6.16.26 Action Center Update

Written By Side With Love

Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we’ll share:

  • A brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment

  • Immediate actions you can take

  • Resources to deepen knowledge and strengthen our collective work to side with love

Nothing is inevitable. Justice movements are built by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and nurture a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together, we can create a just and thriving future.

Movements are strongest when we act together. Organize with your teams and networks, and take these actions in community. For practical tools, see our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.

Decriminalization & Immigration

Core Principle: Criminalization and dehumanization deny the dignity of our communities. Safety cannot come at the expense of others. As people of faith, we proclaim a future of care, abundance, and mutuality—not domination.

The Update:
This week, towns and cities around the country have seen an uptick in ICE kidnappings. Meanwhile, those caged in Delaney Hall in New Jersey continue their hunger strike. Charlene D. Walker, UU and Executive Director of Faith in New Jersey, framed it this way: “Delaney Hall is not an exception, it is a mirror of an authoritarian system in a mass incarceration system built to cage, separate, and disappear our beloved neighbors. We are choosing moral courage as we lift our voices to the heavens for abolition.”

Also last week, federal agents raided the offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative and the homes of staff connected to their work. These are deliberate attacks from the FBI with the intent to intimidate us and keep Black and brown people from voting—and to keep our votes from counting—in order to control the outcomes of our elections.

There is also some good news: a federal judge struck down Trump policy that halted asylum decisions for 39 countries, and 12 Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee voted to reject Trump’s $1,500,000,000,000 (trillion) military budget while 9 senators on the Armed Services Committee voted against the Senate proposal. They know that hundreds of billions more for military contractors means less money for human needs and our communities.

Unitarian Universalists are on the ground, in relationship with those most impacted, and part of coalitions organizing to change the conditions in every one of these news items. We know that when we are in relationship, bringing what we have to offer, each doing our own piece, that we are living our faith. Together, we will continue to work for a world without cages, where everyone is safe and loved.

Take Action:

  • Support Ohio Organizing Collaborative after the FBI raided them and demand Hands Off Ohio. For 20 years, Ohio Organizing Collaborative has done the vital work of making sure people across Ohio can exercise their freedom to vote. The FBI raids on their offices and staff raise serious concerns that this is an attack to keep Black and brown people from voting – and to keep votes cast from counting, in order to control the outcomes of our elections. We’ve seen this playbook before: they lose, they lie, they lash out. When voters reject them, they go after the organizations that make voting accessible. Intimidate the organizers, and silence the voters. But in America, voters choose our leaders – not the other way around. We stand with every organizer working to protect the freedom to vote, because our future depends on the decisions we make together.

  • Send an urgent message to your members of Congress to reject bloated, wasteful $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget and oppose ANY increase in Pentagon spending. Congress is being asked to approve a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget―the largest Pentagon budget request in U.S. history. We need to keep the pressure on the House and Senate to reject this budget. We’re demanding Congress invest instead in meeting the needs of our communities.

Resources:

Side With Love
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6.9.26 Action Center Update