justice

The Coming Fire

/ uurevjeff

The Covid-19 virus is redefining “normal” behavior in America.  But don’t get comfortable, because that new normal may soon be shattered.

Donald Trump may be a buffoon; he may be evil; he is almost certainly dangerous.  One thing for sure, however is this – Donald Trump has no intention of leaving the White House and he will not let an election get in the way of his fascist dream.  We must prepare ourselves for the unthinkable.

If the poll numbers continue, apparently showing that Trump will not win re-election in November, then he will do whatever it takes to make sure the election does not take place.  Given the current numbers and the mood of the nation, I believe Donald Trump is already setting into motion a plan to postpone the upcoming election indefinitely and expand his powers.

Think about it.  Trump abhors losers.  Trump has repeatedly shown a lack of understanding as well as a complete disregard for the Constitution.  His followers currently control the Senate and the Supreme Court.  As we saw from the Defense Secretary today, they will do whatever their master bids them do.  Now he is deploying American troops on American soil to act against American citizens.

For three years, Trump has soaked our nation in gasoline.  All he needs now is the spark to set the whole thing ablaze, to give him the excuse he needs to take possession of the White House permanently.

maxresdefaultIn 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power after being elected by the masses of disenfranchised Germans.  Through intimidation and direct violence, he quashed opposition.  Cloaking himself in a simplistic narrative of the German volk and virulent hatred of minority populations, he bullied his way into power.  Then, with another election imminent, he kept power through a massive distraction – the burning of the Reichstag building (the German equivalent of the U.S. Capitol).

A few hours after the Reichstag Fire, Nazi propagandists spread fears of a Communist revolt.  Hitler convinced Hindenburg to invoke Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, giving Hitler dictatorial powers.  The Decree for the Protection of the People and the State (known as the Reichstag Fire Decree) suspended the right to assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and other constitutional democratic protections.  The decree also allow the Nazis to arrest and jail 4,000 political prisoners and others in one night.  His swift and brutal response bolstered his image among his base and terrified his opponents into silence.

Obviously, the parallels are not exact.  The world is much different today than 87 years ago.  But don’t kid yourself.  Hitler based his eugenics laws on those of American states, which had sterilized tens of thousands in the 20th century.  Hitler admired the American genocide of indigenous peoples – a model he would enact himself a few years later throughout Europe.  The roots of fascism may be buried out of sight in America, but they still exist, ready to sprout again.

Call me an alarmist.  I hope beyond all possible hope that I am completely wrong.  But we cannot underestimate the lengths to which this man will go to retain power.  He will stop at nothing, discarding our democracy if necessary, to emulate his heroes, such as Putin, Un, and other tyrants across the globe.

Take to the streets and keep protesting.  Don’t let up.  Make Trump say, “I can’t breathe,” from the pressure of public opinion.

The Race Elephant

/ uurevjeff

“…it simply is not true that one can believe anything and be a Unitarian.  This is not what creedlessness means.  One cannot be a racist and a Unitarian; be a Nazi and a Unitarian; a polygamist and a Unitarian; a bigot and a Unitarian.  In our zeal for growth, we must not sacrifice the character of our movement as a rational, idealistic, ethical religion.  Everybody is not, and cannot be a Unitarian regardless of their unethical behavior or prejudicial beliefs.” – A. Powell Davies

In all the years since the merger that created the Unitarian Universalist Association, one issue remains constantly at the forefront of our unaccomplished vision.  Year after year, we failed to adequately address institutionalized racism in our own churches, let alone in the world beyond our walls.  The irony is that we know the causes – privilege and whiteness.  The tragedy is that we have not yet developed the communal will to tackle these causes.  Our goal of affirming the inherent worth and dignity of every person will remain beyond our grasp until we destroy these pernicious attitudes.

Many in our ranks work with great dedication toward this end.  Some of our ministers and lay members represent models of allyship with People of Color.  However, the vast majority of Unitarian Universalists remain unengaged in anti-racism and anti-oppression work.  Like most of our social justice causes, we gently encourage members to educate themselves; we create painless ways to help ourselves feel like we are contributing to the greater good; and we provide a modicum of support to organizations committed to the cause.  In the end, however, our commitment as a faith body to erase racism is tepid.

