UU FA Office
UU Voter Registration Workshop on September 8
The presidential election season is in full swing, and we at the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of NJ want to give congregations the tools they need to ensure that our 5th UU principle, “the right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large” is ready come November!
Planned Parenthood Action Fund of NJ and the League of Women Voters are teaming up to bring UU leaders an opportunity to learn how to run voter registration drives at their congregations this Fall. This training will discuss NJ voter laws, materials, and how to conduct voter registration drives that fall within 501c3 guidelines and are non-partisan. Voting is one of the most important ways to access the political process and our elected officials make important decisions that can impact our future. Ensure your congregation’s members’ voices are heard and they are represented this election by learning how to organize a voter registration drive at your congregation.
Why learn to organize a voter registration drive at your congregation?
- 60% of people living at or below the Federal Poverty Level are not registered to vote.
- Low-income residents, minorities, and women are disenfranchised and underrepresented in elections.
- There is a growing gap between those who do and don’t vote, which threatens the democratic process.
Join us at the Unitarian Society in East Brunswick on Thursday, September 8 at 7:00 p.m. for this free workshop and put our faith into action!
Issues Conference with Chris Crass
Download the registration packet
REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS MONDAY, OCTOBER 10!
Turn your FAITH into ACTION!
Saturday, October 15, 2016 3:00 p.m.
Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Rd, Morristown, NJ
Anyone interested in the work of Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of NJ is encouraged to attend. We will identify UULMNJ focus issues for the coming year for each of our task forces: economic justice, reproductive justice, criminal justice reform, immigration reform, environmental justice, and gun violence prevention. You will have an opportunity to meet with justice leaders from other New Jersey Congregations while learning how to mobilize UULMNJ in your home congregation!
This year we welcome a very special guest, Chris Crass, as our keynote speaker. Chris is a longtime organizer, educator, and writer working to build powerful working class-based, feminist, multiracial movements for collective liberation. He gives talks and leads workshops on campuses and with communities and congregations around the U.S. and Canada, to help support grassroots activists efforts. He balances family with his public political work and believes they are deeply interconnected, as both are about working to bring our vision and values into the world. Chris is a Unitarian Universalist and works with faith-based communities to help build up the spiritual Left.
In 2000 he was a co-founder of the Colours of Resistance network, which served as a think tank and clearinghouse of anti-racist feminist analysis and tools for activists in the U.S. and Canada. After Sept. 11th, 2001, he helped to found the Heads Up Collective which brought together a cadre of white anti-racist organizers to build up the multiracial Left in the San Francisco, Bay Area through alliances between the majority white anti-war movement and locally-based economic and racial justice struggles in communities of color. He was also a member of the Against Patriarchy Men’s Group that supported men in developing their feminist analysis and their feminist leadership.
He has written widely about anti-racist and social justice organizing, lessons from women of color feminism, and strategies to build visionary movements. His essays have been translated into half a dozen languages, taught in hundreds of classrooms, and included in over a dozen anthologies including Globalize Liberation: How to Uproot the System and Build a Better World, On the Road to Healing: An Anthology for Men Ending Sexism, and We Have Not Been Moved: Resisting Racism and Militarism in 21st Century America. Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy and his latest book, Towards the “Other America”: Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter, are available on Amazon.
Join Our Exploratory Racial Justice and Local Policing Group
More than thirty UUs from multiple congregations across New Jersey joined our “crisis call” Tuesday, July 26. Following the ongoing police violence against people of color, and the beginning of a violent backlash against police officers, the UU Legislative Ministry called for a faith-rooted policing initiative deeply rooted in our UU commitment to justice, equity and a desire to end the structural effects of 250 years of racism. Participants included mothers of police officers, Legislative Ministry task forces chairs, ministers and congregants from Summit, Montclair, Monmouth County, Palisades, Princeton, Washington Crossing, Morristown, Ridgewood, Paramus, Somerset Hills, Hunterdon County, and Plainfield.
Callers shared ideas that ranged from minority law enforcement hires in municipalities and more cultural training opportunities for police, to showing up when events and rallies are planned and moving forward with legislation with a racial justice impact. Many want to reach out to Black Lives Matter organizers and other racial justice groups to see how we can best support the work they are already doing. Others site the need to don our traditional yellow shirts and show up with love. The sentiment that every caller shared is that something has to change.
We are heartened by this response. We are forming an exploratory Racial Justice and Local Policing group to think about how to move from outrage to local, congregation-based and legislation-supported action.
