Racial Justice Upcoming Events

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Martin Luther King Jr. Join Interfaith Power & Light to view Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek, an award winning film about the unjust impact of climate change on an historic black community, and attend an IPL webinar to learn ways we can practice being allies in the fight for safe and healthy black communities. Click here to watch a preview and purchase a ticket for the film and webinar. Come Hell or High Water: The Battle for Turkey Creek follows the painful but inspiring journey of Derrick Evans, a Boston teacher who moves home to coastal Mississippi when the graves of his ancestors are bulldozed to make way for the sprawling city of Gulfport. Over the course of a decade, Derrick and his neighbors stand up to powerful corporate interests and politicians and face ordeals that include Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil disaster in their struggle for self-determination and environmental justice. Watch a preview and purchase your ticket to view this critically acclaimed film online August 2 through August 4 and attend the webinar. The webinar will be at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on August 5 with filmmaker Leah Mahan and Derrick Evans. Moderated by Susan Stephenson, the conversation will center around the disproportionate impacts of climate change on black and brown communities. We’ll also hear updates on the fight to achieve environmental justice for Turkey Creek and learn measures we can all take through policy and direct action to create more just systems and healthier communities. $20 for an individual ticket. You will receive the link to view the film and the password, plus access to the webinar. $50 for a congregational screening ticket. You will receive a link for up to 150 members of your congregation to view the film for free and attend the webinar. Click here to purchase. Funds will go to support climate justice for Turkey Creek and to reimburse the small independent film team. May justice and mercy prevail, Sarah Paulos Community Engagement and Program Manager Interfaith Power & Light

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  The Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites is MOBILIZING to DEFUND the SPD by 50% and REINVEST IN BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITIES. We have until July 17th to influence the city budget. As a people who have historically benefited from the institution of police, we have a responsibility to advocate for its abolition. We are MOBILIZING TOGETHER to DEFUND the SPD by 50%  and REINVEST IN BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITIES This work is not done!  If you have been following the news lately, you likely know that Mayor Durkan is on the offensive.  She has proposed a 20% budget cut, even though if we can maintain a veto-proof majority in city council, she has very little power to implement that proposal. SO, it is imperative that we keep pressure on our Council Members to hold to their commitment.  The pro-police folks are organizing as well. They're planning on using our tactics to try to flip Council Members votes.   Our action is to keep up the calls and emails! They matter- don't let up and give the pro-police folks the phone lines!  Only a quarter of our Phone Zap spots are filled for today - so sign up. And make the calls even if you don't sign up!  Below you will find all of the city council members contact information!  

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The WA Low Income Housing Alliance works toward the opportunity for all Washington residents to live in safe, healthy, affordable homes in thriving communities. They sponsor a weekly webinar to highlight work and provide action points on these issues. Examples of recent/coming meetings: Marc Dones  joined us July 1st to share about the newly formed Center on Housing Justice, an arm of the National Innovation Service that will focus on dismantling structural racism inside our nation’s housing and homeless service systems, and redesigning toward an equitable future! On July 8th, we'll be joined by Lowel Krueger from the Yakima Housing Authority and Amber Johnson from SNAP to discuss how COVID-19 is impacting their tenants. If you would like to submit a question ahead of the call, please use this form to do so! We will do our very best to answer your questions during the call or in follow-up correspondence. You can register for the call at this link, or by clicking the button above. After registering, you should receive a confirmation email with the call-in information and a password. If for some reason you do not, please email John at johns@wliha.org to make sure you get it.

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Food is a basic need, and healthy local food should be a fundamental right. At the heart of the food system is the seed.  Our current food system is so broken - in most all ways. Join Backbone for two events, this Friday and next Wednesday. We will talk about the effects of racism and colonization on our food system and how those oppressive systems relate to growing a garden and saving your seeds.  

Scroll down for detailed info on each virtual event and to register.

A wonderful opportunity!

We need volunteers

Letter to UUJEC from Pablo DeJesus, council member UUA’s PPC Leadership Council:

I'm writing to ask if UUJEC can do several things to support UU involvement in the PPC, especially in these final days leading into Sat. June 20th -- a major milestone for PPC. See the UUA announcement on the formation of a UU leadership council HERE or UUSJ's promulgation in our May eNews, of which I am a part. (Several council members are CCed here.)

As you know, this is a deeply troubling moment in our nation, rife with an unfolding national conversation about the disproportionate economic impacts of the pandemic and the cross-cutting role of systems of criminalization and racial injustice as entrenched policy and social structures.  For this reason, it feels even more deeply important for UUs to support campaigns that center the leadership of poor and low-income people, people of color, and other disenfranchised folks in our society.  The PPC is such a campaign.

So I'd ask on behalf of the UUA’s PPC Leadership Council for several steps in the assistance of the council and our UU denomination's commitment to the PPC.

