I Side with the People - They Do Not Have to Be My People

It is because of my Jewish heritage and my family’s history in pogroms, ghettos, and concentration camps that I am speaking out against Israeli treatment of Palestinians, most especially the nightmare being visited on the people of Gaza right now. It is because I was told the stories of my people, because of the losses, the displacement, the systemic nature and institutionalization of our oppression, that I cannot be silent. It is because the trauma is generational, because it was generational on purpose because my own people ensured that I would never forget, that I cannot pretend I don’t know what’s happening or the power of the masses who do nothing to stop it. 

The attack from Hamas triggered every story told to me around the Passover table when I was a child, and along with it, the ferocity instilled in me to fight, fight, fight when they come for us. I was not spared the stories of rape, of torture, of unbearable suffering, and I was not spared so that I would teach my children and they their children, because this is how we protect ourselves. When Hamas bombed Israel and took people from their homes, I knew what I was supposed to do. I was to gather with my people and stand together to make sure they take no one else. Survive at all costs. Never again. 

But, it is because of my Jewish heritage, my family’s history, and the trauma handed down to me that I cannot stay silent when people are being displaced, when new ghettos are being built, and when systems of oppression are targeting entire peoples. 

I side with the people. They do not have to be My People. Never Again means Never Again.

Rev. Peggy Clarke

—------------

UUA Statement on the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza and Israel

UUSC Statement on Latest Violence in Israel/Palestine

UUJME Statement on the Escalating Disaster in Palestine and Israel – Call for Immediate Ceasefire

(Picture taken on the River Jordan, standing on the Jordanian side, looking at Israel in 2022)

All Saints Day, November 1st
All Saints Day commemorates and honors the gifts and contributions to the world of those no longer physically present. Prayers are offered for comfort for those who are grieving the loss of loved ones, to express ongoing gratitude to God for the blessing of each ancestor, and to pray for the departed to rest in peace through God’s mercy. 

Día de los Muertos, November 2nd
Though “The Day of the Dead” originated in Mexico, it is celebrated throughout Latin America, in Latine communities in the U.S. and beyond. It is a joyful time to demonstrate love and respect for the deceased, often with food, drink, and activities that departed loved ones enjoyed. 

On Día de los Muertos, the dead are also thought to return from the land of the dead to share in celebrations with their loved ones.

• Immigration Law & Justice Network Event: Vigil for Migrant Deaths on 11/2 at 3 p.m. ET
• Detention Watch Network Event: Honoring the Lives Taken by ICE & CBP on 11/2 at 6 p.m. ET
• Detention Watch Network Toolkit: Día De Los Muertos Toolkit
• Kairos Center Resource: How to Build an Altar for Día de los Muertos 

Daylight Saving Time Ends, November 5th

When local daylight time is about to reach:

• Sunday, November 5, 2023, 2:00:00 am clocks are turned backward 1 hour to become Sunday, November 5, 2023, 1:00:00 am local standard time instead

Sunrise and sunset will be about 1 hour earlier on Nov 5, 2023, than the day before. There will be more light in the morning. The change is also called Falling Back and Winter Time.

Tyranny of the Minority
with authors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt

UUSJ Board Meeting
November 7 (first Tuesday of each month).
For more information, email info@uusj.org.

Diwali Celebrated on November 12th

This "Festival of Lights'' is celebrated by many Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Muslims, and Buddhists in India and worldwide. Adherents often participate by honoring different gods and goddesses, gathering with friends and family, and decorating their homes and communities with lamps. The light of Diwali symbolizes the victory of light over darkness and can encourage efforts to fight for justice. 

• Hindu American Foundation: Diwali is Celebrated Across India and in the Hindu Diaspora 
• The Kairos Center: A Prayer for Diwali

Keep Going with Power Sunday

Schedule a Power Sunday service anytime that fits your congregation’s needs. Use our worship materials. We’ve heard you may need to schedule such a service in November, December, and even into 2024. We welcome that!

We celebrate how you have taken up the call. Please give us feedback if you do a Power Sunday service or choose to use any of the materials (including sharing your videos). Your input is essential to our learning what was successful about this program and worth repeating in the future, as well as how we can make it even better next year.

