| | | | | |  Keep Breathing, Everyone. A Justice-Focused Life is a Spiritual Life.
Chaplain Eleanor Piez offers a Pastoral Comment in advance of the Elections
Keep breathing.
Keep breathing, everyone.
In my memory, I’ve never known so much public anxiety and fear as I see right now. The coronavirus is still running rampant, and still killing people off. It’s worse because it’s been weaponized. The virus in the U.S. has been turned into one more force of political power waging the same racial and economic war, against the majority of working people both citizens and not, that has eaten out this nation’s soul since before its founding. And all the other forces are still operating, so every time I turn around it seems like there’s a new loss, a new death in the street, a new harmful decision to mourn. I’ve also never seen so many people working to get out the vote, and I hope this will mean democracy prevails, unequivocally, in this election. But I also know that no matter what happens, we can’t afford to fold up and go home. No election ushers in any kind of utopia. The best we can hope for is to become a little more successful in winning policies that reduce direct harm, at least temporarily. [Read More] | | | | | | Tears of Joy and Consternation: Post-Election Gathering, Reflections, and Hopes for the Next Chapter
A Space for Healing, Uniting, and Moving Forward Friday, Nov. 6, 12-1:30pmET Join us for a time of sharing what's on our hearts and minds through an online Zoom that will allow any and all UUs to join in a discussion of joys and/or sorrows and thoughts on the way ahead. Rev. Karen Lee Scrivo will be available to help keep us grounded to our UU faith and provide pastoral care as needed. Kelsey Cowger, Reeb/UUSJ Voting Campaigns Organizer, will help us understand election results and what our project did this season. | | | | Election News Tuesday, Nov. 3– UU Open Spaces on Election Day UU ministers across the country have worked together to create drop-in spaces all day and evening at this Facebook event. And, the Community Church of New York is hosting an Election Night vigil, from 9:00 pm ET until midnight. More information here: https://www.facebook.com/events/343245850283377 Wednesday, Nov. 4 -- Post-Election Virtual Vespers Service
12-12:30pmET. Hosted by Cedar Lane UU Church, Bethesda, MD and led by UU clergy from the DC area. More info and registration here. Thursday, Nov. 5 -- UU the Vote Nationwide Vigil & Community Gathering -- Hosted by Unitarian Universalist Association, UU the Vote, and Side with Love on both Zoom and Facebook Live. Join UUs nationally as we hold space together in uncertain times. Details on Facebook https://fb.me/e/3hcc4zueL | | | | UUSJ Congregations Mobilize the Vote  Many UUSJ member congregations have stepped up to mobilize for the elections. For instance, Paint Branch UU Church in Adelphi, MD sent nearly 1,500 postcards to Gwinnett County in Georgia, 350 cards in Spanish to Virginia, as part of an intensive program to reach specific voters via nonpartisan postcards, telephone calls, text messages, and announcements in their churches. | | | | | | |  “For the sake of our children and grandchildren…” October Advocacy Urged Action on the Unjust Burden of Climate Change on Frontline Communities
“For the sake of our children and grandchildren, I plead with you to act to get us back on the right track environmentally,” a UU from North Carolina pleaded in their Write Here! Write Now! letter. They urged their senator to strengthen the Environmental Protection Agency’s work of addressing the unjust burdens climate change inflicts on already-burdened communities. Another UU wrote, “When children grow up with asthma from living in industrial areas, we compromise their health for life. Let’s stop this! This is both justice we own and effective economically.” In October, the UUSJ advocacy team conducted 14 Zoom briefings with Senate staff, delivered nearly 200 Write Here! Write Now! letters from concerned UUs across the country to 41 Senate offices. The meetings focused on getting the Senate to pass EPA’s 2021 budget and strengthening the protection of frontline communities from pollution from power plants and factories. Increased floods, wildfires, and heatwaves worsened or caused by climate change also contribute to increased health problems, disproportionately impacting low-income communities. The House passed slightly increased amounts for environmental justice, but less than what we believe is needed. Write Here! Write Now! letter writers called on senators to adequately fund and expand EPA’s environmental justice programs. More water and sewer grants should be directed towards disadvantaged communities. Senators were also asked to support the House Bill provision that would stop EPA’s efforts to allow continuing emissions of dangerous particulate emissions. UUSJ’s team for the Zoom briefings included several Advocacy Corps members as well as members of UUSJ’s newly-renamed Environmental Action Team, a former EPA attorney and member of the Environmental Protection Network, and several congregational partners in addition to UUSJ’s Executive Director, Pablo DeJesus. The UUSJ team met with staff members of key Senators likely to push for climate change-related legislation in the next Congress, including Sens. Corey Booker, Tammy Duckworth, Tom Carper, Chris Van Hollen, Bob Casey, Michael Bennet, and Kamala Harris, as well as others who will be key in decisions about appropriations, including Sens. Patrick Leahy, Dick Durbin, Marco Rubio and Chris Coons. | | | | Editor's Note: The UUSJ advocacy team and Write Here! Write Now! will not be operating in November due to the elections. Plans for December will be announced as soon as possible. | | | | | |  | Saturday, Dec. 12, 4-6pmET
Event is online via Zoom
