Are Home Campaign, Faith in Action, the Congregation Action Network, and others are planning a Faith Fast June 7-July 4, and UUs are invited to join. The goal is to organize groups of 11 fasters to participate in five-day periods over the four-week timeline to amplify the critical message that the President work with Congress to deliver on the promise of a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. 

To do this, we need the voices and actions of our faith community as we stand in solidarity with our undocumented community. UUSJ is doing its part with advocacy. Congregations are invited to organize one-day fasts in solidarity. The Side With Love campaign has endorsed these echo actions including our advocacy visits.

Sign up to become a formal Fast for Freedom participant starting June 9. Alternatively, you can select an echo action for you or your congregation. 

Write Here! Write Now! Focuses on Advocacy for Pathways to Citizenship

Our June Write Here! Write Now! (WHWN) issue is Immigration Justice with endorsement by Side With Love on our topic--Pathways to Citizenship. President Biden sent a comprehensive immigration reform bill to Congress but there has been no progress on the measure, which includes a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented community of over 11 million immigrants and their families.

This is a critical time to urge the passage of legislation that will treat hard-working, tax-paying undocumented immigrants equitably and compassionately. The House has approved several other bills for those covered by Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Farm Workers, but all face challenges to becoming law. One principle runs throughout -- the need for real and viable pathways to citizenship.

June’s WHWN Handout or Online platform will help you to write compelling personal letters to your members of Congress on this topic. You can find information on joining virtual meetings on June 14 - here.

UUSJ and Side With Love are focusing on the Senate Judiciary Committee and our advocacy activity augments the larger We Are Home Campaign, #WeAreEssential Fast For Freedom action (see above). In preparation for the mid-June meetings, UUSJ hosted a briefing with Rich Morales, Political Director, Faith in Action; and Giovana Oaxaca, Program Director, Migration Policy, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (See the Video). Afterward,  UUSJ Immigration Action Team answered questions about this month’s WHWN letter-writing and advocacy meetings on Capitol Hill.   

Hundreds Support UUSJ’s Campaign on Climate-Friendly Agricultural Policies

More than 200 UUs from 34 states wrote nearly 500 letters to 66 senators, and virtual meetings were held with staff members representing 11 senators, urging support for climate-friendly agricultural practices and federal policies, in response to Earth Month. UUSJ, UU Ministry for Earth, and UUs for a Just Economic Community joined forces on April's Write Here! Write Now! letter-writing campaign to promote the Justice for Black Farmers Act (S.300) and the Climate Stewardship Act (S.1072), both sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). 

Here is what one writer wrote; "Fires have been getting worse and worse in the west, as we have hotter summers and more drought due to climate change. We need to take action now to protect our world for not only future generations, but for us now, and for our economy.” WHWN letter-writer Robyn Churchill Rathweg, Louisville, CO.

Unitarian Universalist News

Environmental and Climate Justice

UUs to be Among 100 Faith Leaders for 100 Percent Clean Energy to Assemble on Capitol Hill

Wednesday, June 9
12 noon ET
Third Street SW, between Jefferson Dr SW & Madison Dr NW
Registration

A coalition of Climate groups is calling on Congress to pass big and bold recovery legislation that includes key climate and clean energy provisions, including 100% clean electricity by 2035. Already eight UU ministers from area congregations along with nearly 20 UUs have registered to participate.

The Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Evergreen Action, and Hip Hop Caucus will kick off a series of weekly demonstrations on Capitol Hill in June and July that will bring together 100 stakeholders from various constituencies, demanding that Congress act. On June 9 at noon, some 100 faith leaders from diverse traditions will lead a powerful moral call to respond to the climate crisis. Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action and Interfaith Power & Light are coordinating the action. Further details and a registration form are available.

Congress is currently considering economic recovery legislation that includes historic levels of investment in clean energy and transportation as well as a target to achieve 100% clean electricity. This legislation is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build back bolder while putting our country on a path to a clean-energy future. 