Four Asks:

1. UUJEC Contacts: Very Timely/Urgent -- Can you help connect the council with any UUs that are low-income folks, willing to speak of that experience (to witness) as part of a Church of the Larger Fellowship service on June 14, 2020, centered on PPC?  I'm thinking of folks perhaps like your brave UUJEC member who spoke directly to Sen. Portman (OH) during our joint UU conference in 2017 (Reversing Inequality: Healthcare Justice is a UU Value). Personal stories like his will help the PPC council win hearts and minds.

2. UUJEC Promotion: Can you promulgate the special UU RSVP for June 20th and encourage UUs in the UUJEC network to register and attend several times going into June 20th in ~10 days?  In so doing you'd be joining the UUA, SideWithLove, and UUSJ.   You can see in UUSJ’s June eNews and our events list how UUSJ is striving to promote (in part). You may have seen some of our eBlasts. UUSJ is also posting events and content to Facebook as possible. Please consider closely what UUJEC can do to support the promotion of PPC. Here is the PPC's digital toolkit that offers text & graphics to make things easier.

3. UUJEC Connection: Rev. Robin Tanner, NJ is a UU minister from NJ and also a lead national faith organizer for the PPC. She might be able to speak to UUJEC stakeholders to explain the PPC campaign and its goals and especially its economic justice commitments. I will comment here, I can think of few national campaigns beyond the PPC that are so clearly aligned with UUJEC's general interest in restructuring the American economy away from escalating inequality, rampant inequity, and towards justice, equity, and service to the human condition.

4. UUJEC Follow-on: Please consider having an internal conversation during the next month or so, on if or how UUJEC can support UU mobilization and participation in the PPC heading towards November. It is my understanding after we “click” past June 20th the PPC will be more focused on Voter Mobilization and GOTV activity engaging poor and low-income participation. As you know from our two conferences together, if we can get candidates who take structural inequity and inequality seriously as a policy area, we will have more traction and support for policies in the next congress that reflect UU values and principles.  This is generally consistent with UUA's UU the Vote campaign, and UUSJ's joint project with Reeb Voting Rights Project (review an upcoming event June 17 HERE or RSVP). On how PPC activity dovetails with UU the Vote, Susan Leslie, UUA might offer referrals to specific staff.

It is my sincere hope that UUJEC can look at what is possible in response to this request for connection and assistance from the UUA PPC Leadership Council.

In love and for justice, 

Pablo

Join UUs for a Just Economic Community for a webinar:

Climate Crisis, like COVID-19, is a Global Health Threat; & Managing the Health Effects of the Climate Crisis. Thursday June 11, 5:00 pm PDT

To join our Webinar, please click here.

Brief Bio: Julia Ying is a volunteer public speaker trained by former US Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project. She is Co-Chair of the Climate Reality Northern New Mexico Chapter. She is also a member of 350 Santa Fe. She is a retired General Medical Practitioner from Sydney Australia, and is a happy grandmother to 5 grandchildren. She is now living in Los Alamos, NM. She is passionate about taking care of Mother Earth, to preserve the beauty of nature she loves, and to know her grandchildren can grow up in a safe, sustainable world.

Julia Ying can be contacted on: climaterealitynnm@gmail.com     Website: ClimateRealityNNM.org

Dying of Whiteness: The politics of racial resentment with Dr. Jonathan Metzl. Join Dr. Jonathan Metzl (physician,psychiatrist, sociologist, and author) and look at what it will take to overcome the politics of white resentment and steer the nation toward cooperation, compassion, and unity. In his bestselling book, Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland, Dr. Jonathan Metzl set out to explore and answer the question: why do working class and struggling white Americans often vote against their own interests? His interviews to understand the health implications of “backlash governance” led him to examine how racial resentment fueled pro-gun laws in Missouri, resistance to the Affordable Care Act in Tennessee, and cuts to schools and social services in Kansas. Now, in the midst of a national health and economic crisis, we’re seeing white resentment play out with the protests against the quarantine. And based on conversations with Trump supporters for his book, Dr. Metzl also has a dire warning in this election year: Trump’s followers will not turn on him, even as they are sickened or killed by the pandemic that he made dramatically worse. When: May 26, 2020 1:00 to 2:00 pm Where: Online Sliding scale-$5 to $25. To register, and for more information CLICK HERE Sponsored by SpeakOut - the Institute for Democratic Education and Culture

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The novel coronavirus pandemic is having devastating health and economic consequences in the US and around the world. And while the virus does not discriminate, communities of color are disproportionately affected. Intersecting systems of oppression such as racism and classism are compounding the harmful effects of COVID-19, resulting in alarming disparities between whites and other racial/ethnic groups, particularly African Americans, Latinxs, and Native Americans.

If you are one of these white people, come join us for our second online Action Lab, where we will take no more than 30 minutes to (1) frame this moment through an anti-racist lens and (2) collectively take a few action steps to support those who are hit the hardest by this pandemic.

