6.9.26 Action Center Update
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.
Democracy
Core Principle: Democracy is not a destination but a practice rooted in interdependence and the worth and dignity of all. While authoritarianism consolidates power, we are the majority—and we must organize to build a truly multiracial democracy.
The Update:
This week, several states held primary elections. As those elections unfold, so too do the events commemorating the 250th anniversary of our nation. Both invite us into an ongoing conversation about who we are and who we must become to build a future where all people can thrive.
In our faith tradition, we believe democracy is a sacred process through which we make decisions for the collective good. Yet recent developments remind us that democracy is never guaranteed. Following the Louisiana v. Callais decision, we have witnessed the continued shrinking of political power and representation for Black communities and majority-Black districts across the South. Meanwhile, Watson v. RNC could determine whether states may continue counting mail-in ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive afterward.
As people of faith, we cannot allow hatred, exclusion, or disenfranchisement to have the final word. As the stakes rise, so must we. These moments call us not only to reflect on who we are as a country, but to live into who we are called to be. Democracy may be a civic practice, but building a beloved community is a spiritual commitment.
We can create a future that includes all of us—but only if we organize, build power, and act together today.
Take Action:
Host a voter registration event with Good Trouble Lives On. Join the training on June 11.
Join Freedom Summer 2026. The people behind All Roads Lead to the South are calling for FREEDOM SUMMER 2026 — A summer-long mobilization for voting rights, safety, education, housing, and economic freedom in the American South.
Resources:
Join:
Join Side With Love for our Declarations of Democracy series. As this country marks 250 years, we will examine the limits and possibilities of American democracy and our sacred call to shape a multiracial, interdependent democracy where everyone can thrive at Side With Love’s monthly event to strengthen your spirit, make sense of the threats to democracy, and take meaningful action alongside others!
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:
Last week, the Senate passed Reconciliation 2.0 to fund ICE with $70 billion after a more than 18-hour marathon session, with late night maneuvers, in which lawmakers debated and voted on a series of amendments and motions. Congress also moved forward Defense funding that, redirected, could ensure food, housing, and education for everyone in this country. Locally, folks inside at least 7 immigration detention camps continue to hunger strike while those outside protest, fast, and sing in support; Philadelphians organized to pass a major ICE Out Legislative package that limits ICE’s enforcement tactics and its ability to surveil in Philadelphia. Fascism is rising and violently criminalizing immigrants, trans folks, people of color, poor folks, and more, but we are rising to meet the challenges. As people who believe that revelation is not sealed and we are all interdependent, we will continue to show up, give of our time, treasure and talents not just to stop these attacks, but to build a world where all people are safe, loved, and have enough.
Take Action:
Get connected (if you aren’t already) with folks fighting detention centers near you with Project Saltbox or this map of hunger striking camps. If there’s not one near you (or even if there is), please share the letters from inside Delaney Hall to get the narrative out.
Tell The House: No more funding for ICE and CBP without transparency and accountability!See how your Senator voted on S.2 here, and then write and call your member of the House of Representatives. The next few hours, perhaps days, will be critical. We just need a couple more votes to vote No!
Tell the House: No merging of U.S. military intelligence with Israel. Last week, the House Armed Services Committee approved the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which will advance to the House of Representatives before it determines U.S. military spending in 2027. It’s unsurprising that the NDAA bill includes a lot of disturbing allocations, as the largest budget for defense spending that’s ever been proposed to Congress. But there’s a particularly dangerous provision that’s been included, called “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative” (section 224) that would advance the war machine collaboration in unprecedented ways.If passed, Section 224 would move the U.S.-Israel relationship beyond military “aid”, and toward something far more permanent: the integration of military technology, intelligence infrastructure, and defense industries between both countries. If that sounds alarming, that's because it is.With bi-partisan efforts to strike it down, it is not too late to use our collective voice against this amendment. Call Congress and write a letter.
Resources:
Read:
Detention is about so much more than immigrants. Read this article from Truthout about Families of Victims Who Died From Heat in Prison Fighting to Prevent More Deaths. Over 200,000 incarcerated people face deadly summer heat in California and Texas.
Learn:
Signal is an encrypted messaging app used for more and more organizing – but it is only as secure as the people using it. If you are using Signal, check these tip sheets for your Signal settings and Signal Dos & Donts
Join:
MELT ICE Series: Disability Justice is Immigrant Justice!, Thursday, June 11th at 12pm-1:30pm PT/ 2pm-3:30pm CT/ 3pm-4:30pm ET. Join Detention Watch Network for this webinar will explore how disability and immigration justice are connected and discuss ways to include disability justice in efforts to end detention. You'll hear from New Disabled South and Rodney Taylor, a double amputee migrant, who was recently released after spending 15 months in Stewart Detention Center thanks to community organizing efforts.
UU Solidarity Initiative Session, Friday, June 19th: The UU Solidarity Initiative is a nationally coordinated effort of UU and UU-adjacent organizations to provide resources and opportunities to build strong communities of solidarity with immigrant communities who are under attack. Solidarity Sessions are an opportunity for folks working for immigrant justice to connect with one another and learn about the most recent changes in immigration laws.
Watch/Listen:
The Power of Singing: People of faith and believers in justice gathered at Delany Hall Immigration Detention Camp in New Jersey on Monday of this week to sing down the walls and lift our voices for our beloveds that are on hunger strike inside. Ms Rachel (favorite of toddlers everywhere) joined in the singing too.
Climate Justice
Core Principle: A just and loving world is also a flourishing one. A fossil-free future is possible, where clean energy is a human right and all beings thrive. To get there, we must create new systems, norms, and practices.
The Update:
Data Centers are popping up all across the country. A recent UN report on the impact of data centers on land and water found that AI data centers could use the same amount of energy as over 650 million people - or nearly triple the combined annual electricity use of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Like fossil fuel pollution, the environmental impacts of AI aren’t evenly distributed.
AI is used globally, but the costs - the harms - are local. Even so, communities often find out about the new data center after the decisions are made. For Indigenous communities, the way data centers are being imposed on communities feels all too familiar. “I’ll say that we have seen this type of extraction before. We saw it in 1492. We saw it in like the 1900s and we’re seeing it again,” Brenna Yellowthunder from the Indigenous Environmental Network explained.
“It was the land. It was the oil, it was the coal. And now it’s going to be the water and the land for building these data centers. So let’s not pretend that we haven’t seen this tactic before. And let’s stop them before they get that economic choke-hold on us that they had when fossil fuel industries were introduced to us.”
Honor the Earth asserts that “behind every AI-generated image, every instant chatbot reply, and every algorithmic decision, lies a colossal, energy-guzzling data center. AI has a very real, very physical cost. . . Once again, Indigenous, Black, and Brown peoples pay the price for the convenience of AI while powerful corporations profit. . . This is a new form of extraction, no different from the mines and pipelines we have long resisted.”
Their No Data Centers on Native Land Campaign is fighting back. Their No Data Centers Toolkit includes a Fact Sheet, tons of resources, a template presentation, questions to ask data developers, and more. Check it out because, “Data centers are the next frontline of water protection.”
Resources:
Read:
Learn:
Join:
Watch/Listen:
Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.
