7.21.26 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 Trainings & Webinars.
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:
On the same day that ICE shot and killed Johan Sebastian Guerrero in Maine, over a hundred faith leaders gathered at Delaney Hall immigrant detention center in New Jersey demanding the closure of the facility run by The GEO Group. Amidst the egregious violence and massive surge in ICE abductions, this is what we do: we show up publicly with our values in strategic campaigns to stop systems of incarceration and punishment. This kind of sustained, faithful, and strategic organizing, works: last week, as the De-ICE Citizens Bank campaign shared, “Citizens Bank announced that it will exit its credit agreements with private prison giants CoreCivic and The GEO Group. This is an incredible win for everyone who refused to let a major bank finance the human suffering caused by ICE detention. Citizens calls this a business decision. We know the truth: community resistance matters and collective action works.”
Take Action:
Attend or Hold a vigil on or before Saturday, July 25 – Justice for Lorenzo. Justice for Johan. Justice for All. ICE Out Day of Action. Invite community members, faith leaders, immigrant families, workers, unions, community organizations, and elected officials. Use the gathering to honor their lives, tell the truth, and press leaders to act.
Get active in finishing the De Ice Citizens Bank campaign. Citizens Bank announced that it will exit its credit agreements with private prison giants CoreCivic and The GEO Group. This is an incredible win for everyone who refused to let a major bank finance the human suffering caused by ICE detention. Citizens calls this a business decision. We know the truth: community resistance matters and collective action works. But this isn't over. We're calling on Citizens to publicly commit in the next 10 days to ending any and all current and future banking relationships with CoreCivic, GEO Group, and every other private prison company. This is the standard their peer banks have already met.
Resources:
Read:
This Religious News Service article about the powerful action by over a hundred faith leaders gathered at Delaney Hall last week, and the Responsive Resolution passed at this year’s UU General Assembly “Reaffirming Our Commitment to Immigrant Justice and Relationally Grounded Organizing,” reaffirming the Association’s commitment to relationally grounded organizing and solidarity work and specifically following the call to action last week.
Learn:
Watch/Listen:
ICE AIR: Inside America's Secret Deportation Network, a one hour special production from NBC. Watch and then help push this to your networks.
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:
This was a hard week. Wildfires engulfed Canada, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the American West and Northwest, with fires across North America. It is quite literally dangerous to breathe this air. Missouri and Texas experienced devastating and deadly floods.
The wildfires burned down the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation in less than an hour. All members are alive because they took care of each other, evacuating on boats.
What do we do among such devastation? We turn towards community, expand our understanding of who is worthy of safety (hint: each and every being), and root in our faith. The truths present in the UU Climate Justice Revival Sermons can guide us toward the truly livable, thriving, and just world we deserve. We must be led by compassionate, capacious, and courageous love.
Take Action:
The Anishinabek Nation is collecting donations on behalf of the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, in the spirit of Ngo Dwe Waangazid Anishinaabe (One Anishinaabe Family). Learn more here.
How can we center the inherent worth and dignity of every person in climate disasters? The UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team has a comprehensive toolbox. Bring Fostering Climate Resilience and Community Care: Disaster Preparedness and Response for UUs to your congregation and prepare together.
Resources:
Read:
“Is Affordability a Climate Issue? Philadelphia Hunger Strikers Said Yes.” The Philadelphia chapter of the youth-led environmental justice powerhouse, Sunrise Movement, ended their hunger strike this June but not their fight for a truly affordable and livable future.
Learn:
Climate Change and Kids' Well Being: A New Guide for Parents and Other Caring Adults. Climate Mental Health Network crafted this updated 40-page resource to answer concerns we’re hearing from parents, caregivers and teachers all over the country. It includes practical tips on preparing for extreme weather and taking climate action; and conversation guides for raising resilient kids in a fast changing world. Special sections cover kids zero to 18, neurodiversity, mental health, and different identities. Read now: Parents & Caregivers | CMHN
Join:
Data centers that power AI are a threat to our fresh water supplies, they drive up utility costs, and are producing more and more greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels when we need less and less and all from clean energy. There are two organizing sessions this week with Honor the Earth and UUs for Social Justice. If you can’t join both, join one or the other.
UUs for Social Justice: Project Jupiter Data Center, On-the-Ground Perspective - 7/23 8ET THIS WEEK! The proposed Project Jupiter data center and fracked natural gas power plant will deplete the fresh water of a desert community, unnecessarily drive up utility costs, re-open a pipeline, and produce more annual greenhouse gas emissions than all of New Mexico’s major cities combined. Local communities are fighting for clean water and dignity. We can’t drink data. Join UUs for Social Justice and Side With Love online on July 23rd 8pm EST to learn from the organizers building community power in southern New Mexico. Register here.
Honor the Earth Trainings: How to Fight Data Centers - 7/21 6ET & 7/23 6ET: Resistance against hyperscale data centers is growing! Want to learn how to fight data centers in YOUR town? Come join Honor The Earth for this interactive webinar series. In our first session we will go over the different components needed to build an effective campaign, which can be applied to campaigns against data centers and beyond. During the second webinar we will go into a deeper dive into the interventions (strategies) that have been successful at stopping a data center from being built, both on a local and state level. The last webinar will go through how to use and develop concrete alternatives to AI when it comes to creating and using flyers. Register today! #YouCantDrinkData #AskYourAuntieNotAI #LandBack
Watch/Listen:
Listen to this Movement Memos podcast episode: “No Abandonment, No Bunkers: Preparing for Disaster Together”
Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.