If you are interested in joining this effort, please be in touch with our Executive Director, Rev. Rob Gregson at ExecDir@UULMNJ.org.
You may also wish to explore some of the following links that were shared on the 26th as additional resources:
www.newarkpolicereform.org/
www.freedomnow.movementforblacklives.org/
www.standingonthesideoflove.org/racial-justice/
Many New Jersey towns will be a part of the National Night Out Against Crime on Tuesday, August 2. To find an event near you, visit www.visitnj.org/nj-events/national-night-out-against-crime.
To find out what other congregations are doing to support racial justice, visithttp://uulmnj.org/racial-justice-congregations/
We hope you will join us to help save lives here in New Jersey, and to spread what we learn about local policing and racial justice to other UUs across the country.
Join Our First Visioning Discussion for a UU Police Initiative
Dear Friends,
As the new Executive Director of the UU Legislative Ministry of NJ, my responses to the latest round of violence and outrage grow shorter and shorter. Quite honestly, I find myself running out of words.
What I hold onto at times like this is that we have not run out of creative or faithful responses to violence and fear.
Following up on last week’s letters concerning the Baton Rouge, Minnesota and Dallas shootings, and in the wake of Sunday’s ambush of police in Baton Rouge, UULMNJ would like to coordinate a statewide UU response to the escalation of violence towards both people of color and police. While we do not see these acts as exactly the same thing, we believe strongly that addressing one without addressing the other is both ineffective and not reflective of our shared UU values concerning the inherent worth and dignity of all people. Violence begets violence. It has to stop.
In an effort both to push forward with our own deep commitment to Black Lives Matter, and to grow and deepen our relationships with local and county-level police, we will be hosting a statewide video conference to discuss several ways we can effect change vis-a-vis our own police forces and within the larger context of historic, embedded racial injustice across the board.
Please join us on Zoom a week from today, Tuesday, July, 26 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to learn from Rohn Hein (Cherry Hill), Co-Chair, UULMNJ Dismantling Racism Group, Cherry Hill Congregation, Susan MacDonnell (Princeton), Chair, UULMNJ Criminal Justice Task Force, and other New Jersey UU leaders how we can be part of the solution.
To join the video call from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android visit
Or call in to (646) 558-8656 and enter meeting ID: 938 562 767
If you have never used Zoom video conferencing before, learn how to sign up here and how to join a meeting here.
We very much hope to see you on the call. This is a unique time in our national life. We have the chance to be leaders both here in New Jersey and as an example to congregations across the country. I hope you will make an effort to join us next Tuesday, July 26 at 7 p.m.
In Faith and Abiding Hope,
Rev. Rob Gregson
Executive Director, UULMNJ
July 2016
Monthly Liaison Conference Call Minutes
July 13, 2016, 7 PM
In Attendance:
Kim Mitchell (Plainfield)
Al Stawsky (Palisades)
Laurice Grae-Hauck, Administrator
Rev. Rob Gregson, Exec. Dir.
AGENDA:
Congregations Check-in:
- Kim Mitchell (Plainfield): 6 murders this year. The mayor has started a public safety initiative. FUSP has signed on to provide meeting space, per recommendation of BLofUU, and healing space for Black Lives organizations. (Kim is interested in database research.) Admin has taken on social justice work, Sharon Maguire. New minister beginning August 1.
- Laurice (Montclair): June 12 solitary confinement event with Senator Lesniak. Standing room only. The solitary cell remained on the church yard and has gotten a lot of attention.
- Al Stawsky (Palisades): Social justice groups form 3 Bergen Co congregations are working closer together. BLM rally/demonstration at Hackensack courthouse on Tuesday, July 12, first BLM event in Bergen Co. Carol Loscalzo, RJ task force chair, and Ilene Gilbert were there as well. 150 black youth from the area helped to make the event possible. Police brought water to the demonstrators. See link. 6th Juneteenth celebration on the 19th all 3 Bergen Co. congregations sponsored a booth and shared a lot of educational materials, BLM buttons, and wristbands.
News:
- Moment of Silence Rob took 30 seconds at the beginning of the meeting to remember and honor all of the victims of last week’s shootings in LA, MN, and TX.
- Issues Conference- Saturday, October 15, 2016 in Morristown from 3-9. Chris Crass will be our keynote speaker! Get it on your congregational calendars now! Registration will open in September.
- 6th UU Black Lives Matter Summit: “Debriefing General Assembly – Where Do We Go From Here?” on Sunday, July 24th from 2:00 – 6:30 pm at Paint Branch UU Church in Adelphi (Prince George’s County, Maryland).