Good News for Stopping Climate Change

David Shilton, Environmental Action Team Convenor (dcshilton4@gmail.com)

The EPA Announces Phase Out of HFCs

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced proposed rules to phase out hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) over the next 15 years. HFCs are powerful greenhouse gases that are used in most refrigerators and air conditioners, and they tend to leak out into the atmosphere over time. Ninety-three nations met in 2016 and agreed to phase them out.  There are substitute refrigerants that work well with various AC and refrigerant applications, but with far less heat-trapping impacts.  But the agreement was never ratified by the Senate or implemented in US law. 

Phasing out HFCs was the subject of a UUSJ Write Here! Write Now! Campaign in May 2020 that resulted in 200 letters from UUs in 11 states to House members and senators requesting that they pass the phase-out bill.  However, the threat of a filibuster and opposition by Senate leadership kept the bill from coming to a vote.  But enough Senators were persuaded that the bill was inserted into a must-pass spending bill to keep the Government from a shutdown, and the opposition could not muster the votes to take it out, so it passed. 

This is the way much important legislation gets passed these days.  

(See more...JUMP here)

A Critical Time for Action on Climate Justice -- What Can You Do?

The American Jobs Plan (AJP) as presented by the President in April may well be our best hope for meaningful progress on reducing greenhouse gasses and achieving important environmental justice goals.  As Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus told Vox in a recent interview, “We think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really put forward what we know we need to tackle the climate crisis that we face.”

The AJP is designed to generate millions of new, good-paying union jobs, revitalize aging U.S. infrastructure and address historic inequities in access to clean water and air while taking major steps to combat climate change. It will rebuild our nation’s transit systems, modernize our electric grid, repair and replace outdated water pipes, and create a new Civilian Climate Corps to hire and train thousands of workers. Importantly, it would end subsidies for fossil fuel corporations, and put the country on a path to 100 percent carbon-free power by 2035.

What can you do to promote what might be one of our last good opportunities for a while to make progress at the federal level on these issues?

1. You can urge Congress to move forward with all the elements of the AJP -- not just those that fall within an outdated and narrow definition of “infrastructure.”  Go to UUSJ.org where you will find an action alert that will suggest talking points and will automatically send your message to your representative and senators.
2. On June 9 you can join faith leaders in an outdoor gathering on Capitol Hill to call on our leaders to enact a clean electricity standard that gets us to 100% clean electricity by 2035.  See the story above. 
3. You can show up with other UUs for climate justice through this online platform.

(JUMP HERE)

Poor People’s Campaign Urges Action on Clean Water

As part of its push for a Third Reconstruction, the Poor People’s Campaign asks activists to call their elected leaders to urge them to support the new congressional resolution for a 3rd Reconstruction that lifts from the bottom, so everybody rises! Find full details here: https://www.3rdreconstruction.org/toolkit/

Immigration Justice

Charlotte Jones Carroll, Immigration Action Team Convenor (cjonescarroll@aol.com)

The Immigration Action Team has been preparing for the advocacy outing mid-June on pathways to citizenship for essential workers, including a May 27 briefing from two partner expert activists, and solidarity “echo actions” as part of the larger We Are Home Campaign, #WeAreEssential Fast For Freedom action.  (See Advocacy News above.)

Flat Funding for the Department of Homeland Security FY22 

UUSJ has advocated for reduced funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, especially their detention and other enforcement activities, after several years of significant increases. The FY22 budget proposal just out May 28 for all of DHS is $52 billion, unchanged from last year. That may seem disappointing but the truth is in the details. 

Funding for the border wall is eliminated, while funding for other border control technology and facilities is substantial. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Cybersecurity agencies within DHS along with a civil liberties unit are appropriately funded, especially given poor emergency preparedness and serious hacking affecting the US economy in recent years.  

JUMP HERE

Food for thought: Criminalization or Abolition in Immigration Justice

If you are doing social justice advocacy work, you should probably be wrestling with the issues and concepts Executive Director Silky Shah of Detention Watch Network (DWN) lays out in her March 4, 2021 article “The Immigrant Justice Movement Should Embrace Abolition.” Especially if you are engaged in Immigration Justice work, or police accountability work. Shah’s article has received renewed interest on Twitter as we enter the reconciliation phase of advocacy around pathways to citizenship.  UUSJ is a member of DWN.