Every time another young Black man or woman is murdered by the police or some heartless “stand your ground” zealot, we wring our hands and opine at the scope of the problem.  And yet, the solution is not only obvious, but one we have done before.

quote-life-is-just-a-chance-to-grow-a-soul-a-powell-davies-58-44-80The Reverend A. Powell Davies accepted the pulpit of All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C. in 1945.  Living in Washington showed Davies first-hand the realities of segregation.  He began by getting his own house in order, for while African-Americans had attended All Souls over the years, they were not welcomed as full members until 1950.  He pressured the Police Boys’ Club No. 10, housed at All Souls, to integrate.  They refused and ended their relationship with the church.  Davies then helped create the racially integrated Columbia Heights Youth Club.

But his most significant contribution came in 1953, when Davies launched a successful city-wide campaign to patronize only those restaurants that would serve all people regardless of race.  In his wonderful biography, George Marshall quotes Davies from his February 1953 sermon:

Suppose we said this – “I do not believe in segregation; it is unjust, unrighteous, unbrotherly; I intend to do what I can to end it.”  Well, that is our intention, a good intention, and it makes us feel like fine people.  We are very happy, very warm with self-esteem, and very safe within its shelter…Suppose we should say, “I will not eat a meal in any restaurant that excludes Negroes.”  Suppose we said further, “I will make it known to the managements of such restaurants.”  We might feel rather odd – and we might have to eat in unaccustomed places.  Our friends would raise their eyebrows – not much, but just enough for us to notice it.  “Isn’t that going a little far?” some of them would ask.  Which it surely is.  Because it is carrying a good intention to fulfillment…If America is to be a righteous nation, worthy of the greatness of its opportunity, it must come through righteous deeds, not lofty talk.  

Davies then made that commitment and called on the 1000+ members of the church to follow his example.  This call to end segregation in restaurants, hotels, and other entities spread across the country.

The time is long overdue to continue this work, to carry our good intentions to fulfillment by attacking not only the effects of racism, such as segregation, but its root causes.  We must take our lofty words and resolutions and turn them into denomination-wide actions that are not merely suggestions but mandates of a people of faith.  For you cannot be a Unitarian Universalist and a racist.

That means every one of us commits to understand and accept the role of privilege in our lives and to act and sacrifice to dismantle its effects.  Every one of us must stand against white supremacy is all of its forms, and drive the bigots from positions of power and influence.  We must defend victims of race-based violence as our brothers and sisters.  And we must pursue a realignment of social priorities in order to eradicate poverty and provide basic human rights for all people, especially if that means sharing the wealth we obtained through the fruits of privileged birth and station in life.

This is not a creed.  This is a test of our faith.

Let us resolve to take this opportunity afforded by the social effects of pandemic to reshape ourselves, our churches, and our society; to right historic wrongs; and to achieve the our dreams of equality, fairness, and justice.

God is Love

/ uurevjeff

97050-uuchurchofsmithtonAfter I finished my ministerial internship, I took a half-time contract position at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Smithton PA.  Looking back, this was perhaps my happiest time as a minister.

During my time in this tiny town of 400 souls, we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the congregation, one of last remaining Universalist churches in the Pennsylvania Convention.  Each member epitomized what I saw as the best of our faith tradition.  While interested in intellectual discourse, they most valued relevance of their church in their lives and in the greater community, and loving every person for who they were.  With nine members and a budget barely exceeding $10,000, they ran an LGBTQ coffeehouse in a conservative, rural area; they marched in Pittsburgh’s Pride Parades; and we reached seekers who lived far away because the message we delivered spoke to them.

A self-proclaimed atheist, my first exposure to the church was a wooden plaque hanging near the pulpit proclaiming, “God is Love.”  This artifact of the church’s Universalist roots brought me shockingly face-to-face with a seminal philosophy that my largely Unitarian exposure had for the most part ignored.  I wrote a sermon in which I posed the question, “What exactly do we mean when we proclaim that ‘God is Love’ from a Unitarian Universalist pulpit?”  I used that sermon to promote the then new Standing on the Side of Love campaign.