See what one of the authors of Power Sunday, Rev. Peggy Clarke, did in her worship service on Sunday, October 22, to inform your congregation’s approach.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is considering a historic new rule that would establish a minimum staffing standard in nursing homes for the first time. There is now a 60-day comment window, ending November 6^th when the public can weigh in on this proposed rule. Unfortunately, the nursing home industry is spending big to prevent this rule from being finalized.

A minimum staffing standard is long overdue. No Administration up until now has had the political courage to take on the industry. 

In keeping with our commitment to economic justice and a people-centered economy, UUSJ is joining AFL-CIO to invite supportive comments and ways to strengthen the rule. Consider adding your voice.

• This guidance on writing a comment (PDF) offers two simple examples to emulate in your own words
• Make comments to HHS here 

In addition to writing a comment, you can also help us win on the politics of attention:

1. Take action via AFL-CIO, and Support Safe Nursing Home Staffing.
2. Retweet or repost on Social Media:

Whether you are a nursing home worker, have had a friend or a family member in a nursing home, or just someone who is getting older, HHS needs to hear why you want to see this NPRM strengthened and finalized.

Take action to Let Asylum Seekers Work

UUSJ’s immigration team is interested in expanding and expediting immigrants’ access to work permits. UUSJ has, therefore, joined dozens of other organizations in the #LetAsylumSeekersWork (LASW) coalition, which launched its public campaign in October. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is also a partner.

The campaign is off to a strong start, and you can help: write to your members of Congress in support of the bi-partisan H.R. 1325, the Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act of 2023.

• Visit the new campaign website 
• See the UUSJ press release 
• Review a Policy Brief: H.R. 1325, Asylum Seeker Work Authorization Act of 2023, by the American Immigration Lawyers Association

The Rising Child Poverty Rates are Unacceptable

Tell Congress Our Rising Child Poverty Rate is Unacceptable with the campaigns, End Child Poverty and First Focus on Children

Resources:

• Poverty in the United States: 2022 from the U.S. Census Bureau
• Child Investment Resource Hub
• Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy Monthly Poverty Tracker
• End Child Poverty U.S. website
• First Focus on Children fact sheet on child poverty in 2022
• A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty - the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine

Tell President Biden: #EndFossilFuels Now, keep up the pressure

UUSJ and our allies at People Versus Fossil Fuels and Green Faith still believe President Biden must live up to his promises and take executive action to deliver healthy communities, millions of good-paying jobs, and a better life for people on the frontlines of fossil fuel racism, pollution, and the climate crisis. Review video from the March in NYC, September 2023.

Sign and Share the End Fossil Fuels Petition to President Biden: Ask your members, friends, and family who attended the march or supported it from afar to add their voices to keep up the pressure.

For more opportunities to take action with UUSJ, see our homepage

You can review UUSJ’s current action alerts, events, and other opportunities on our homepage at www.uusj.org. Partner and solidarity activities are most often included in the carousel.

What story we tell about voter mobilization will matter

Two recent survey reports should inform upcoming voter mobilization work in UU congregations in 2024. 

A recent Pew Research study titled America’s Dismal Views of the Nation’s Politics found, among other things, that when Americans think about politics:

• 65% always or often feel exhausted
• 55% always or often feel angry 
• 56% rarely or never feel hopeful (and just 33% sometimes feel hopeful)
• The one area where we believe we can make a difference is by voting

Conclusion: It is difficult to get engaged when you are exhausted and not hopeful that you can make a difference, even if you are angry about the direction of American politics. That’s the situation we face in our effort to engage people in the upcoming elections. 

A Brookings Institution event titled “What do Americans think about the health of our democracy and the upcoming presidential election?” had panelists discuss findings from the 2023 American Values Survey. There was a lot of very good discussion. Takeaways to note are:

• 75% of Americans agree that the future of democracy is at stake in the 2024 election; 84% of Democrats, 77% of Republicans, and 73% of Independents
• The parties need to align on what issues are important. That means it is hard to find common ground, and it will be hard to sway voters on the issues. 
• The Democrats prioritized issues such as climate change, gun violence, and the health of our democracy.
• Republicans prioritized more cultural issues such as what children learn in school, immigration, and human trafficking.
• The question we must answer for 2024 is, “How do we cope with cultural change?”

