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Vote to Approve Initiative 1000
November ballots are arriving soon! Initiative 1000 was passed in the 2019 state legislative session as a way to return affirmative action measures to Washington State, bringing equity to employment, contracting, and education for women, veterans, small businesses, and people of color. Now the vote has been brought to the people, and we are asking folks to look for Referendum 88 and APPROVE I-1000. The language around Referendum 88 and I-1000 has been confusing over the past year, so we wanted to show you an example of the language in the ballot (as posted in "The Stand") so you can familiarize yourself with what it is asking: As it states in the second sentence, I-1000 helps "remedy discrimination...without the use of quotas or preferential treatment." It asks whether I-1000 should be approved or rejected. We hope you will stand for equity in our state by filling in "APPROVED" this November! Please contact us if you need further clarification on the language of the ballot or what I-1000 and affirmative action would mean for the marginalized in our state. For more information, see the WA Fairness website or Facebook page.
Hector Barajas Served in the American Military. He Was Deported Just the Same.
This is an impressive article outlining a number of the issues involved with immigration. A must read.
No one knows how many veterans have been deported, least of all the government, which has never taken a full accounting. Barajas helped change that. The 42-year-old’s improbable journey, from decorated military veteran to deportee and eventual U.S. citizen, has raised important questions about what makes a citizen and what is owed to those who have served and are deported just the same.
Read more here.
How a fight over equity in Bellevue schools fueled the opposition to Washington’s affirmative-action initiative
Crosscut by Melissa Santos / September 11, 2019
The initiative relaxes Washington state’s 20-year ban on the use of affirmative action in government employment and contracting, as well as in admission to public colleges and universities. It does not allow race to be used as the sole factor in hiring or admissions decisions, however, and includes language banning the use of quotas.
The public vote on I-1000 will appear on the ballot this November as Referendum 88. If voters approve R-88, the affirmative-action policy will go into effect as the Legislature intended. If voters reject R-88, I-1000 will be overturned and not go into effect.
Seattle Fellowship of Reconciliation presents Karen Schneider Civil Rights Pilgrimage Presentation, Sept. 15, Seattle WA
When: Sunday, September 15, 2019, 6:30-8:30 p.m.,
Where: Woodland Park Presbyterian Church, 225 N 70 St, Seattle - Near #5 bus.
Karen Schneider will recount her experience with Project Pilgrimage in October 2017 as she visited historically significant sites in the Deep South from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 1960's. and met and travelled with surviving "foot soldiers" from that era. Project Pilgrimage builds interracial and intergenerational community in Washington and beyond by studying, understanding and gaining inspiration from transformational movements and individuals.
All are welcome! Free, an offering will be taken.
Info 206-789-5565 or wwfor@wwfor.org
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A more local perspective on Racism-Whatcom County
Numerous news stories reporting recent distribution of white supremacist posters and literature / Facebook post, Sj Robson
Posted on
There have been some people in Whatcom County who have suggested that posters linked to the white supremacist group, Patriot Front, which were reportedly placed in Ferndale in late July, might just be a stunt or a false flag. However, there have been numerous news stories reporting on the distribution of similar white supremacist posters and literature having occurred in other cities across the country.
Besides the posters seen in Ferndale, there was an August 22nd Bellingham Herald news article about Patriot Front posters having been placed in the Fairhaven shopping district in Bellingham which were reportedly seen on or around August 20, 2019.
Read more here.
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Sounders fans vow to continue fight to fly anti-fascist Iron Front symbol
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Sign Reverend Barber's Petition Calling for Presidential Candidate Anti-Racism, Pro-Voter Registration Rally
I'm Reverend William J. Barber, II, of Repairers of the Breach, the Poor People's Campaign, and the Moral Mondays movement. And I am asking you to join me in this call to all the presidential candidates:
All presidential candidates should unite for a massive, pro-voter, anti-racism rally in Greenville, NC—the city in which Trump supporters spread a bigoted, racist and xenophobic chant—to reject racism and regression, register voters, and demonstrate what an America committed to moving forward together looks like.
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The Green New Deal: Online Panel Discussion Can Spark Your Congregation's Climate and Economic Justice Activism
Much has been said and written about the political aspects of the Green New Deal. The substance of the Green New Deal has not gotten as much attention. House Resolution 109, introduced by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, lists the goals of the Green New Deal. These goals are captured into two broad categories, climate and economic. Under the economic tent are goals of the creation of millions of good, high paying jobs; providing unprecedented levels of prosperity
Great places to begin these discussions on the goals and politics of the Green New Deal are our congregations and community groups. An excellent video to facilitate the discussion is “The Climate Crisis and the Green New Deal” by the Sanders Institute. It can be found here.