Today, however, my answer to that question would be very different.  Today, saying “God is Love” from a Unitarian Universalist pulpit does not emulate the First Epistle of John the Apostle that says, “Since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us…God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”

Modern Unitarian Universalism treats love as a desirable commodity; a commendable practice, but not truly fundamental to being Unitarian Universalist.  Love is something we do on weekends when we are not too busy.  We love when it doesn’t really cost us much time, or energy, or money.  We love so long as it makes us feel good.

I know that sounds harsh.  But these words only hurt because we have yet to realize the true depths of love and what power lies in that love.  We Unitarian Universalists proudly proclaim long lists of “famous” people in our history, including scientists, politicians, reformers, and authors.  But for me, our single most noteworthy figure was none of these.  She was not famous, or influential.  She was not rich or highly educated.

Viola Liuzzo was an average person – a wife and mother raising her family in Detroit – when she heard the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s call for people of faith to come to Selma.  She answered the call.  Weeks later, she was shot to death by Klansmen as she drove with another volunteer.

I am not saying we must die for our beliefs.  For love to have meaning, however, it must involve sacrifice.  Parents often sacrifice greatly for their children.  Children sometimes sacrifice to care for their elders.  But how much do we sacrifice for the stranger?  How many of us would willingly enter a Covid-19 ward day after day, living apart from our loves ones, with inadequate personal protection to protect the lives of strangers?

Siding with love means education and advocacy; it means service and action.  But siding with love ultimately must mean being willing to give up anything, perhaps everything, to abide in love and to let that love abide within us.  Through this, love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

Let us resolve to become a religion that loves unconditionally and without limits.  Let us abide in love so that love will abide in us whatever trials we face.  Without that love, science cannot fix our brokenness, money cannot buy solutions that heal us, and reason cannot unite us as one human family.

Migracion si!

/ uurevjeff

20190216_120831.jpg

Paths trod through oak woods,

Rutted roads span grassy plains.

Steel rails, son and asphalt mark lines on maps,

Roaming here, there, to and fro.

 

Trees sway in the breeze,

Flowers wing seeds to the sky.

Water sculpts the land, forming lakes and vales.

Glaciers shape the continents.

 

Movement is memory.

We walk on holy journeys.

Like Monarch waves flitting over nations,

We should also migrate free.

“Uncle Sam wants you to stay a dummy”

/ uurevjeff

fencesWe have all seen pictures of “the wall.”  Usually, the pictures are taken in isolated desert areas with no sign of nearby human activity.

But, the wall is not just a barrier, or a fence.  The wall between the United States and Mexico is creating a Stammlager (you may be more familiar with the shorter version, Stalag). These were the camps the Nazis used to hold prisoners of war. Of course, Germany was not alone.

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America is not inexperienced when it comes to fencing in prisoners of war.  This country illegally interred more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans whose only crime was their ethnic heritage.  Thousands of German-American “enemy aliens” were also arrested and interred in 1917, when the U.S. entered World War One.

But now, we are building the biggest fence against our enemies in history. Who are these enemies? Not terrorists – most of them enter the country through visas, or are homegrown; not the drug dealers – most of them arrive via plane or boat; and not most human traffickers – their clients are wealthy businessmen with plenty of money to protect their modern-day slaves from detection.

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So, who are the prisoners of war being detained in Stalag 1776? Not the Mexicans, the Hondurans, the Guatemalians, or indigenous peoples fleeing violence in their homes – violence too often funded by the U.S.  No, the prisoners are you and me, and every American who does not speak out in opposition to the growing police state that is America. We are prisoners of a war of fear, a war of capitalist imperialism, a war of racial bigotry.

The title of this posting came from the back of a shirt worn by one of the managed migrants paraded before the federal judge on February 12.  I honor this man’s courage to wear such a message while imprisoned by vast paramilitary forces of our country.  Uncle Sam does want you to stay ignorant, to remain complacent, to focus on the needs of yourself and your loved ones.  To hell with these u wanted illegals, with their diseases, their gangs, and their drugs.

I say, to hell with Uncle Sam – an outmoded symbol of American imperialism.  Let us return to the Statue of Liberty, who greeted so many of our own ancestors to these shores.

