JUUstice Washington

A Unitarian Universalist State Action Network

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Diversity training on WA college campuses will soon be mandatory

June 8, 2021 by webmaster Leave a Comment

Crosscut
by Hannah Krieg / May 31, 2021

On May 12, the Gov. Jay Inslee signed Senate Bill 5227, which mandates that Washington’s 40 public colleges and universities conduct training sessions and assessments for both faculty and staff around diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism starting in the 2022-23 academic year.

According to the bill’s prime sponsor, state Sen. Emily Randall, D-Bremerton, the first draft of this legislation did not include student input, but when the idea came up in her meetings with student lobbyists, they wanted in.

The bill does not prescribe a specific curriculum or programs. Randall, who admits to attending her share of “bad” diversity training sessions, hopes administrators, staff and students will collaborate on an approach that works for their institution. Students from across Washingston state who work on diversity issues have some ideas.

Read more here.

Filed Under: News, Racial Justice

Resources for Dealing with Anti-Asian Racism from Indivisible

March 22, 2021 by Deb Cruz Leave a Comment

If you are directly impacted by the events in Georgia, this resource from Northwestern University has collected several different resources for fighting xenophobia and anti-Asian racism.

The news this week on the murders in Atlanta has been devastating, enraging. While we’re still processing these tragic deaths, we know a few things for certain: These eight individuals weren’t murdered because the shooter was having a bad day, or because he had a sex addiction. In the words of Randy Park, whose mother Hyun Jung Grant was killed in the rampage: that’s bullshit. 

These eight individuals were murdered because of a toxic combination of white supremacy, systemic racism, classism, and gender-based violence. 

Our colleagues, friends, family, group leaders, and movement partners of Asian descent have spent the last year afraid for their lives and the lives of their loved ones as anti-Asian hate crimes across the country rose by more than 150%. And now, they’re grappling with the reality of what occurred in Atlanta: a white male shooter went to three different massage studios over the course of an hour and murdered eight people, six of whom were Asian American women.

To the many Indivisibles who are not Asian American: it is up to us to offer support and solidarity, to speak out, and to find solutions so that we can collectively stop these traumas from happening again. And that starts with acknowledging the multitude of oppressions that Asian American women face.

Asian American women’s experiences of racism and sexism are often inextricably linked, the result of centuries of racial exploitation, objectification, and sexualization by men of all races. The events that occurred in Atlanta are not solely about racism or sexism, but rather that these two issues are intertwined. We must speak openly about the history and repercussions of where these issues meet and the role they play in our society today. To say that there’s only a singular narrative of racism or misogyny denies Asian women their full personhood.

Here are some educational resources that we found helpful and want to share: 

  • Asian Americans Advancing Justice Atlanta protects the civil rights of the AAPI community in Georgia and the southeast. If you can, consider donating.
  • Asian American Feminist Collective has a wide range of resources including a zine for supporting Asian American communities during COVID-19, links to mutual aid funds and nonprofits providing support, reading lists, and more.
  • Red Canary Song provides resources for Asian migrant communities, Asian sex working communities, and the overlap between these two groups. Read their statement on the murder of the Asian American massage workers in Atlanta, and consider donating.
  • Check out The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee for a comprehensive look on the long and forgotten history of Asian American life.

And if you’d like to take immediate action: 

  • If your representative is one of these 164 Republicans who voted against Rep. Meng’s resolution condemning Anti-Asian racism, or one of the 172 Republicans who voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (less than 24-hours after the murders in Atlanta), call them at (202) 224-3121 to let them know you were paying attention and their actions have consequences.
  • Then, check out and share this resource on anti-Asian violence.
  • If you’re able, split a donation among eight organizations that are fighting to protect and support the AAPI community. Click here to split a donation now.

What’s important now is that we continue to support each other through this painful time. Check in on your friends and family, have difficult but open conversations about racism and privilege, and listen to the stories of those most directly impacted.