Conclusion: We must be champions of a narrative for our democracy that is both sober and hopeful. We must be clear-eyed about the forces that threaten democracy and flirt with autocracy. We must be inclusive and welcoming in finding those who share our concerns. 

Dale posits that our society’s willingness to put aside election results, accept political violence and hate speech, and increase targeting of transgender communities is a signal that must be taken seriously. Dale warns that if we wait for American political and civil society actors to meet the formal scholarly definitions of fascism, we will lose our democracy. Instead, we must recognize the trend and heed the risk inherent in the current formation phase–and we must intervene. 

• Review the Video or Presentation
• Read an informative and related article: Trans People Are in Grave Danger

Appropriations are always an immigration issue

There is continued concern that the current budget process will be used as an opportunity to add restrictive legislation that limits asylum and further complicates the ability of migrants to receive the safe and respectful treatment required by law. 

The current Continuing Resolution expires November 17th, and with last week’s election of Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA-04) as Speaker of the House, appropriations business is expected to move forward again.

In response to the earlier shutdown threat, the UUSJ immigration team joined other faith partners in sending letters to moderate senators of both parties, urging them not to add provisions harmful to immigrants (e.g., incorporating the deeply disturbing policies in the House Republicans’ immigration bill H.R. 2, or adding more funds for militarization, detention, and expulsion at the southern border) to any continuing resolution. 

In addition, the Biden-Harris Administration made the following supplemental funding request, which preserves some pathways to entry to the U.S. but also invests in diversion policies. You can read additional analysis from The National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC).

Hearts@Home works for the reunification of families

The UUSAJ Immigration Action Team is always concerned with visa-driven difficulties. Value Our Families is working to make sure that the Biden Administration honors the dignity of immigrant families by taking action to bring them together. The Administration can facilitate the reunification of families trapped in family visa backlogs for years and, in some cases, even decades by taking immediate action to 1) reclaim unused Green Cards and 2. provide parole for people in family-based Green Card backlogs and expand family reunification parole programs. You can learn more about the Hearts@Home campaign by Value Our Families here.

Tell your minister and any immigration lawyers you know to sign on by Nov 8th:

• Sign-on letter for Faith Leaders (joined by UUSJ)
• Sign-on letter for Immigration lawyers

The goal is to get over 150 signatures on each letter. 

Right now, we have a critical window of opportunity to provide some relief for families stuck in visa backlogs–but the Administration must take action.

Introduction to Declare Climate Emergency 
November 5, 2023 (also every Sunday)
5:00 p.m. ET - 4:00 p.m. CT - 3:00 p.m. MT - 2:00 p.m. PT
Register for Zoom Session

UU’s involved with the Declare Climate Emergency (DCE) campaign/network ask you to join them in using Nonviolent Civil Resistance actions in Washington, D.C., to demand President Biden declare Climate Change an emergency. You may have seen their actions in the news during the lead-up to September in DC. 

Ret. UU Minister Bruce Russell-Jayne, a Declare Emergency supporter, asks, “I am wondering if UUs might be interested in taking action with Declare Emergency. Can you help spread the word among UUs?”

Convinced that disrupting the status quo brings more people to the realization that we must act now to do much more about Climate Change, UUs are involved with DCE and seeking more robust involvement from their fellows in the denomination.

Sowing Justice: Cultivating a Just World for All in the Farm Bill, hosted by the United Church of Christ
November 7, 14, and 28
7:00 p.m. ET - 6:00 p.m. CT - 5:00 p.m. MT - 4:00 p.m. PT
Register for Zoom Sessions

Hear from farmers, policy experts, and impacted community leaders as they highlight the need to advocate for economic, racial, and environmental justice for small farmers, the food insecure, and the earth. UUs are invited to join interfaith friends, the United Church of Christ (UCC), for a three-part webinar series in collaboration with Franklinton Center on their denominational advocacy priorities in the next Farm Bill. Their take mak

Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience with Federal Clean Energy Funding
Part of the Clean Energy as a Human Right webinar series
Thursday, November 9, 2023
Hosted by Create Climate Justice, co-sponsored by UUSJ
7:00 p.m. ET - 6:00 p.m. CT - 5:00 p.m. MT - 4:00 p.m. PT
Register for Webinar

This webinar will help congregations think more expansively about ways to transform our buildings and grounds into hubs of climate resilience. 