- UU Congregations & Local Police Gregson sees any outreach to be clearly linked to our Dismantling Racism work–we reach out in order to “widen the circle” to both groups with special attention to the historic power of structural racism.
- Trenton Rally Possibility Are considering coordinating a rally in Trenton to push legislators to consider and pass legislation pending that would force systemic change. Stay tuned.
- Congregations Struggling to Make Sense of BLM Many congregations are struggling with their support of the Black Lives Matter movement. How can we help? Is there a way to provide a place for UUs statewide to talk? Al suggesting making available “11 Misconceptions About the BLM Movement”. How do we create a safe space for open conversation?
Task Force:
- Criminal Justice: Lots of activity recently. Parole reform bill is before the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow. Rob will be presenting testimony. Solitary confinement bill S51/A547 passed senate and is in committee in the Assembly. Racial impact statement bill S677 passed the senate 36-0. Now in Assembly Law & Public Safety Committee. Phone rate bill S1880/A1419 passed both houses.
Reminders
- Email Signup page is available on the website. Bookmark this and your new supporters go right into our system. If you have taken information on paper and did not capture mailing addresses, type NA in required fields. As we do major fundraising the information on the new user signup page is all important. Thank you in advance. http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51510/c/301/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=9501
- ACTION ALERTS! If you are printing UULMNJ drafted letters to representatives and mailing them from your congregation, it is important that we have the sender information. As we expand our organization we need to have the full breadth of supporter info and engagement for fundraising purposes and efficacy analysis. Please send names and addresses (either street or email) for any of these mailings.
Adjourned at 8:12
Minutes submitted by Laurice Grae-Hauck, UULMNJ Administrator
UULMNJ Marching for a Clean Energy Revolution!
Americans Against Fracking and Pennsylvanians Against Fracking have organized the March for a Clean Energy Revolution. It is being organized by a broad coalition of organizations and grassroots groups from all over the United States, including the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of NJ.
Fracking is impacting community health, water, air, and the climate on which we all depend, and we are calling on both the Democratic and Republican Parties to include a ban on fracking, environmental justice, keeping fossil fuels in the ground, stopping dirty energy, and a quick and just transition to 100% renewable energy in their platforms. There is a major action planned on the eve of the Democratic National Convention because Pennsylvania is one of the states that has been most impacted by the expansion of fracking.
The convention will afford a national spotlight on these important issues and the need for our elected leaders to take action. Also, with the national attention afforded by the convention and the presence of many key elected leaders there, it is a tremendous opportunity to bring the message of the need for bold action to these leaders and the public at large.
The March for a Clean Energy Revolution will be a peaceful action expressing our power through our voices, presence, and creativity. We will demonstrate the strength and commitment of our movement, demand the end to dirty fossil fuels and catapult the need for 100% renewable energy onto the national agenda on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.
In order to create a peaceful, family-friendly, and uniting event, those participating in the march agree that:
1. Violence, either physical or verbal, has no place in this event.
2. We will not vandalize or damage anything during this event.
3. We will maintain a tone of respect and honesty, as well as commit to calming any escalatory situations that arise.
4. We will not carry weapons, illegal drugs, or alcohol during this event.
5. We are all responsible for supporting each other to uphold these agreements.
Please help us in our effort to account for our New Jersey UU contingent by signing up here.
What You Need to Know
For all who are attending, especially for those who are not entirely familiar with the city, it is necessary to know where to be, where to go, and when to move. On this page, you can find a schedule that outlines all of this for you, so that you can be fully involved in the march.
The weekend starts on Saturday, July 23 with the activists’ Summit at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street in Philly. The Summit will run from 9:00AM til 6:30PM, and will feature a mix of educational workshops, organizing skills training, and strategy development sessions. Come prepared to acquire new skills and strategies to take back to your local campaigns and to meet people working on similar efforts in their communities across the country. Check here for updates.
The Interfaith Service starts at 12 noon, in the interior courtyard at City Hall. Contingents will line up on the south side of City Hall – exact location TBD, but there will be plenty of marshals to help folks get organized. UULMNJ meet up to be determined.
The March steps off from City Hall at about 12:45 – 1:00. The March will be led by representatives of indigenous communities and other front-line folks who are particularly impacted by fracking and other extreme energy extraction. The exact order of march is still being determined, but as of now the Faith Contingent will be towards the end. This puts some responsibility on us to make sure the March has a big finish!
We’ll march one mile to Independence Hall where we’ll end with a collective action.
If you need mobility assistance, please email accessibility@cleanenergymarch.org for more information.