Filed Under: News, Racial Justice, News, Refugee, Immigrant and Migrant Solidarity (RIMS), Resources, Racial Justice

Digital maps show how climate change’s impact in WA isn’t equal

March 18, 2021 by webmaster Leave a Comment

The maps, commissioned as part of InvestigateWest’s yearlong reporting project, Getting to Zero: Decarbonizing Cascadia, span Washington and Oregon and provide digital windows into vulnerabilities that are likely to worsen with climate change. Montana-based Headwaters Economicscreated the interactive visualizations using a pair of powerful mapping tools that the community planning firm launched last year.

The maps created for this project are an example of tools undegoing growing use in Cascadia, where equity advocates, academic researchers and governments are teaming up to create new data-driven methods to identify and address unequal environmental risks. A movement that began several years ago accelerated in 2020 as the skewed death tolls from COVID-19 laid bare systemic social and economic inequalities on both sides of the border, and surging outrage amidst police shootings spurred governments into action.

Read more here.

Filed Under: News, Environmental Justice, News, Racial Justice

New Caucus for BIPOC UUs to Tackle Intersection of Race, Climate Justice

March 17, 2021 by Deb Cruz Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered, Why were the minority neighborhoods in Texas the first to lose power during the recent power blackouts? Why are polluting industries and waste dumps always sited where Black, Indigenous and other People of Color (BIPOC) folks live? Why has the Covid pandemic been particularly devastating for the poor, marginalized BIPOC communities? And, yet, why have they been deprived of early vaccination? The list of injustices is never ending!

So, why do climate justice work in a UU church? Our faith calls us to build the Beloved Community that Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King dreamed of. We cannot build a Beloved Community when racism, oppression and discrimination is the custom of the land. Our principles call on us to uphold the inherent worth and dignity of all and to respect the interdependent web of all existence. And the proposed Eighth Principle calls us to accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions. Then, how can we not, as UUs, dedicate ourselves to finding justice for the most vulnerable who are least responsible for the continued destruction of our environment but are ignored time and time again. Indeed, the BIPOC are hardly ever at the table to represent their own interests!

In collaboration with the UU Ministry for Earth, we are privileged to the recent launch of a caucus for BIPOC UUs who are passionate about the intersections of racial, environmental and climate injustices.

Why a separate caucus for BIPOC? As we said above, we have long witnessed the disproportionate and disastrous impacts of climate change on communities of color. The BIPOC caucus will create a space for us to meet with others devoted to environmental and climate justice work, and also be a voice for us in the broader environmental and climate justice movement. It will allow us to form bonds with other BIPOC who fight not only racial and environmental injustices but are also the embodiment of living through a long history of injustice and cruelty.

Meetings of the group are open to everyone right now, irrespective of their racial identity, with time set aside for BIPOC and White caucusing. Starting this summer, the mutliracial group will meet approximately once a quarter, and the BIPOC caucus will meet roughly monthly.

We are grateful for the UUMFE for giving us a home as we begin this journey, and for offering time, energy and support. And, we thank all those who joined us for our first meeting and hope to see more folks attend the second session, on Thursday, March 18 at 5pm PT / 8pm EDT – you can find more information below in this newsletter. We pray that they keep coming back, that the caucus grows, and that we can engage in meaningful and spiritually fulfilling work. Amen.

In faith and solidarity,

Paula Cole Jones
All Souls Church,
Washington, DC

 

Rashid Shaikh
First Parish,
Cambridge, MA

Filed Under: News, Climate Justice, News, Environmental Justice, News, FAIN, News, Racial Justice

How Gerrymandering Silences the Environmental Vote

March 15, 2021 by webmaster Leave a Comment

This year, state legislatures will redraw the electoral map. The GOP controls most state legislatures, and they are expected to draw congressional districts to favor Republicans, which will make it easier for them to win a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, even if they fail to win the most votes overall. This dynamic will influence policymaking on a number of issues, including the environment. Recent events in North Carolina give some idea of what to expect.

In North Carolina, coal-fired plants historically dealt with the leftover ash by mixing it with wastewater and dumping it into an open pit nearby. Because coal generators need a lot of water, power plants and coal ash ponds usually sit next to a lake or river.

Read more here.

Filed Under: News, Environmental Justice, News, Legislative Advocacy, News, Racial Justice

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