Category: Racial Justice

Creating Space to Grow Racial Justice

It had happened again. Another black man had been shot dead by police, another life lost to the brutality of racism, another painful reminder of the urgency of the Movement for Black Lives. News of Philando Castile’s death in Minnesota came less than a day after the police shot Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge. They […]

Lessons From NOLA

This post was written by Annie Hanley-Miller and originally posted on Blue Boat. Building Community Overcomes Difference by Annie Hanley–Miller I brought back many things to my home community from my experience at Activate NOLA. It was an intense week and I learned a lot about race, poverty, Hurricane Katrina, and global warming. I also learned a […]

Police Are Not Above the Law: An Open Letter to President Obama

This letter was written by Tim DeChristopher, seminary intern for UUCSJ. Dear President Obama, First, I would like to thank you for meeting with the six young Ferguson activists yesterday.  That action alone sends an important message that their voices matter.  I’d also like to express my support for the steps you announced regarding body […]

Reflections on the Mississippi Civil Rights Journey

The following reflection was written by Gordon Gibson, a civil rights leader and organizer. This was originally posted in The Memphis Commercial Appeal here. Why would people from around the country go to Mississippi, especially in the heat of July? 50 years ago hundreds of people went to Mississippi in June, July, and August to […]

Moral March in Raleigh Showcases Power of New Fusion Coalition

The following post was written by Evan Seitz, Senior Associate for Service-Learning Programs at the UU College of Social Justice (UUCSJ). On February 8th, I, along with thousands of others, participated in the Moral March in Raleigh, North Carolina. Many say this march, organized by the North Carolina NAACP and a broad coalition of progressive […]

Lessons of the Movement

Hope Johnson, a UUCSJ trip leader for the Civil Rights Journey, is the minister of the UU Congregation of Central Nassau in Garden City, N.Y. In the following post, she traces the path of the group — and the lessons they learned — as they explored the history of the civil-rights movement. While en route […]

I Am a Woman, Hear Me Sing a Freedom Song

The following blog post was written by Celeste Allen, a youth participant on the 2012 Civil Rights Journey who hails from Scottsdale, Ariz. On the first real work day of the Civil Rights Journey, the amazing George Friday, national organizer for the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, led a workshop on race. We talked about […]

Questions We Must Ask

The following post was written by Rowan Van Ness, a UUCSJ trip leader currently on the 2012 Civil Rights Journey. When we visited Selma and marched silently across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, I thought about the civil-rights marchers who were brutally beaten there on Bloody Sunday. I thought about the ministers who gathered there from […]

We Are Not Alone

The following post was written by Tracey Haines, a participant on the 2012 Civil Rights Journey.   “We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone today.” Those were the words displayed on the movie screen at the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail’s Lowndes Interpretive Center. They were sung as a […]