The Wall

/ uurevjeff

20190213_155337Nogales should be a unique and attractive city.  After miles of relatively flat desert and mountains in the distance, you enter on Interstate 19, and are suddenly faced with hills covered with homes of many styles.  It is a vertical city without the benefit of skyscrapers.

Nogales should be a unique city.  I imagine that in years past, the cultures of Mexican Nogales and Nogales, Arizona blended to make a fascinating town.  Streets literally feet apart must have shared neighborhood shops, festivals, and community.

20190213_160203Nogales should be an attractive city.  But now, Nogales is a wounded city.  A horrible gash splits the American and Mexican cities and a militarized gate makes passage between the two a burden, even a danger.  The lumbering monstrosity dominates the landscape, looking for all intent making each city look like a  prison.

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We approached the wall having seen news reports of the wall, fence, or whatever we are calling it today.  But nothing can quite prepare you for the horror of it all.  The horror just a few feet away is unspeakable; America is enclosing itself in a concentration camp that would have made the Nazis proud.

And yet, as if to magnify the irony of such a frightening visage of fear and violence, we turned and saw an incredible sight.  Across the street was a dirt driveway leading to a house.  In front of the house were about a dozen peacocks strolling casually and obviously oblivious to our presence.  One had its tail feathers spread full, and another was completely white (something I didn’t know existed.20190213_162509

Such magnificent color against the silver barbed wire; such fragility against the cold steel pillars.  Would that we lived in a world where one was the norm and the other had no reason to exist.

The American Reich

/ uurevjeff

20190213_101309Migrants entering the United States face an incredible array of personnel and technology.  Beyond the standard local police, county sheriffs and U.S. marshals, they must also evade the Border Patrol.

Close to 20,000 border patrol agents stand between a migrant and the dream of living and working in America.  Border Patrol trucks are everywhere in southern Arizona, some hauling horse trailers so agents can get to off-road locations.  Checkpoints – permanent, semi-permanent, and temporary stop vehicles on roads and highways.  Towers dot the landscape with motion and heat detectors.  Once located, quickly dispatched helicopters locate whoever is walking in the desert.  One must wonder how any migrant escapes their surveillance.

20190213_153319.jpgAnd what does it take to become a border patrol officer?  A six-month course (only recently expanded from three months) and passing a test.

In Nazi Germany, many men failed the entrance exams to become soldiers of the Wehrmacht.  Thousands joined Ordnungspolizei units – police battalions often stationed in the Eastern front.  There they traveled from town to town rounding up enemies of the Reich and shooting them, filling mass, unmarked graves in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and elsewhere.  Report of Ordnungspolizei brutality only came to light decades later in Daniel Goldhagen’s book Hitler’s Willing Executioners.

The Southern Borders Community Coalition reports 83 deaths of migrants in the past eight years at the hands of border patrol agents, along with many reports of brutal treatment.

One must wonder how these vast resources could be used in a more constructive, humane, and moral way.

Here’s What You Can Do

/ uurevjeff

Whenever I speak about social justice and social action, this question invariably pops up: “But, what can I do?”

20190212_111001This morning, we met Lois Martin, an 84-year old who moved to Tucson 10 or so years ago to work on immigration justice.  She is a member of No More Deaths, an initiative of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson.  No More Deaths is a humanitarian organization based in southern Arizona working to end death and suffering in the Mexico-U.S. borderlands through civil initiative.  Their work focuses on direct aid (such as water drops in the desert), witnessing and responding, cons iousness raising, and promoting humane immigration policy.

Lois is an amazing person.  She has traveled extensively through Central America and has served as an election observer in Honduras and Guatemala.  She minced no words – the violence people are fleeing in these countries came about and continues because of American support of illegal regimes.  For the last century, groups like the United Fruit Farmers and a handful of wealthy landowners have terrorized the compesinos into fleeing for their lives.  And the U.S. has used these countries as staging points for immoral acoins in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

She taught us about our government’s goal to criminalize migration and to deter migration through death and imprisonment.  She explained how people caught by the border patrol agents (who perform police functions without proper police training) are remitted to the criminal justice system, not the immigration system.  Border patrol can hold migrants for 72 hours with no guarantee of even the basic services such as bedding. Claims of asylum are ignored and victims are processed through Operation Streamline, which results in a criminal record and immediate deportation.