1:00 to 1:30 pm via Zoom

(registration required)

Intended for white people but others are welcome to join*

*If you are heavily involved in organizing with CARW’s partner organizations (La Resistencia, Got Green, Duwamish Tribe, etc.), this action lab might not be for you. But feel free to check it out if you’d like, you’re welcome to even if you’re heavily involved in that organizing!

If you plan to attend, please register here: https://washington.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwvdemvqDkrHtdEU0Zo85qoRqgddNYRdRfl

We hope to see you there.

The COVID-19 crisis is exacerbating pre-existing inequities, especially among Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. It’s critical that we build power now to confront these inequities – which are now determining who lives and who dies. As part of 350.org’s 3-year strategic plan, we’re building a Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) base of frontline communities hit hardest by climate change.

So today, we’re launching the BIPOC Climate Leadership Program. If this sounds like a program for you, please apply here by the May 8th deadline.    Learn more about the program here, and apply by May 8th. The program is being led by Black organizers at 350.org. Our goal is to equip organizers with the tools they need to tackle systems of climate injustice and racial injustice in 2020 and beyond.  Here are the dates of the four training modules, which will all take place at 10am-1pm PT/ 1-4pm ET:

• Module 1: Saturday, May 23rd
• Module 2: Saturday, June 27th
• Module 3: Saturday, July 11th
• Module 4: Saturday, August 8th

For too long, Black, Indigenous, communities of color have dealt with the nefarious effects of climate change and have been largely left out of the climate movement. It’s time for climate action against the fossil fuel industry and structural systems of oppression to be powered by people who have a stake in this work due to their lived experience. That’s why we’re piloting the new BIPOC Climate Leadership Program. Learn more about the program here. Apply here by May 8th.

The Mass Poor People’s Assembly & Moral March on Washington on June 20, 2020 will not be postponed but will be transformed! We are going digital! We will hold the largest digital and social media gathering of poor and low-wealth people and people of conscience in this nation’s history. The COVID-19 global pandemic is exposing the already existing crisis of poverty in America, and we are going to bombard every member of Congress and the White House so that we raise up the demands of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. We will not be able to gather physically in Washington DC, but it is paramount that we have a forum where poor and low-wealth people can share their truths with a nation that needs its heart broken. If there was ever a time for a massive outcry, it’s right now. People are hungry for bold, visionary solutions, not just to this current crisis, but to systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism. Poor and low-wealth people know the solutions we need. Stay tuned for more about how we are transforming our vision to adapt to the digital space. We may be isolated, but we remain united! Forward together, The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival

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The last four years in countering anti-Muslim bigotry has been quite a journey. We are so blessed that you have walked this journey with us!

• What is Sharia?
• Islam and Women’s Rights
• Islam and Peace
• Islam and Other Religions
• The Islamophobia Industry

For the past year, we have been working to create five animated videos in a three-minute format to address these questions. We are calling it the “Faith Over Fear Campaign.” You will see the videos, meet the animators and be encouraged by others working to counter hate and bigotry towards any group. Light refreshments will be provided.

When: Monday, February 10, 2020, 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

Where:  Muslim Association of Puget Sound, 17550 NE 67th Ct, Redmond, WA 

Register Here:          Registration limited to 90 people

https://www.facebook.com/events/641805063226239/

Each year anti-Muslim hate groups spend over $30 million dollars to make people afraid of Islam and American Muslims. The websites, You Tube videos, books, white papers, lobbying, and media stars of these hate groups turn the hearts and minds of people against one another, paving the way for a more divided, fearful future. We don’t have to live in that future. Together we can build a future based on our shared values and vision for America! Yet Muslims and their allies are daily confronted with challenging questions by people captivated by fear, framed in ways that place them at a significant disadvantage. The Faith Over Fear four-hour Ally Training will give you tested strategies to use in response to these challenging questions - and the fears that underlie them.When: Saturday, February 1, 2020, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Where: Trinity Lutheran Church, 6215 196th St SW, Lynnwood, WA https://www.facebook.com/events/547172202798126/

Register Here

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Whether you are a seasoned activist or new to race work, we invite folks who identify as White/of European decent to deepen your race awareness and gain tools to take action towards a more equitable, just, and healthy life for all people, in a supportive and creative environment.

CLICK HERE for workshop details & to register

(*There will be a related workshop for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, July 6 -7, 2020, led by Ashnie Butler & Cheryl Harrison. Learn more about the BIPOC Caucus.)

The White Privilege Symposium (WPS) Northwest is an evening followed by a full day event designed to examine patterns, cultures, and systems that contribute to identity, power, and privilege. In examining and challenging concepts of privilege and oppression, WPS Northwest offers solutions and team building strategies to work towards a more equitable world. Special Guest EduTrainer Christian Paige. Registration Opens Feb. 14, 2020

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