Cost is $50 (as this is a fundraiser for UUSJ) | | | | | 20th Anniversary Kickoff Celebration Policy Keynote Address by U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly Did you know that UUSJ is 20 years old in 2020? To help celebrate and to envision the path ahead UUSJ will be holding a special online celebration featuring Congressman Gerry Connolly and award-winning musician Lea Morris. Rep. Connolly (D-VA) will speak on the topic of “After the Election.” Responding will be guest panelists from the Coalition of UU State Action Networks, UU Ministry for Earth, and UUs for a Just Economic Community and UU Service Committee. Please save the date and watch for more details on our website. | | | | UUSJ - Looking Toward the Future UUSJ is revisioning its commitment to national advocacy framed by Unitarian Universalist values for these changing and challenging times. The Board and Executive Director have engaged in a year-plus strategic planning process to update its mission, vision, and definition of the organization’s “moral owners.” This process, which will include major changes in board structure, by-laws, and other parts of the organization, is expected to be finalized in the next few months and become fully effective July 2021. Monthly updates will be provided in eNews. Feel free to contact Board Chair Bob Denniston, Executive Director Pablo DeJesus, or any Board member if you have questions or comments. Meanwhile, see the sidebar for the updated vision, mission, “moral owners,” and organizational values. | | | | | VISION
A just, compassionate, and sustainable world community. MISSION
Advance equitable national policies and actions, aligned with UU values, through engagement, education, and advocacy. MORAL OWNERS
• Unitarian Universalists
• UU congregations
• Impacted communities
• Organizations that represent impacted communities VALUES
• We are effective and responsive
• We are faithful to our UU Principles
• We respect others | | | | | | | | | Unitarian Universalist News | | Harvest the Power In this season of pandemic, elections, and uprisings, this is the time to Harvest the Power of our values, our organizing, and our shared imagining of a more just and loving world. Join with UUs across the country in these opportunities to deepen our relationships, draw on the sources of wholeness and strength in which we are rooted, and move together in powerful ways for justice. This moment of collective action and faith formation weaves together all Unitarian Universalist justice ministries. Have You Reconsidered Thanksgiving Day? On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, at 12 noonET, you are invited to observe the live-stream of the 50th National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Massachusetts, organized by the United American Indians of New England, and a Thanksgiving message from UUA President, Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray | | | | | | | | | In Celebration With Doña Rosa and Cedar Lane UUSJ was delighted to hear the good news that Doña Rosa Gutierrez Lopez received a 3-month extension of her Stay of Removal, and recently moved out of Cedar Lane UU Church, MD, into independent community living! Her support network anticipates that ICE will recommend another extension of her Stay in December. The Congregation Action Network is organizing a fundraiser to support Doña Rosa and her family as they transition into community living. Doña Rosa has asked that we convey her deep gratitude to all who have joined with and supported her in ways small and large on this complex journey so far. | | | | Immigration Task Group In late September and early October, the ITG held advocacy Zoom meetings with 13 Senate offices (6 Republican and 7 Democrat) urging reductions in the budgets of ICE and CBP (Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection), tighter limits on reprogramming funds and better Senate oversight, as well as the inclusion of all immigrants in aid offered through any new COVID relief bill. Learning that the Administration planned an unacceptably low refugee resettlement cap for 2021 of 15,000, we added that to our queries and discussed other late-breaking news. Constituents joined task group members from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida meetings. Meanwhile, UUSJ joined a petition opposing the deportation of 100 Cameroonian detainees. We also opposed a proposed rule change expanding the kind of biometrics immigrants seeking legal residence would have to provide, and adding children and US resident sponsors to those required to provide them. The public comment period for both proposed rule changes was very short. We are monitoring reports of aggressive ICE enforcement actions. Our priorities for the coming year depend on the outcome of the presidential and congressional elections. We are brainstorming different scenarios, and welcome feedback from interested UUSJ members to Task Group chair, Charlotte Jones-Carroll . We are aware of the two presidential contenders’ positions on immigration and refugees and will research those of any newly-elected members of Congress. We are also talking with our partners – especially those representing immigrants such as CASA and Detention Watch Network – to learn their priorities. | | | |  | Immigration Film Fest Nov. 13-15
Register Online This year’s Immigration Film Fest will be held virtually via Zoom. | | | | |  | VACOLAO 11th Virginia Immigrant Advocates Summit (Virtual), by VA Coalition of Latino Organizations Nov. 17 and 18
$10, plus processing - Register Online This year’s event will be a two-day virtual summit that will allow attendees to participate safely while also engaging with speakers on topics important for immigrant communities in Virginia. | | | | | | | | | Environmental and Climate Justice | | | Op-Ed by David Coursen During October, UUSJ was joined by Mr. Coursen of the Environmental Protection Network, in our advocacy outing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s work of addressing the unjust burdens climate change inflicts on already-burdened communities. The argument made in Mr. Coursen's Op-Ed (linked above), became part of UUSJ’s backgrounder and talking points.