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GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN The Untold Stories of Jail Deaths in Washington
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A Reflection on Racism in Seattle
Reprint from 2016
If we avoided people of other races, we could live in peace, the thinking went. Native Americans and Chinese were once expelled from the city; Japanese were interned during WWII. Blacks were clustered in the segregated Central District in Seattle and, along with Asians and Jews, were banned from many neighborhoods through covenants and redlining by lenders. Oregon officially banned blacks from moving to the state in its state constitution. We’re not unique in these problematic ways of dealing with race, but racism is baked into both the history and structure of our region. Cities like Seattle, which is 70 percent white, are that way in part by the intention of those who settled and built the city.
Read more here.
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Washington Senate to conduct review after lawmaker says she experienced sexism and racism in Olympia
OLYMPIA — The Washington Senate plans to conduct an informal review after state Sen. Mona Das, D-Kent, said she experienced “hate, sexism, racism and misogyny” during closed-door Democratic caucus meetings.
“After they close that door, that’s when it gets real,” Das, who is in her first term, said at the forum. “That’s when my 28 colleagues got real. And that’s when I heard hate, that’s when I heard misogyny and racism and sexism from people you would not expect.”
Read more here.
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Historic Congressional Session Debates Reparations
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Workshop: People of Color Caucus-Internalized Racism, July 8,9, Port Townsend WA
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Hundreds of Unitarian Universalists protest new Spokane Co. Jail
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Legislators of Color Help Provide Environmental Justice to Communities Most Impacted by Energy Laws
Dear supporters, friends and allies,
At the beginning of legislative session we saw an unprecedented number of legislators of color taking office in the Washington State Legislature. Meanwhile our Statewide Environmental Justice Summit created a groundswell of interest and energy from communities of color calling for change.
By the end of session, we made environmental justice and equity a real and meaningful conversation in Olympia, with outcomes that will move our state toward a just transition. Together, with our coalition and allies, we worked to ensure the 100 percent clean energy law prioritizes equity, and that clean electricity will benefit and be affordable to all. We blazed a trail for environmental justice principles to be adopted as state law, and now have a task force with leaders representing communities most impacted by pollution poised to recommend strategies for addressing long-standing health disparities.
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2019 Preliminary Summary of Legislation Passed by the Washington State Legislature
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Community Listening Forums on Implementing I-940 to Improve Police Procedures, May 2 and 8, Kent and Seattle WA
Initiative 940 is officially law in Washington State. However, the road towards implementation has just begun.
We have an opportunity to speak up on how this law is shaped and practiced. Two very crucial components are being developed: law enforcement training and independent investigations (when deadly force is used). We will provide an update on what steps have taken place since its passage and discuss what our communities envision for how this law is carried out. Comments shared at the event will be submitted to the Criminal Justice Training Commission who is responsible for finalizing the new training rules.
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Hone Your Justice Skills at GA, June 19-22, Spokane WA
THURSDAY, JUNE 20
10 am-12 pm - Effective and Relational Justice Work in UU Spaces
Offered by UUs for Social Justice in the Middle East
Social justice work is central to Unitarian Universalist identity and is often controversial. UU activists must be effective in making a difference and relational in showing respect while being courageous and prophetic. This program will examine how these goals can be met in UU congregations and organizations.
SATURDAY, JUNE 22
3 - 4 pm - Effective and Relational Justice Work in UU Spaces
Offered by UUs for Social Justice in the Middle East
Social justice work is central to Unitarian Universalist identity and is often controversial. UU activists must be effective in making a difference and relational in showing respect while being courageous and prophetic. This program will examine how these goals can be met in UU congregations and organizations.
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Informal Structures Privilege Those in Power says UUA's Commission on Institutional Change
In 
our work as the Commission on Institutional Change, we have found that an area in need of analysis is that of over-reliance on informal structures to carry out governance work whether at the local, regional, or denominational level. Informal structures rely on social relationships and thus tend to privilege people from the dominant culture in a community or organization.
As we seek to add more and diverse voices into leadership among us, reliance on informal structures can mean that new people cannot figure out how to contribute. If the way to get something done is to know the “right” people, then this can perpetuate a narrower circle of leadership.
Continue reading Informal Structures Privilege Those in Power on UUA.org.
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Community Conversation: Weaponizing Charges of AntiSemitism, May 2nd in Seattle
Join us for this important and long-overdue community conversation!
Rep. Ilhan Omar. Linda Sarsour. Tamika Mallory. Marc Lamont Hill. Angela Davis.
How are charges of antisemitism being weaponized to specifically target powerful Black and Muslim leaders, force Jews and Jewish allies into false dichotomies, divert attention from the worldwide rise of white nationalism and state violence, and divide progressive movement-building?
Who benefits? Who is harmed? And most importantly, what can we do to recognize and disarm these attempts to divide us?
FREE event, but registration required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/intersectional-dialogue-on-weaponizing-charges-of-antisemitism-tickets-60506424344
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