Join Denise Abdul-Rahman, Black Sun Light Sustainability; Shina Robinson, Asian Pacific Environmental Network; and Miguel Yanez-Barnuevo, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, for an informative discussion on ways you can turn your faith into action to create hubs of climate resilience for our communities.

This event is the second in the webinar series, which includes: 

• Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding on 10/25 
• Creating Hubs of Community Resilience on 11/9 
• UUMFE's Light for All Winter Solstice Gathering on 12/20, and 
• Reimagining with Energy Democracy in 2024 (date TBD)

Last ditch effort on loss and damage

The Transitional Committee (TC) to design the new Loss & Damage Fund (L&D Fund) failed to fulfill its mandate of delivering a framework for the new fund to COP28. The collapse of its last meeting in Egypt was largely due to highly problematic and inflexible U.S. positions on critical issues (see coverage in Reuters, Climate Home, Politico, Financial Times). World Bank controversy sends loss and damage talks into overtime, Climate Home News.

A last-ditch fifth TC meeting is scheduled for November 3-4 in Abu Dhabi. For this meeting to succeed where others have failed, the U.S. must be willing to negotiate in good faith and stop trying to ensure the L&D Fund is donor-driven rather than accountable to those it is meant to support.

• UUSC, What is Loss and Damage?
• UUSC, Loss and Damage Collaboration (LDC)

Manna Matters: Liberty, Justice, and Food Security for All

Wednesday, November 1, 2023
12 noon ET - 11:00 a.m. CT - 10:00 a.m. MT - 9:00 a.m. PT
Zoom Registration

In preparation for Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and the bustling holiday seasons, when families and friends will gather around a shared meal, UUs are invited to join a 1-hour faith-based conversation about the legislative work of the Farm Bill 2023.

The conversation will address the challenging injustices of food insecurity and food deserts in marginalized communities across the United States. The discussion will cover practical ways faith communities and houses of worship can advocate and champion healthy relationships with food and local farmers with sustainable resources through the holidays and beyond.

This webinar is sponsored by the Colorado Council of Churches, the Louisiana Interchurch Conference, the North Carolina Council of Churches, and the South Carolina Christian Action Council.

Signs of life on Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

Anti-poverty advocates see three ways to improve the Earned Income Tax Credit as a means to support low-income worker and their families: to expand the maximum credit, to give the maximum credit to more workers, and to add younger and older workers who currently don’t qualify. Legislation has been introduced to expand the eligible ages for the EITC in the House. Sen. Brown’s S.1992, the Working Families Tax Relief Act, reestablishes the expanded EITC, which has already helped millions of low-income workers. The Brown proposal would ensure low-wage workers are no longer taxed deeper into poverty.

See a recent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities blog for more information: A Clear Policy Choice: Repeat Success by Expanding the EITC for Adults Without Children.

Moore v. United States could mean major tax code turbulence

Recently, an “unusual alliance” filed briefs in support of the government in Moore v. United States. On December 5, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in this case, which challenges Congress’s power to tax income under the Sixteenth Amendment. The Moores argue that this power to tax extends only to “realized” income; thus, the constitutionality of the mandatory repatriation tax (known as the MRT or section 965 of the Internal Revenue Code) enacted as part of the 2017 “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” signed into law by President Trump. 

Concern over a broad ruling favoring the plaintiffs is bringing together political actors like former House Speaker Paul Ryan and the Biden administration. If the court fails to act narrowly, the ruling could limit how Congress can raise revenue in many ways, setting up turbulence in 2025 when the tax provisions expire, perhaps even windfalls for large multinational corporations, and dismantling vast swaths of the tax code.

The Tax Law Center at NYU offers:

• For the full summary, see, Moore v. United States: Our amicus brief and guide to the landmark tax case before the Supreme Court
• Gathered selected analysis and commentary that illustrate the unusual range of tax experts and stakeholders who have analyzed or raised concerns about the impact 
• A compilation that summarizes all amicus briefs filed in Moore v. U.S. (regardless of which party they support)