Justice News, Events and Action Alerts Update
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♦ = Immediate Action Requested ♦ = Event ♦ = News ♦ = Article
JUUstice Washington Organizational News
♦♦ Don’t Delay. Register for the Justice Summit: October 12, 2019 (with pre- and post-events on the 11th and 13th).
This year’s theme is “Navigating Intersectionality.” One plenary session, Intersectionality: Meaning and Challenge, will explore moving beyond traditional frameworks that separate social problems into singular and distinct challenges faced by specific groups. The second Plenary Session, Meeting the Challenge, will explore practical ways that persons from diverse and overlapping identity groups can work together and find common goals in more powerful ways than groups with one focus of identity. Please register early if you need a homestay or childcare. More
♦♦ Connect at the Summit Justice Fair, 7:30-8:30 am, Oct. 12, Olympia WA. Reserve a table to connect with UUs about your programs and events. We’re especially interested in programs that connect people across different subject areas and/or populations, in conjunction with the theme of intersectionality. Contact Sharon
Explosion of Events. As events with climate change, immigrant detention and other urgent issues inundate our inbox, and events spring up with no forewarning, we hustle to publish to our website as fast as events unfold. We first put everything possible on our calendar. If you’d like to stay completely up-to-date, make it a habit to check our calendar.
UUA News
♦ Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, President of the UUA, delivers a compelling message about what Unitarian Universalists are doing to create climate justice. The UUA and UU’s advocate for climate justice following the leadership of most impacted communities doing frontline climate justice work. More
News from Our Action Teams
Refuge, Immigrant and Migrant Solidarity (RIMS) Action Team
RIMS Calendar
♦♦♦ Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson has joined a lawsuit with 19 other attorneys general to challenge the federal government’s immigration policies. In conjunction with this suit, he is filing a 26-page declaration, arising from interviews last month with 28 children ages 12 to 17, most of whom were detained in Border Patrol facilities over the last year and then sent to Washington state. Access the government policy, the lawsuit and the children’s declaration here.
♦ WAISN Statewide Gathering. September 27-29, 2019. Ellensburg, WA. Our goals for the WAISN Statewide Convening are building statewide relationships and partnerships, solidifying our membership structure, setting priorities for 2020, and learning from our communities. Read here for more info.
♦ Free Immigration 101 Training at Wenatchee Valley College. Friday, September 13th at 10:00am – 1:00pm. Join us on Friday, 9/13, at Wenatchee Valley College to learn more about current immigration matters in the US. This training is aimed at social service providers and people working closely with the immigrant community, as well as allies who want to better understand the complexities behind immigration law. More info here.
♦ Stop Construction of Tacoma Liquified Natural Gas Facility: Comments Needed by Sept. 9, 2019. Puget Sound Energy is trying to complete construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas facility in the Port of Tacoma on Puyallup Tribe lands without any consultation. It is also a critical issue expected to have adverse impacts on the Salish Sea. Besides all the environmental impacts, consultation with Puyallup should have been done first and foremost. Please read more here and then submit your comments.
♦♦ Netse Mot: One Mind for Xw’ullemy. September 27, 2019. 5:00 pm. Blaine Marine Park, Fishing Pier, Blaine WA. Lummi Nation will be leading Netse Mot: One mind to Protect of Xw’ullemy (Salish Sea), an international and intertribal event that calls attention to the critical state of the Salish Sea. We need all hands on deck, either on the water or on land! Whether you’re from Canada or the U.S.! The goal of the event is to demonstrate the impact an international collaboration under the leadership of the Tribes/Nations, empowered by the support of environmental and social justice organizations and the faith community, can have in addressing the many of challenges the Salish Sea. Read here for more info, pass the word and bring families and friends!
♦ Reconciliation Pipeline: How to Shackle Native People by Winona LaDuke. Re: the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline from Alberta Province through British Columbia and Washington State. “You can’t make this stuff up. At the end of the fossil fuel era, the plan is to transfer the liability to Native people. And it’s not going to work. Dressed up as ‘equity positions’, or ‘reconciliation’, across the continent, corporations and governments are trying to pawn off bad projects on Native people.” Read rest of article here and see more on our “Challenges of the Salish Sea” web section.
Climate Justice Action Team Climate Justice Calendar
♦♦♦ Global Climate Strike Events, Sept. 20, 25, 27, many locations. Sixteen-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg asks this question, and we’re asking people of faith to respond. We UUs know that all that exists is part of an interdependent web. What we do matters. We must show up for each other now. Are you ready to demand a just and sustainable world? A right to a future for our youth and young adults? Sign up here for the Sept. 20th Global Climate Strike and Week of Action by locating an event near you and you will be in touch with local organizers. Also check calendars at 350.org and the Sierra Club. More
♦♦♦ Climate Strike Sunday, Sept. 15, your congregation. Get your congregation involved in the Climate Strike! Reach out to your minister and worship planning team, your church board, your social justice and environmental committees — this is a time to bring our UU community and values out of the pews and into the streets! More
Economic Justice Action Team
Economic Justice Calendar
♦♦ Food assistance is at risk–again. Your comments needed by September 23rd. Just months after Congress rejected cuts to our most important food assistance program (SNAP), the Administration is now proposing to implement, through executive action, a second SNAP benefits cut it failed to secure through legislation. The proposal would eliminate SNAP benefits for 3.1 million individuals and take free school meals away from 500,000 children in those families. We cannot let that happen. More
Legislative Advocacy Legislative Advocacy Calendar
♦♦ Interested in National Issues? Get Your Message to DC Sooner! JUUstice Washington is primarily concerned with state issues. For UUs interested in national issues, we have a sister action network,UUSJ.net, in Washington, DC. Security scrutiny of postal mail to Congress and executive agencies in Washington, DC results in a month-long delay of delivery. To avoid this delay, you can request a national advocacy toolkit by emailing advocacy@uusj.org. With this toolkit, you can frame messages to Congress and executive agencies, and activists in DC will hand-deliver them for you.
♦♦ Redistricting U is a free, in-person organizing training initiative sponsored by All on the line. They send dedicated trainers to cities across the country to give volunteers the tools to impact the redistricting process in their state, hear from them on how to best make change in their communities, and empower them to be leaders in the movement for fair maps. More
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) EDI Calendar
♦♦♦ Interested in National Issues? Get Your Message to DC Sooner! JUUstice Washington is primarily concerned with state issues. For UUs interested in national issues, we have a sister action network,UUSJ.net, in Washington, DC. Security scrutiny of postal mail to Congress and executive agencies in Washington, DC results in a month-long delay of delivery. To avoid this delay, you can request a national advocacy toolkit by emailing advocacy@uusj.org. With this toolkit, you can frame messages to Congress and executive agencies, and activists in DC will hand-deliver them for you.
Featured Films Sept. 9th, Port Townsend WA and Sept. 10, Vashon WA
♦ Join Meaningful Movies Port Townsend and special guest Director David Jepsen for “Labor Wars of the Northwest,” the compelling story of the working men and women who fought for fairness and dignity in the Pacific Northwest. More
Featured Training, Sept. 14, Seattle WA
♦♦ Non-Violent Direct Action Training Hosted by 350 Seattle Pledge of Resistance Team. Learn the basic concepts of non-violent direct action (NVDA) from experienced trainers, including how to plan an action, de-escalation skills, role play practice and more. More information
For this and other scheduled trainings, please check out the JUUstice Washington calendar
Wellness for Justice Activists
“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
― Pirke Avot 2:20