Unaccompanied Minors and Families at the Southern Border

In addition to asylum-seekers waiting on the Mexican side of the US border, recent arrivals include families apprehended by border enforcers and expelled using the Title 42 pandemic public health pretext. Illness is on the rise in camps in Tijuana and elsewhere due to poor sanitation. Families with children are also at risk from criminal organizations. Since non-Mexican unaccompanied minors are not turned away, some expelled families are choosing to send their children to the border on their own, causing “de facto separation of children from their families” according to a whistleblower complaint reported in NY Times.  

The daily number of non-Mexican unaccompanied children arriving at the border in May averaged 360-390/day, down from March and April numbers. The Office of Refugee Resettlement of HHS is managing to discharge around 500/day to relatives or sponsors, so the overall numbers in federal custody is decreasing slowly.  Still, the use of large influx of temporary facilities like Fort Bliss in Texas (4,500 unaccompanied children over 12) has resulted in very poor conditions, with health and hunger problems added to the stress of uncertainty.  Some have been kept for over 30 days, even where sponsors are known and willing to receive the children.  (Source: Washington Office on Latin America border update 5/28/21)

Defending Our Democracy

Fred Van Deusen, UUSJ Democracy Action Team Convenor (fredvandeu@gmail.com)

Meeting with Sen. Manchin and Others, Work Continues on S.1

The Democracy Action Team continues its work of strongly advocating for H.R.1 / S.1 For the People Act of 2021 and assessing the bill’s chances of making it through the Senate with bipartisan support. 

In recent weeks, the team has met with seven Senate offices, and attended many additional meetings with Faithful Democracy coalition members. Meetings with the staff of moderate Republicans -- Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), Sen. Shelley Capito (R-WV), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), and Rob Portman (R-OH) -- revealed some support for particular provisions, but no indication that any were prepared to vote in favor of it as a whole. 

All of the Democratic senators are co-sponsors and very supportive of the bill with one exception, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). UUSJ and Faithful Democracy members met with a member of Sen. Manchin’s staff on May 25.  Sen. Manchin appears to have rejected the idea of gaining bipartisan support for S.1, based on the results of the Senate mark-up. Instead, he is working on gaining bi-partisan support for the John Lewis Act (H.R.4/S.4), which is aimed at ensuring equal access to voting for all. The team explained that the passage of both bills is needed to ensure equal voting rights and fair elections.  (For a fuller explanation, see story below on John Lewis Act).  

Don’t Let the Filibuster Stop S.1- For the People Act

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has announced he will put S.1 on the floor during the last week of June. Advocates will need to remain flexible and nimble as timing can always shift. In late April Sen. Schumer (D-NY) said that the Democratic caucus will try for bipartisan passage. If that doesn’t work, then the choices are starker and they will see what evolves. 

UUSJ and its partner, Faithful Democracy, agree that the filibuster should not be allowed to stop this bill from passing.

UUSJ is reaching out to UU State Action Networks and individual congregations in key states to get them to ask their senators to support S.1. So far, more than 600 individuals from 40 different states have responded to the UUSJ Action Alert on S.1 (see below). 

Please help build support from as many senators as we can by asking friends and family members to contact their senators using this new S.1 Action Alert.

The John Lewis Bill Needs More Public Support

The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (H.R.4/S.4), has not yet been introduced in the 117th Congress, but UUSJ expects to support it. Sens. Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Murkowski (R-Alaska) recently sent a letter to Senate and House leaders asking for bipartisan reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act.

It is important to that both bills -- H.R.1/S.1 and H.R.4/S.4 -- pass. H.R.1/S.1 sets the voting standards that states must meet and H.R.4/S.4 will create the vehicle to enforce the standards. By itself, the John Lewis Voting Act will not undo the 22 restrictive voting bills already passed in 14 states, or the 61 restrictive bills in 18 states that are moving through legislatures. Last count, 29 of those have passed at least one chamber, while another 26 have had some sort of committee action.

