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New Immigrant Justice Resources
May 16, 2012
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has just released two new resources to help communities engage with immigrant justice work in anticipation of the upcoming Justice General Assembly in Phoenix.
The first, United States Immigration: Theological Reflection and Discussion, is a collection of 22 brief excerpts from sermons and writings about the topic of immigration offered for Unitarian Universalist congregations. Each excerpt is followed by questions for discussion. You can download a copy of this resource and find out more by listening to a reflection from its authors, Susan Karlson, Michael Tino, and Colin Bossen, on The Journey Toward Phoenix, an internet-based radio blog hosted by Rev. Carlton Elliot Smith of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Virginia.
The second resource grapples with the “Doctrine of Discovery”—the legal justification for colonizing the Americas and subordinating aboriginal people. The Doctrine of Discovery discussion guide and its accompanying video, The Doctrine of Discovery: The True Story of Colonizing the Americas, invite us to shape new cultural, civic, and religious identity stories that include and embrace the perspectives of those who have been marginalized. The guide is composed of three one-hour sessions that define the issue, contextualize it with native voices, and guide a plan of action.
More >Buy Books, Promote Justice
May 16, 2012
"99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality Is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do about It" by Chuck Collins
The Unitarian Universalist Association Bookstore is undertaking a special fundraiser in conjunction with the upcoming Justice General Assembly in Phoenix, Arizona. For every purchase made at the bookstore between now and the last day of General Assembly (Sunday, June 24), the UUA Bookstore will make a donation equal to 5% of the purchase to Comités de Defensa del Barrio (CDBs) and Puente Arizona–organizations that perform vital human services and migrant justice work in Arizona.
To take advantage of this fundraising opportunity, customers must enter “PhoenixGA” in the discount code box at checkout. If sales using this code exceed $100,000, the bookstore will make a contribution of 10% of sales using the code on the second $100,000 in sales, up to a maximum contribution of $15,000.
“[This project] is a great way for the bookstore to become directly involved in the justice mission of GA,” said UUA Bookstore Marketing Coordinator Ben Jackson.”
Have you been putting off a UUA Bookstore purchase? Now, you have the opportunity to make a social justice impact with your order! Check out the bookstore’s phenomenal selection of books, discussion guides, and other resources at www.uuabookstore.org.
More >No More Deaths Wins Wilton Peace Prize
May 15, 2012
No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes, an all-volunteer-led organization that embodies the very spirit of being the change one wishes to see in the world, has been chosen as this year’s recipient of the Wilton Peace Prize. The Wilton Peace Prize is given annually by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) to individuals or groups in recognition of their contribution to “peace and human progress.” The award was established by Henry and Irene Wilton in 1984 and previous recipients include the Vietnam Veterans of America, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, and the World Council on Religion and Peace.
No More Deaths is a human rights and humanitarian aid organization that was first organized in 2004 with a simple mission to reduce deaths and suffering among migrants crossing the border through the Sonoran Desert. Since then it has expanded its work to meet the changing needs of undocumented immigrants and their families and to increase national awareness and draw attention to the enormous humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border, where more than 6,000 innocent men, women and children have already died. No More Deaths is the social justice ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson and runs a number of programs including the Desert Aid Working Group, the Summer Desert Camps program as well as an Alternate Spring Break Camp in Arivaca, and the Abuse Documentation Working Group, which has been documenting human rights abuses by U.S. Border Patrol agents against migrants in their custody for the past six years.
According to a nomination letter written by Rev. Diane Dowgiert of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson:
No More Deaths has contributed significantly to peace and human progress over the past eight years. Not only has this volunteer-driven humanitarian aid organization saved thousands of lives in the Sonoran Desert, giving water, food and medical care to displaced migrant workers forced to cross the most treacherous parts of the U.S.-Mexico border in search of jobs to provide for their families. No More Deaths has also spent the past six years documenting human rights abuses by the U.S. Border Patrol against thousands of migrants in their custody, both in the desert and in short-term immigrant detention centers.
No More Deaths has led the way in abuse documentation with its first report, “Crossing the Line,” in 2008, and has produced an outstanding second report, “A Culture of Cruelty,” providing high quality documentation of almost 30,000 instances of abuse from interviews with almost 13,000 migrants over a three-year period. They have set a national standard for the documentation of human rights abuses against migrants for subsequent reports by Amnesty International USA, the ACLU and other national human rights organizations across the country, who have sought out No More Deaths when beginning their research at the border.
In addition, through its “Keep Tucson Together” project, No More Deaths has been more successful than any other organization to date in helping local undocumented immigrant families stay together, by fighting to close the cases of inappropriate deportation orders sent to immigrant parents without any criminal record, whose children and spouses living with them in the U.S. are dependent upon them financially and emotionally.
Since the release of “A Culture of Cruelty” on September 21, 2011, the report has also received coverage from CNN, USA Today, Reuters News Service, Democracy Now and many other news outlets. No More Deaths will receive a $1,500 donation from the UUA to support its efforts.
Thank you, No More Deaths, for your incredible work for human rights, and a better world for all people.
Opposing ICE Secure Communities Mass Detention & Deportation Program in MA
May 15, 2012
UU Mass Action and the Unitarian Universalist Association have been working with our immigrant partners to stop the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “Secure Communities” from coming to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for more than a year. There is strong opposition to Secure Communities in the Commonwealth, including objections from the Governor. In spite of this, the federal government will implement Secure Communities starting today, May 15, 2012.
