• Do you know the history of the land your congregation calls “home?”
• Do you know what Indigenous people historically or currently inhabit that land?
• Do you know who the Indigenous people or communities are who live in your area or region and what their visions and struggles are?
• Are you acting in relationship or solidarity with any of them?

If your answer to any of these questions is “No,” it is not because these questions are irrelevant or unimportant.  It is because the continuation of our colonial and white supremacy power structures depends on your not knowing, your not caring, and your not connecting.

The enormous wealth of the United States is based on the theft of Indigenous land and the enslavement of people of African descent. In order to maximize wealth, the colonizers sought to eliminate or minimize the number of people who could claim their Indigenous rights to land, natural resources and sovereignty. These attempts are ongoing and have included genocide, forced removal, forced assimilation and the more contemporary systemic erasure of Native people through invisibility in education, media and pop culture…

See much more at Link to complete article here.

The Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) calls for congregations to “Research, identify, and acknowledge the Indigenous peoples historically and/or currently connected with the land occupied by congregations, and find ways to act in solidarity with or even partner with those Indigenous peoples.”

Please begin to do (or revisit) this work now, in the weeks leading up to the Harvest the Power Virtual Summit for Justice & Decolonization on November 19-22nd. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for program and schedule announcements.

Please also know that the UUA and Side With Love will be amplifying the livestream broadcast of the 50th National Day of Mourning in Plymouth, Massachusetts, organized by the United American Indians of New England, on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2020.

See much more at Link to complete article here.