Since the hearings take place in federal court, victims are not provided any translators but Spanish.  As a result, defendents (who may be members of many indigenous people’s with their own dialects) may have no understanding of what is happening to them.

We then spent the afternoon at the federal courthouse watching close to 100 people led into the courtroom in shackles.  Looking confused and frightened, shuffling because of the ankle chains, groups were led before the judge charged either with misdemeanor illegal entry or felony re-entry after removal. Pleading guilty to the former means immediate deportation and a criminal record.  All of the latter cases made plea bargains resulting in dropping the felony charge, but serving 30 to 180 days in prison.

20190212_161651Only after the hearing are migrants remitted to immigration services, where claims of asylum may be heard.  But, often the only person who may hear the claim is the bus driver taking them to Nogales, or an officer who simply chooses to ignore it.

The futility and inhumanity of this charade of justice was brought home by one man.  The judge asked if he had been in her court before.  He affirmed her recollection.  She told him, “I don’t want to see you here again, because next time it will be a felony.”  He replied, “Not anymore…what’s the point?”

What is the point?  What can you do?  See.  Think.  Plan.  Act.  Reflect.  And repeat.

Spreading the Message

/ uurevjeff

20190212_083622My week here on the border will change me.  My hope is that this time will also help me to change others.

But words only go so far.

Throughout human history – from cave paintings 50,000 years ago to today – art has been the universal language of our species.

20190212_083730The Borderlinks offices are filled with art of all kinds, displaying a world that many only read about or hear described on the news.  Even before we begin our immersion into the world of the undocumented, we are surrounded by their message, from photos to posters to original artwork.

Not surprisingly, images of Jesus and Mary are common.  Whatever the faith tradition, however, most striking are the themes of devotion, of belief, of love.  The people seeking freedom from oppression and violence in our country are people devoted to the moral teachings of a fellow traveler, whose ancestors also walked to new lands to escape oppression.  Their law teaches them to welcome the stranger, to love even one’s enemies, and to treat every person as brother or sister.

20190212_083814One of the sources of Unitarian Universalism is the teachings of the Jewish and Christian traditions – the laws of Moses, the justice of Isaiah, the wisdom of Solomon, and the gentleness of Jesus.  We, too, can find meaning and inspiration in art, regardless of the theology of its creator.

Art is not neutral.  Art does not discriminate.  Art can be used for evil purposes.  But art always reveals a truth; a truth about the artist as well as a truth about ourselves.

Out of Sadness

/ uurevjeff

I am out of sadness. I am numb, having used up all of my sorrow for idiotic and preventable gun-related deaths in this country.

I wish I felt surprise, even shock at the loss of life and the massive injuries inflicted by one man. But, since Columbine my shock tolerance has steadily increased.

I want to speak with the calm voice of reason. But the bile rises in my throat with the acid burn of rage. I want to look NRA backers in the face and tell them that they helped make this slaughter possible. By resisting even limitations on weapons of mass killing, opponents of gun control legislation helped Stephen Paddock pull that trigger.

I have no calm, no compassion to share with Second Amendment radicals today. I don’t care whether you think that is fair. Fair would have been Mr. Paddock failing a background check and being referred to mental health treatment before buying one of his many automatic weapons. Fair would be living in a world where civilians could not get their hands on guns that could fire hundreds of bullets in a matter of minutes.

So yes, I am filled with anger, with rage, with white-hot fury. Sitting here at my desk, I find myself incapable of thinking about anything but my revulsion at a government unwilling to collect statistics about gun violence, let alone talk about gun control.

But, at the same time, a sliver of my being still holds onto the emotion that will save me – the only emotion capable of saving us all. As the hours pass, the Love returns, pushing out the directionless rage, the unfocused fury. Love-fueled passion slowly displaces even the anger.

This is not the love of the healer and teacher, but the love of the agitator, the love of those who know that we must change our paradigms or die. This love tells me that we must enter the temple and overturn the tables again. We must chase the money lenders from our sacred spaces and reclaim the soul of the nation. We must stand up to the Pharisees who preach the status quo, as they line their pockets with bribes of gold and power.

A classroom full of school children wasn’t enough. A sitting congresswoman wasn’t enough. Is Las Vegas going to be the tipping point?