The federal government gave very short notice of this implementation date, giving grassroots organizations little time to plan and coordinate actions of opposition and protest. Nevertheless, grassroots organizations are finding a way to speak up for justice.
Centro Presente asked UU Mass Action and other concerned organizations and people to join them for a series of actions denouncing the implementation of this policy. The first of these was a rally and press conference on Friday, May 11, In front of the ICE offices at the JFK building in Boston, MA, from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
A crowd of approximately 150 people came together Friday morning to voice our opposition to Secure Communities. There was a wonderful diversity at the rally. In addition to Centro Presente and UU Mass Action, groups such as the Boston Chinatown Resident Association, the Brazilian Immigrant Center, the Chinese Progressive Association, Massachusetts ACLU, the Student Immigrant Movement, Boston New Sanctuary Movement, and representatives from Occupy Boston and Veterans For Peace were there to voice strong concern. Some of the signs visible said, “1 Million Deportations, 1 Million Families Separated”; “Say No to Secure Communities – it will increase the number of unreported incidents of domestic violence”; “no human being is illegal”; “S-Comm Hurts Communities”; “End S-Comm, Don’t Mend It”; and “I Pledge to Break ICE’s Hold on My Community and Country”.
The rally included several moving talks from those in the immigrant community who will be directly impacted. There was a skit depicting a “forced marriage” between ICE and local law enforcement. One of the speakers, in fact, was a retired police officer who expressed his serious concerns about Secure Communities, particularly the impact it would have on destroying trust between local police and local communities.
My heart swelled to see this gathering, coming together on a weekday morning to speak up for justice, community, and love. As Susan Leslie, Director, Office for Congregational Advocacy & Witness at the UUA, said to me, “This is what the ‘Beloved Community’ looks like.” I could not agree more.
I had the honor of giving the benediction at the rally. Not only was it the first time I ever delivered a prayer with a megaphone, but it was also the most humbling experience I have ever had of trying to find sacred words that would be worthy of such a beautiful and powerful gathering of people committed to justice. Together, we prayed that we would remember our highest aspirations and strive to be our best selves as we worked to bend the arc of the moral universe ever closer toward justice.
UU Mass Action is organizing with the UUA, the Interfaith Immigration Coalition and others asking congregations and individuals to join the campaign to Restore Trust to Our Communities by Breaking Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) Hold.
The Rev. Lara Hoke is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Andover, MA and serves on the Board of UU Mass Action.
More >Bring Activism Back into Mother’s Day
May 11, 2012
The message below went out on Friday, May 11, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.
“Today, of course, Mother’s Day continues to roll on as an engine of consumerism. And Anna Jarvis, one might imagine, continues rolling in her grave.”
-”Why Mother’s Day Horrified, Ruined Its Own Mother,” National Geographic; May 8, 2011
Women’s organizer and activist Ann Reeves Jarvis was the inspiration for her daughter, Anna Jarvis and others (including Unitarian Julia Ward Howe), to found the holiday of Mother’s Day, to honor people’s intimate connection with their mothers and the active political role of women in peace-making. Ironically, the national holiday today is commemorated with cards and flowers, and by federal proclamation, honors a woman’s place in the home.
Some members of the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed two pieces legislation that need our support. Let’s help close the loop on Mother’s Day and write to Congress today about the Violence Against Women Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
Ending Violence Against Women
Last week, the Violence Against Women Act passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was reauthorized and amended to include many new and improved provisions for the protection and care of all women, especially immigrants, LGBT people, and Native American women. These improvements, reaffirming the many successful programs of the original VAWA, are vital to the equality of access to services for these marginalized groups. Over 100 UUs wrote messages asking their Senators to co-sponsor the measure.
The U.S. House of Representatives must approve VAWA before it becomes law. Unfortunately, one version of the bill that has been proposed in the House does not include these important new provisions for marginalized groups. Many groups which advocated for the Senate version of the bill are actively opposed to H.R. 4970, because it would weaken VAWA and undermine many of its most successful programs, and also because it fails to expand the new vital protections. An alternative House proposal, H.R. 4271, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, does include the Senate bill’s improvements. Please write to your representative and ask them to co-sponsor and support H.R. 4271, the true VAWA Reauthorization.
Fired for Being Pregnant?!
It would be easy to assume, in 2012, that pregnant workers have legal protections in place to prevent them from loosing their jobs for asking for small modifications in their duties related to their pregnancies. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Pregnant women are being fired when they ask to sit or drink water during their shifts, or to stay off ladders or not lift heavy items.
To close this egregious loophole, created by court decisions between discrimination laws and disability laws, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was introduced today in the House of Representatives by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and a number of his colleagues. To give this bill a solid start, we need as many representatives to co-sponsor this bill as possible. The UUA, the UU Women’s Federation, and more than 100 other organizations have sent a letter – I hope you do too. Please write today.
Please take action on these important women’s issues and help us bring activism back into Mother’s Day.
Happy Mother’s Day to you and yours,
Jessica Halperin
Program Associate for Women’s Issues
Unitarian Universalist Association
PS: Are you interested in getting more involved with reproductive justice advocacy? Click here to sign up for the UUA Women’s Issue Alert email list.
PPS: If you missed our introductory webinar on Reproductive Justice, co-hosted by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, you can find it online. Don’t miss the next UUA webinar entitled “Reproductive Justice: Congregational and Legislative Best Practices” on May 24 at 8:00pm ET–sign up here.
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