See the Mother Jones article on the Heritage Foundation and its direct connection to the voter suppression bills in 47 states.

DC Statehood Bill Moving to the Senate

Ask your minister to join and circulate this faith leaders letter to Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader McConnell.

UUSJ urges support of H.R.51/S.51 - Washington, D.C. Admission Act, which was approved by the House on April 22. Please use our action alert to contact your members in support of this issue--this is particularly important for those UUs who are not residents of DC.  DC residents, ask friends who aren’t.

Dr. Derek Musgrove, University of Maryland, Baltimore has written about the history of Chocolate City. His work can help explain the racial justice context of DC Statehood.

A May 30 opinion piece by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, clarifies, on behalf of her father, Robert F. Kennedy's opinions about DC Statehood.

Economic Justice

House Resolution Calls For A Third Reconstruction

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival (NCMR), has called for a third reconstruction on the heels of the first 100 Days of the Biden-Harris Administration. For UUSJ, this call fits as part of our commitment to economic justice and racial justice, and solidarity with impacted communities.

In May, PPC leaders were joined by Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), among others, to unveil a congressional resolution (C.R.-text) for a “Third Reconstruction: Fully Addressing Poverty and Low Wages from the Bottom Up.” Through the PPC, urge your Member of Congress to support this resolution. The PPC: NCMR’s June 21 mass online gathering will feature this call. A toolkit is available.

Interfaith Advocates Push for Reparations Commission

UUSJ joined Washington Interfaith Staff Community (WISC) partners NETWORK Lobby and the National Council of Churches in asking constituents of faith to call on their Representatives to support HR.40, which would establish a commission on reparations. Action: you can still call in support, see our recent message.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) hit an important legislative mark with her championship of H.R. 40. This is the first time a House committee has considered the bill for recommendation to the House floor since it was first introduced in 1989 by then-Rep. John Conyers (D-MI). 

The deep work of reconstruction, disrupting the interlocking injustices in federal policy and dismantling systemic racism, must also include acknowledging the harm of slavery and its continued impact on racial and ethnic communities. Human Rights Watch is working to  educate the public on the reparative justice dimension and “The Right to Remedy and Reparation Under International Human Rights Law.” The U.S. Government has yet to take the steps included in H.R.40, despite related actions as far back as the 1862 Homestead Emancipation Act.

We Want a Faithful Recovery, Inclusive and for the Vulnerable 

In a recent article for The Hill, UU Chuck Collins says “we need to prioritize efforts to rebuild Main Street commerce and support the most vulnerable workers.” And UUSJ is a signatory to the Washington Interfaith Staff Community (WISC), Recommendations for a Faithful Recovery. 

Collins is director of the Institute of Policy Studies Program on Inequality, which issued a joint analysis with Americans for Tax Fairness on the economic effects of the pandemic. It finds over the last 14 months of the pandemic, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, health, and wealth — and almost 600,000 have lost their lives. At the same time, U.S. billionaires and the super-rich have seen their wealth surge to democracy-distorting levels. Between March 18, 2020, and April 15, 2021, the combined wealth of U.S. billionaires increased by $1.6 trillion, a 55 percent increase.

As pressure mounts to reimpose work-search requirements for Americans on unemployment, there are also calls to remember the context: pandemic health concerns, the rising cost of living, homelessness, food insecurity, and the need to address the harm caused by returning to “business as usual.” To this point, Kandist Mallett writes that “Instead of trying to coerce people into taking low-paying jobs, we should recognize the harm our current economic system inflicts every single day. If we want people to work, we need to make it worthwhile for them to do so.”

Messages of the Month

Fingerprints on the Wall

Spirit of Life and love moving in us and through all things, remind me to release that which no longer serves me in my relationships so that I may be present to the joy of them. May it be so. Amen and Blessed Be.

Rev. Katie Romano Griffin serves as an Associate Minister at Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church in Bethesda, MD.

Quote of the month: 

“If you are neutral in times of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Nobel Peace Prize, 1984