UUSJ’s Environmental Action Team Priorities  By David Shilton on behalf of the
UUSJ Environmental Action Team
One of the many lessons we are learning from the COVID-19 pandemic is that the burdens of lost lives, suffering, and economic devastation fall far more heavily on communities of color and other disenfranchised groups. COVID-19 has laid bare the long-standing realities of systemic racial, health, economic, and environmental injustices that persist in our country. As Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) recently put it, "in our nation, the biggest determining factor of whether you live near toxic pollution, whether you drink contaminated water, or whether you breathe dirty air is the color of your skin and your economic status. That's wrong, and it's time to make it right." “Making it right” is the purpose of environmental justice actions. These actions can take many forms, but they all recognize that solutions are best framed by impacted communities themselves and must address interrelated burdens like air and water pollution from multiple sources, absence of economic opportunities and resources, inadequate educational and health infrastructure, and the increasing effects of climate change. UU environmental activists frequently rely on our 7th Principle (respect for the interdependent web of all existence) to ground their actions. But equally important in our environmental work is the direction provided by our 1st Principle (the inherent worth and dignity of all people) and our 2nd Principle (justice, equity, and compassion in human relations). These principles point toward an expanded understanding of environmental and climate justice, one that recognizes that the powerful effects of racism, political disenfranchisement, economic inequality, and health disparities multiply the ill effects of pollution and climate change on communities of color in particular. In choosing a Write Here! Write Now! topic for October, the Environmental Action Team focused on EPA’s long-term neglect of environmental justice, exacerbated by inadequate congressional funding and oversight. As reported elsewhere in this Enews, our meetings on Capitol Hill revealed an increased awareness in many Senate offices that major steps must be taken on all fronts to address these problems. No matter what happens in the election, the Team will proactively seek opportunities to advance the goal of assuring that all Americans can finally enjoy the benefits of a healthy environment.
Indigenous Communities and the Fight for Climate Justice Amid the Pandemic  Glenn Hurowitz, CEO of Mighty Earth, spoke with UUSJ on October 12 via a webinar about his work; highlighting how corporate practices, deforestation, and the ecological devastation on Indigenous communities affect us all. View Youtube recording
Mighty Earth is a global environmental campaign organization that works to protect forests, conserve oceans, and address climate change. They work to drive large-scale action towards environmentally-responsible agriculture that protects native ecosystems, wildlife, and water and respects local community rights. As the world scrambles to respond to the impacts of COVID-19, it is more critical than ever that efforts to empower Indigenous communities and protect forests continue as part of the global response.  The Condor and the Eagle Documentary Film Showing and Discussion
Friday, Nov. 6, 2020
6:00 - 8:30pmET
Register Here
Bull Run Unitarian Universalists (Manasas, VA), UUSJ, and UU Ministry for Earth are co-sponsoring a showing of the award-winning documentary, “The Condor and the Eagle.” The film follows Indigenous environmental leaders as they embark on an extraordinary trans-continental adventure from the Canadian plains to the heart of the Amazonian jungle to unite the peoples of North and South America and deepen the meaning of “Climate Justice”.