– In order to maintain everyone’s safety, it is important to be prepared for what the day provides us: weather, exercise, and a time-sensitive schedule.
– Bring your own water bottle! There will be water tanks for filling up, but no bottles.
– Wear weather appropriate clothing. As of Monday morning the Philadelphia forecast for July 24 is a high of 97 and mostly sunny! (Bring sunscreen, a hat, sunglasses, etc.)
– We’ll be walking (marching) a lot, wear comfortable shoes.
– This March will be hours long, bring snacks.
– Feel free to bring a sign or poster to show your support for a Clean Energy Revolution! No metal or wooden poles. If you wish to hold your sign high we recommend rolling poster board into a tube and attaching to your sing with tape.
Other details will be posted here as they become available!
PRINT AT HOME POSTERS & SIGNS
Click on an image below to download a PDF for print
A Message On the (Latest) Terrible Week
Dear fellow Unitarian Universalists and our friends:
I sent you all an email last week immediately following the all-too-familiar shooting deaths by the police of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, LA and Philando Castile outside St. Paul, MN.
I need to do the same now following the terrible violence against the police in Dallas last Thursday night, with five officers killed: Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens, and Michael Smith. We must also note that, according to news accounts, at least 3 other police officers were shot in alleged copy cat ambushes in Georgia, Tennessee and Missouri. As of today, the officer in St. Louis MO is listed as being in critical but stable condition.
For now these events send us even deeper into mourning and a kind of national despair.
I hope you have had a chance to reflect and mourn–perhaps on Sunday in the embrace of your home congregation, or with those you love and can speak to about your deepest thoughts and fears.
I won’t reiterate what so many have said already, and better than I ever could. I want instead to say we are here, we are doing the long-term work necessary in New Jersey to halt the abuse and neglect of people of color and people struggling to get by, economically and otherwise.
Below you will see specific actions you can take in New Jersey now to act on your deepest feelings and convictions around the terrible events of last week and the months (and years) before. I realize the turn around time is short, but perhaps some of you will be able to attend today’s rally and prayer vigil. You would be very welcome to join our Racial Justice Task Force or Criminal Justice Task Force to push for longer-term gains.
For an excellent article on the uniquely American confluence of violence and guns I recommend this article by Adam Gopnik in the July 8 The New Yorker, The Horrific, Predictable Result of A Widely Armed Citizenry.
I believe it is disingenuous of us not to state, openly and without fear, how our national gun policy has facilitated not only racially-biased killings, but many preventable deaths across a range of groups.
I have another idea I would like to float and see where it might take our faith witness together in this state.
If you would be interested in joining with me to create an organized, well thought out approach to local and county-level police on the part of NJ UU congregations, please be in touch.
If we are to be both a gadfly AND support to our police–if we are to cry out against institutionalized racism as it affects policing as well as help those who stand on the front lines of violence and guns in American culture–then it seems to me, we have a special responsibility to engage with the police. As Unitarian Universalists. Long term. Building relationships. Reaching out to a group we often think of in our progressive circles as “the other.” Not Us.
Spiritual work, always. Justice work, and hands on work too. I would like to hear from you if this idea appeals. Please see my contact information below. If you have other ideas, please let me know them as well. Meanwhile, we will remain in touch and we here at UULMNJ will continue to advocate on your behalf on bail reform, income inequality, criminal and reproductive and environmental justice, and how institutional racism intersects with them all. At least some of the reasons that a group like the UU Legislative Ministry matters.
I trust that you and your families and friends are well and keeping your spirits up. We walk on together.
In faith and abiding hope,
Rev. Rob Gregson
Executive Director, UULMNJ
execdir@uulmnj.org
Upcoming Events
People’s Organization for Progress March & Rally
Monday July 11 at 4:30
465 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark
MLK Jr. Blvd. and Springfield Ave.
A Time to Pray: Prayer Service
Monday, July 11 at 7:30
St. Mark’s Methodist Church
51 Elm Street
Montclair, NJ 07042
Black Lives Matter Rally/Discussion Event
Tuesday, July 12 at 7:30
Bergen County Courthouse
10 Main St., Hackensack
West Orange March for Peace, Justice, Dignity, and Respect
Wednesday, July 13 at 6:30
66 Main Street, West Orange
Morris Area Interfaith Vigil for Peace & Justice
Wednesday, July 13 at 7:30
Morristown United Methodist Church
50 South Park Place, Morristown
A New Jersey Unitarian Universalist Response to the Latest Examples of Police Brutality Against African Americans
Dear Friends,
Many of us here in New Jersey have already seen the headlines, probably multiple times. Perhaps you watched the emotionally wrenching videos of police in Baton Rouge and Falcon Heights, Minnesota shooting black men–to death–with no clear probable cause or justification. And have thought, “Again?? How is this possible?!”
