Please join me on August 7th following Fellowship Hour to learn more about these important AIW’s and to determine the level of interest you have. Below are brief summaries for AIW #1 and AIW #2. For more information, email or call me: Liz Alcauskas 703-447-5701, lizalcauskas@gmail.com.
Each year, congregational delegates of the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association adopt up to three ‘call to action’ resolutions. These resolutions are referred to as “Actions of Immediate Witness” (AIWs). Members of the 1,000 UU Congregations in the USA are urged to become familiar with and express support for these essential resolutions which are grounded in the Eight Principles of Unitarian Universalism. We at UU Manchester will look at two: We Do Not Consent: Rejecting legal challenges to abortion and Anti-Racism and Reparations via Restorative Justice”.
AIW #1 2022: We Do Not Consent: Rejecting Legal Challenges to Abortion
As people who have had abortions, as co-conspirators and allies for Reproductive Justice, and as thoughtful advocates for family well-being, UUs have a moral responsibility to demand and ensure that abortion protections are codified into law. We unequivocally support every person’s right
*To maintain personal bodily autonomy
*To have children
*To not have children
*To parent children in safe and sustainable communities
Controlling women’s bodies during pregnancy is about enforcing white supremacy, patriarchy and ruling-class power. Historically, those most affected by reproductive oppression have not been centered. We must
*Analyze power systems
*Address intersecting oppressions
*Center the most marginalized
*Join together across issues and identities.
RESOLUTION: We, the delegates of the 2022 UUA General Assembly, call on Unitarian Universalists to
1. Make a personal commitment to this work.
2. Organize
3. Advocate
4. Witness
5. Build Networks of Support for Abortion Seekers
6. Educate
7. Fundraise
AIW #2 2022: Anti-Racism and Reparations via Restorative Justice
Whereas the full reality of the violent and forced labor, under egregious punishments and inhumane sufferings of Americans of African descent has not been taught, not discussed, and not acknowledge, and
Whereas, this has given rise to a belief in and practice of white supremacy that condemns Americans of African descent to second-class citizens without equal protection under the law,
Whereas, throughout chattel enslavement, the Jim Crow Era and into this 21st century, the Federal Government wrote divisive policies in housing, education, policing, and taxation which differentially penalized persons of African descent, and
Whereas, the escalation of political polarization has resulted in widespread education censorship bills and voting rights restrictions that are clearly anti-African American and pro-white supremacist and have taken hold in national politics,
THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that 2022 General Assembly asks Unitarian Universalists, in alignment with our faith values, to
-address and engage Restorative Justice through allying with representatives from the most affected communities,
-take action at all levels of public engagement in the political and educational spheres.
First: Create Study/Action Groups that engage in Restorative Justice
Second: promote and support cultural and gender identify in our leadership and our learning environments
Third: advocate for reparations in our local community
Fourth: condemn censorship from political and religious institutions. (banned books, critical race theory)
RESOLUTION: The Reparations Task Force of the Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community is convinced that, taking action to learn about and support the controversial subject of Reparations via Restorative Justice, we can repair The Soul of Our Nation.