JUUstice Washington

A Unitarian Universalist State Action Network

Fair Bond Fund to Help Release Detained Immigrants

by Leave a Comment

As COVID-19 continues to impact our communities, those most at risk are the members of our community who are in detention. Last week, La Resistencia broke the news that dozens of immigrants at the Northwest Detention Center had been exposed to COVID-19 by a GEO guard. Last month, we heard how in Georgia, immigrants held at a detention center were subject to forced hysterectomies and general medical neglect. These reminders are just two of the many reasons that we know immigration detention centers should be shut down and ICE should be abolished.

While we prepare for the long-term fight, we are also doing what we can to free the members of our communities who are in immigration detention.

I am pleased to announce that the Fair Fight Bond Fund is gearing up to re-open in the coming weeks to pay the immigration bond funds of community members detained by ICE in Washington State.

Next week, we will be participating in Fall Freedom Day—an effort coordinated by the National Bail Fund Network to pay bonds to free hundreds of community members from immigration detention in one day. Last year, the NBFN moved $2.1 million and was able to pay the bonds of nearly 200 people detained by ICE across the country. The Fair Fight Bond Fund will be participating in these efforts this year and hope that with our partners across the country we can release even more of our community members.

As we work out some of the final details before we officially resume accepting and reviewing applications to help pay for immigration bonds, we ask that you consider donating to the Fair Fight Bond Fund so that we can have as much money in the fund to start paying bonds.

If you have any questions, interest in volunteering with the bond fund, or other comments, please contact me at vanessa@waisn.org. Please send questions or requests about paying for bonds for specific cases to bond@waisn.org.

In Solidarity,

Vanessa Reyes
Fair Fight Bond Fund Coordinator
Pronouns: They/She/Ella

Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) calls for congregations to research, identify, and acknowledge Indigenous peoples

by Leave a Comment

  • 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.

Help Families Hurting because of COVID-19 Keep Their Utilities

by Leave a Comment

Families are hurting because of COVID-19 and the state needs to hear from you that now is not the time to cut people off electricity, strap them with unaffordable bills, and allow utility shareholders to put additional expense on rate payers. We need you to show up and weigh in.
TAKE ACTION TODAY

Over these next two weeks, Washington’s Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) – which regulates private, investor-owned energy utilities – will make decisions about:

  1. When utilities start disconnecting households from power due to non-payment,
  2. If utilities institute bill assistance programs that erase the utility debt of low-income households,
  3. And if utilities pay their fair share of COVID-19 pandemic-related costs.

Join Front and Centered member organization Puget Sound Sage in making your voice heard! Submit comments to the UTC by this Wednesday, September 30th. Share your story about why this issue is important to you and join us in asking the UTC to:

  1. Keep Washington families connected to power. This includes, at a minimum, guaranteeing service until all counties in a utility’s service district are in Phase 4 of Governor Inslee’s Safe Start Plan.  Ultimately, we know energy is a fundamental need and no one should be disconnected from access.
  2. Support low-income families by approving staff’s proposal for each utility to provide up to $2,500 in bill assistance to households earning up to 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level.   Through the Clean Energy Transition Act Front and Centered help draft and pass, utilities will be required to plan for a massive increase in assistance, but we can’t wait given the current crisis.  Households need support now.
  3. Require utilities to pay their fair share. This includes but is not limited to: prohibiting deferred accounting petitions regarding late payment fees and reconnection charges that utilities are legally prohibited from collecting during the pandemic by Governor Inslee’s Proclamation.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not over and neither can the protections we need to weather this crisis.  We know that this is just the beginning and we look forward to working with you to ensure energy justice!

Please reach out with any questions!

Sameer Ranade | (he/him/his)

Civic Engagement and Policy Manager

Mobile: 360-218-4642 | Office: 206-487-4303

Demand Health and Safety Protections for Farmworkers

by Leave a Comment

From Community to Community (C2C-partner of the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship):

 

Update! On Monday we asked our supporters to call the Department of Health and L&I to demand health and safety protections for farmworkers. We now have the direct phone number for Joel Sacks, Director of L&I. Please call him directly at (360) 902-4293. Demand that proper ventilation is required in Farmworker housing. Demand that workplaces are shut down in response to covid outbreaks. We will not tolerate the ongoing exploitation of Farmworker lives!

U.S. Loved One, RBG, Rest in Peace

by Leave a Comment

“We have lost one of the greatest American patriots to ever serve on the U.S. Supreme Court,” Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee mourned. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg was so much more than a judge; she was one of America’s greatest champions for justice, in the truest sense of the word. “We should all raise our voices to make sure her last wishes are met: Her seat should not be filled until 2021.”  Call your senator and tell them to honor the precedent set in 2016: demand they delay a vote confirming a new Supreme Court Justice until after the election.  Here is the contact information for your Washington State Senators: 

Patty Murray – (202) 224-2621 Toll Free: (866) 481-9186

https://contactsenators.com/washington/patty-murray

Maria Cantwell – (202) 224-3441

https://www.cantwell.senate.gov/contact