The facts on these individual cases will continue to come forth. What is clear beyond any reasonable doubt–and has been for some time now–is that black Americans are being shot and killed, out of any possible proportion or rational response, by the very people charged to protect American life and liberty.
We are neighbors, living in the same state, and we are Unitarian Univeralists. We are called to shout and mourn, to lament what is happening to our brothers and sisters privately and in our worship. We are also called to “give them garlands instead of ashes” in the words of the well-loved hymn.
We see and honor and curse over the ashes. And then we reach for the garlands, for our children, for the future we build together. Here are some suggestions for mourning our murdered African-American dead–and too many have been murdered, make no mistake–and for rising up, singing.
1) Reach out to local black organizing groups and churches.
As called for this week by the Black Lives UU (BLUU) national organizing group, as an initial step we can at the very least offer our buildings and meeting space as sanctuaries and gathering points for African-American organizers and volunteers. Follow this linkfor more information–including tips on how white allies can best help and inadvertently hurt during such a traumatizing moment in time.
Or, to contribute to Black Lives Matter directly you can do so here.
2) Ask your minister or worship coordinator to include a lament at the start of the service next Sunday. We ask for prayers and words of mourning and calls for atonement during this time in the wilderness, when white Americans struggle to own their history and combat the long effects of institutional racism while people of color too often struggle simply to survive.
3) Contact your person in NJ state and national government to keep the focus on police training, accountability and transparency.
Don’t think senators, assembly people, town mayors or police chiefs will pay attention to your call or email? Think again. At the very least, THEY COUNT. Let’s get our voices heard and keep the heat on elected officials to halt police violence against people of color.
4) Find out who is working on the UU Black Lives Matter! movement in your congregation and see how you can pitch in. Most likely there is someone, or even a group, that has committed themselves to doing the soul-growing work of confronting institutionalized racism within the context of our First UU Principle, “The inherent worth and dignity of every person.’
5) Join us: the UULMNJ, the voice for social justice action and long term reform in your home state.
That’s us, the UU Legislative Ministry of New Jersey. We have an active and effective Criminal Justice Task Force and are at the forefront of UU groups using the lens of institutionalized racism to work for comprehensive and lasting immigration, reproductive and environmental justice, gun violence prevention and reform, among others.
We are with you at this wrenching time. We have been working hard for years now, and will continue to do so to ensure that, someday, the killings in Ferguson, Waller TX, Baltimore, Baton Rouge and too many other places will stop. I hope you find the resolve to do something in your congregation and your life to bring garlands instead of ashes. Let us know how we can help.
In faith and abiding hope,
Rev. Rob Gregson
Let’s Make it Happen Together!
Dear Supporters and Friends of the UU Legislative Ministry of New Jersey:
It is with great pleasure that I join with the Board, Legislative Task Force Chairs and other leaders of the UU Legislative Ministry of New Jersey my first week as the new full time Executive Director of the UULMNJ.
This congregation-supported nonprofit–a combination of our deepest UU spiritual values with a “roll up our sleeves and let’s make it happen” attitude–has come a long way since it began in 2009. Under the guidance of past and present lay and clergy members, and the able leadership of the Rev. Craig Hirshberg as the most recent Executive Director, the UULMNJ has become a loud and influential voice for progressive social change in New Jersey: stopping the use and abuse of solitary confinement, pressing for Equal Marriage for gay and lesbian couples, confronting and calling out racism in all its guises, income inequality and immigrants’ rights…the list is long and compelling.
And it doesn’t stop now. Quite the opposite. We continue to stand and press and sing and visit legislators and cosponsor bills and speak out in our congregations so others know what remains at stake in our democracy and our neighborhoods.
I am beyond pleased to have this job and to grow my own soul as we work to make New Jersey a more humane place to live. We have such a unique and important role to play as a faith community in the larger world. We bear witness. And we speak out for justice.
I look forward to meeting many of you in the months and years ahead. I hope you will join me and our dedicated Board, Task Force groups, talented staff and many volunteers to speak out for the values that guide and join us together in something better and bigger than we would otherwise be.
If I or the UULMNJ can be of any help to you, your Social Action/Social Justice Committee, your ministry or congregation please let me know.
In faith and abiding hope,
Rev. Rob Gregson