Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix

I watched most of the National Day of Non-Compliance with SB1070 on my computer. Taking care of two young children is my primary responsibility, and I couldn't take them with me downtown to the protests, which I feared might turn violent. So I watched with love and awe as my fellow UUs and other human rights supporters massed en force to stand up for justice. I watched as they arranged themselves in civil disobedience. I watched as, one after another, they were dragged away and arrested for standing on public property and speaking their minds. I watched as they supported each other with food, water, rides, legal aid, vigils and emotional support. And I watched as they reached out to the community with strength and love. I have never been so proud to be a UU.

Finally, when my husband got home from work and my daughters went to bed, I was able to head out to join the candlelight vigil. We planned to sing, pray, and bear witness outside the jail that held my minister and other principled and dedicated people. I'd been downtown before, but never near the jail. I had no idea what to expect.

As I rounded the street corner in the steamy night air, reflections of streetlights shimmering in the pavement, I saw something I never dreamed I'd see in my own home town. Helmeted police with riot shields had blocked the street, some on foot, some mounted on horseback. MCSO black enforcement buses lined the opposite side. This intimidating sight made me wonder exactly what Sheriff Arpaio thought a "candlelight vigil" was. What was so necessary about this show of force?

We circled the block to join the other demonstrators already waiting. Some had obviously been there for some time, waiting for the release of their loved ones. As we alternated between song and prayer, some of them hesitantly came forward to stand on the fringes of our group. Some lit their own candles and swayed to the music. Finally one woman stepped forward and asked if she could say something. Someone handed her a bullhorn.

She began by saying that we had come into her neighborhood, that she lived just a few blocks from the jail. She told us that this heightened, unreal police presence was a daily reality for her and her neighbors, that they lived constantly with this level of harassment from sheriff's deputies. Then she said, "You will never know what it has meant to us that you came into our neighborhood to be with us while all this was happening. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you so much."

As the singing resumed, I looked around at the others on the street with us: friends with their arms slung around each other's shoulders, a man holding an infant, a woman pushing a double stroller with two sleeping children inside. I thought of my two sleeping children at home, and imagined raising them in a climate like the one these families must face.

This woman with the courage to speak out, this woman whose name I don't even know, is the face of the struggle for human rights in Arizona. She, and others like her, are the reason I am protesting this insanity. How can I not protest? A judge has overturned portions of SB1070, but the climate of fear and hate remains. Despite Judge Bolton's ruling, the broken system that spawned SB1070 is still in place, as are the legislators and law enforcement that support it. I love my country, and I have no desire to see it swallowed up by the monster of injustice. So I will continue to do what I can. My actions may be small by necessity, but I cannot simply sit and do nothing. In the meantime, I remember the woman at the vigil Thursday night, and pray that she will know peace.

Show me the suffering of the most miserable,

So I will know my people's plight.

Free me to pray for others,

For You are present in every person.

Help me take responsibility for my own life,

So that I can feel free at last.

Grant me courage to serve others,

For in service there is true life.

Give me honesty and patience,

So that I can work with other workers.

Bring forth song and celebration,

So that the Spirit will be alive among us.

Let the Spirit flourish and grow,

So that we will never tire of the struggle.

Let us remember those who have died for justice,

For they have given us life.

Help us love even those who hate us,

So we can change the world.

Amen.

— Farm Workers' Prayer by Cesar Chavez

As I write, my minister and friends are blocking Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jail on this- the first day of SB 1070.

UU's are blocking traffic by staging a peaceful protest on the streets of Phoenix. The police and sheriff's deputies are out with riot gear.
Many UU's have been arrested so far -

• Mar Cardenas of UU San Diego, South Bay
• Rev. Ian Maher of Queens, NY
• Rev. Annette Marquis, Thomas Jefferson District Executive
• Rev. Peter Morales
• Rev. Susan Frederick Gray
• Rev. Melissa Carvil-Ziemer, Kent Ohio
• Rev. Wendy Von Zirpilo, Marblehead, MA and ARE
• Rev. Greg Ward, Carmel CA
• Rev. Colin Bossen, Cleveland
• Kat Crabtree, member of the UUCP
• Margy Angle, member of the UUCP's Immigration Task Force

I am sure many others will be next.

They are putting their personal liberty at risk to stand on the side of love.
I am worried but I have never been prouder of our minister, Rev. Susan, who said,
"In the face of fear that is assaulting our community,
we must not be silent,
we must make it clear which side we stand on.
We stand on the side of love."

As our DRE says: "Very proud to call Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray my boss, my friend and my minister."
I would add - and my heroine.

I am also so grateful to the 100+ UU's who have come here to help and organize and protest and get arrested.
We are all immigrants, we are all Arizona, we are all UU's.

Jimmy Leung
photos courtesy Standing on the Side of Love

With honor and apology to UU Blogger "UU way of Life", who has a series of blog posts called "My Kind of Church Music", here are two of our favorite pieces of UU church music.

Sweet Honey in the Rock is an internationally renowned and Grammy award winning singing group that was formed in 1973. The groups consists of all African-American women, including Dr. Ysaye Barnwell, a member of the All Souls UU church in Washington DC, and Shirley Saxton, who provides the sign-language component of the performances.

Ysaye Barnwell composed "We Are", (which is featured in the UU Hymnal, Singing the Journey), and performed this song at the General Assembly in 2009 in Salt Lake CIty.

The UUCP's Immigration Task Force is proposing an Action of Immediate Witness for adoption at this year's General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

Delegates to GA in Minneapolis, please help us take a stand for Comprehensive Immigration Reform by signing our petition at this year's GA or by helping us gather signatures.

TO DO Thursday and Friday (6/24 and 6/25) at GA: Gather signatures or sign your name when approached, as a step toward creating and adopting an Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) on immigration.

TO OFFER to be a signature-gatherer for the AIW on immigration, please contact Sandy Weir of the UU Congregation of Phoenix at AIW1070@phoenixuu.org with your name and the name and location of your congregation. She will reply to you and she will give you a "Petition Sheet" on Thursday.

THE CURRENT STATUS of the 500 word AIW is "full third draft." You'll see a more polished version of that full draft on Thursday. But for now, here is a summary of the AIW:

OPPOSE ANTI-IMMIGRANT MEASURES AT THE STATE LEVEL (ARIZONA LAW SB 1070 THE LIKE) AND HASTEN FEDERAL IMMIGRATION REFORM

The proposed Action of Immediate Witness (“Action”), when adopted by 2010 General Assembly delegates

· would state opposition to unjust Arizona Law SB 1070 and to the enactment of any similar law in other states

· would call on President Obama to issue an executive order reasserting the federal government’s exclusive control over immigration law and terminating state and local enforcement of immigration law, and

· would call on Congress to enact federal comprehensive immigration reform.

The Action would call upon Unitarian Universalist congregations to pledge

· Immediate, active resistance to SB 1070 and other states’ similar proposals, and

· Active support of federal comprehensive immigration reform and advocacy for timely key components such as the Dream Act.

Scenes from Memorial day weekend 2010.
Thank you to all the UU's who came to stand with us!

"Stand" written and performed by Amy Carol Webb, used with permission.
Photographs from: A. Land Harris and Standing on the Side of Love Flickr.