Donations for participating in the screening are appreciated but not required. All donations ($25 suggested) will benefit The Condor and The Eagle “No more sacrificed Communities!” Impact Campaign, Unitarian Universalist Ministry for the Earth, and Equal Exchange (a worker cooperative of small farm partners across the world working toward building an equitable, sustainable, and democratic food system). | | | | UUSJ's Environmental Action Team Invites Your Participation UUSJ volunteers interested in environmental and climate justice issues are looking at how UUSJ might engage more deeply on these issues beyond the Nov. 3 elections. The Environmental Action Team is exploring climate justice, green jobs, decarbonizing energy, ensuring clean air and water, and collaborating with like-minded faith and other potential partners. If you’re interested in learning more about the group, contact advocacy@uusj.org. | | | | | | | | |  Our Principles Inform Our Economic Justice Work, Regardless Of Election Results
By Pablo DeJesus, Executive Director, UUSJ
At the heart of UUSJ’s economic justice work are three values--inclusion, equity, and opportunity--that interact closely with our UU principles.
These values dovetail what early thinkers in the field such as Louis Kelso and Mortimer Adler, identified as “three essential and interdependent principles: Participative Justice (the input principle), Distributive Justice (the out-take principle), and Social Justice (the feedback and corrective principle).” “Democracy is a process, not a static condition. It is becoming, rather than being. It can easily be lost, but is never finally won.” observes Judge William H. Hastie, dean of the Howard University Law School, Civilian Aide to the Secretary of War, and mentor to Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Judge Hastie captures well what we who struggle for social justice must heed at all times, and what dearly departed Representative John Lewis taught--justice-making is an ongoing process and calls us to be engaged for the long haul. Among UU economic justice advocates, and certainly within UUSJ, we frequently ground our work in our Principles of the worth and dignity of all people; our (justice, equity, and compassion in human relations and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society. Our 7th Principle (respect for the interdependent web of all existence) calls us to expand our vision for justice beyond our species or those lives we easily recognize as sentient. The dialogue around the proposed 8th Principle challenges us to recognize and confront the interlocking injustices of racism and other oppressions and the roles they play in undermining our denominational commitment to other UU principles. Together this complex of interdependent commitments means we feel called by our faith, to strive for beloved community, for the inclusion that implies. We are called by what is sacred to champion compassion, for we understand that a society (and economy) indifferent to heartbreaking inequity is in moral crisis. And our spirits are moved to enhance the opportunity for all, for we perceive that without the real prospect of personal or community betterment, we are out of covenant with our fellow human beings. No matter the election results, these are the principles that inform our economic justice work. | | | | | | | UUSJ Joins Faith Leaders On Integrity, Safety, and Fairness in 2020 Elections We believe that free, fair, safe, and respected elections are a bedrock of democracy and that active and informed citizen participation in the political and electoral process is essential not only to the proper functioning of government but also to the full exercise of our faith. Read the full statement HERE.
Our Most Basic UU Principles Are Under Attack  Commentary by Fred Van Deusen
Convener, UUSJ Defending Our Democracy Task Group
Our fundamental UU principles of acceptance of one another; justice, equity and compassion in human relations; and the use of the democratic process in our society, are under attack, and we must defend them. In doing so we UUs, working together with the assistance of UUSJ and many other groups, can help address the intolerable situation that has been created.
For the past four years, the President of the United States and his various enablers (his loyal administration, members of Congress, supportive Governors, parts of the court system, and many who voted for him) have done their best to divide our country. They have actively and visibly engaged in voter suppression, prevented important improvements in our democratic processes, worked to take away health care insurance from hundreds of thousands of people, separated immigrant children from their parents, failed to take actions that would have reduced the severity of the coronavirus, and turned back environmental protections. All the while, they’ve lied to the public about their true intentions. Their behavior has, at times, brought out the worst in all of us. We need to turn this around. We need to begin a process of healing, of caring about each other and repairing our democracy. As Unitarian Universalists, we have a lot to offer our fellow citizens in this time of crisis. Our Principles of acceptance and compassion encourage us to help the healing process, rebuild broken relationships, address structural racism, and care about each other. Our support for democracy in our own work and in society leads us to advocate for the re-establishment of a working government and a functioning democracy. We UUs can begin this process with our friends and family members by acting in ways that convey our basic Principles. We can take them out into the community through public speeches, letters to the editor, social media posts, and connecting with our legislative representatives. This work is essential, and it will be neither easy nor quick. It takes time to move society in a better direction. UUSJ has an important role to play in this endeavor through its engagement, education, and advocacy. UUSJ provides an excellent means to connect UUs with our members of Congress. Right now, there is an opportunity for UUSJ to expand its reach and assist UU churches throughout the country in defending our democracy. UUs can and must work to help this country move forward. We need to organize ourselves and make it happen. And UUSJ must support and help lead this work. Our future, as a country and as a faith community, depends upon us doing this. | | | | | | Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ)
7750 16th St NW, | Washington, District of Columbia 20012
202-600-9132 | info@uusj.org | | | | | | | |
