On the evening of November 11th , 79 UUs from 21 congregations throughout the state, gathered at the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg (UCH) for our Annual Meeting. We all enjoyed a soup and salad bar supper where registrants renewed old friendships and made new acquaintances with UUs from around the state who are committed to social justice. The evening program featured Rev. David Pyle from the Central East Region who conducted a workshop on how to fortify ourselves for the challenging work in the months ahead with the “Practice of Bearing Witness.”
On Saturday morning, we re-convened for a continental breakfast and an opportunity to network with fellow UUs before the work of the day. A welcome message was provided by Rev. Michael Walker, interim minister at UCH, followed by greetings from the UUPLAN Board Co-chairs, Virginia Kirk and Rev. Tom Bodie. Rev. Joan Sabatino, Board Treasurer provided a brief financial outlook with the message that as an organization, we must become self-sustaining. In our current Pennsylvania political climate, it will be even more important to bring our UU values to light in the public square but we all need to step up to fund our organization. The 21 congregations in attendance along with the justice team leaders were recognized.
Rev. David Pyle provided the Keynote, A Vision for Justice Ministries. “It matters not only that our congregations are engaged in matters of justice, but that they are engaged well. It is no longer enough just to be present. Our world needs our congregations to be effective, savvy, boundaried, awake, and aware partners in the work of building a more just world.”
The breakout workshop sessions completed the morning:
During lunch we honored the work of two of our UUPLAN members: Nancy Anderson, Unitarian Society of Germantown, who is stepping down after successfully launching and co-chairing the Anti-Mass Incarceration Team for three years and Kennie Harr, who has been working diligently to organize her Wyoming Valley congregation and the wider community to increase the minimum wage. We are deeply grateful for the committed efforts of both of these members.
Six of our Justice Teams met during the afternoon to plan for 2017 – which begins a new session in our state government. Currently our LGBTQ Team is on hiatus; however, if we find that nondiscrimination legislation is moving once again in Pennsylvania, we will re-activate. To learn more about the 2017 goals and to join the justice team monthly calls on ZOOM, check out this link to our schedule.
This year at the UUA General Assembly, the Congregational Study Action Issue that was adopted is The Corruption of Our Democracy. In response, Tom Ulrich, UU Church of the Lehigh Valley, surveyed the meeting attendees to consider the merits of creating a new UUPLAN Good Government Justice Team to explore the areas of gerrymandering, voter participation, securing the vote, public financing of elections and strengthening ethical behavior in government. Look for more information in future UUPLAN e-newsletters on the possibility of a new justice team.
We had a packed schedule and were offered many choices to improve our stamina, skills and expertise as citizen advocates. But the overriding praise for the meeting is the opportunity to network with fellow UUs involved in our social justice work. The afternoon send-off was a presentation by Michael and Rachel Mark, members of UCH. They created a PowerPoint presentation of photos, set to the music of Stand by Amy Carol Web of many UUPLAN members at rallies, direct actions, legislative visits and doing the work of social justice in Pennsylvania.
Note: You must download the Slideshow and the Music and place in a folder in order for the music to accompany the presentation.
There has been a whirlwind of activity around the mothers and children detained in the Berks County Residential Center over the last month. UUPLAN is working closely with UUSC, interfaith groups and local immigration organizations to coordinate all the efforts to free these families who are seeking asylum and to Shut Down Berks. Although mothers and children continue to be detained in the facility, we are hopeful that this may soon end.
• Sept. 6th – Interfaith Vigil at the Berks County Residential Center.
• Twenty of the mothers many of whom have been in detention for a year participated in a four and half week hunger strike to protest their situation after Jeh Johnson announced that the average stay in detention was 20 days.
• A letter was sent to Jeh Johnson, Director of Homeland Security refuting his comments that these cases are processed in twenty days.
• Another multi-faith vigil was held on October 2 at the center by of Make the Road PA faith members
• A letter co-signed by 17 US Senators urged Jeh Johnson to end family detentions.
• The Advisory Panel on Family Detention issued their 160 page report to Jeh Johnson and ICE Director Sarah Saldana. The report, documents the adverse impacts and re-traumatization of the mothers and children caused by family detention and recommends that family detention should not be continued except on rare occasions when the mothers present a flight risk or danger to society.
• Yvonne Marlier, UUPLAN Immigration Justice Co-chair, attended the hearing and witnessed the “unanimous” vote of the Task Force to adopt the report.
• A letter was hand-delivered to Governor Wolf to use his administrative power to issue an Emergency Removal Order (ERO) for the women and children presently held at Berks and no more admitted until the licensing issue is resolve
• Coming up –
October 23th – Sunday vigil from 4-5pm at the Berks County Residential Center
October 25th, members of the UUPLAN Immigration Team and the Shut Down Berks coalition will meet with Secretary Ted Dallas of the Department of Human Services to request that he order Berks closed. ICE will then have to decide provide and ERO for the women and children presently held at Berks.
November 19th – Concert of Hope on Saturday afternoon.
If you attended GA this summer, you are aware that one of the outstanding speakers this year was the Rev. Dr. William Barber II, the architect of Forward Together Moral Mondays in NC. His message: we need to join all of our advocacy groups into a “fusion coalition” and educate our legislators about their moral responsibility to for the public good.
Join us on Monday, Sept. 12, 2016 in Harrisburg, as people of faith and other coalitions convene at 35 state capitols around the country to proclaim a Moral Declaration. We will gather and march in solidarity with coalitions from around Pennsylvania to present a Moral Declaration to our Governor and key legislators.
Buses from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia will be gathering folks from many organizations across the state to deliver participants to our Capitol city. There will be songs, speakers, marching and public witness.
We need to have a large UU turnout. We want to see lots of yellow shirts!
Registration and bus tickets for Pittsburgh and Western PA CLICK HERE.
Registration and bus tickets for Philadelphia, Allentown and Reading CLICK HERE.
REGISTER HERE – even if you are not traveling on a bus.
For more Information: 267-314-7987
If you are driving, the South Street Garage is the closest to the Capitol.
We will meet up at 10:00 AM at Grace United Methodist Church on 216 State St, Harrisburg, PA 17101
The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia provided many opportunities for UUs to speak truth to power.
On Sunday, July 24th as the delegates arrived, nearly 10,000 people participated in the March for a Clean Energy Revolution before the start of the Convention. Present were UUPLAN members from Sunnyhill, Ginger Hill, Harrisburg, Mainline, First U Philadelphia, the Poconos and Wellsprings as well as UUs from NJ, MD and NY who joined climate activists to march with the “faith contingent.”
Prior to the March, a number of UUPLAN members attended the Clean Energy Summit at Friends Center for updates on the PA Clean Power Plan, health impacts, methane,
From left: Susan Norris, Ralph Detrick, Joyce Stoltzfus, Rachel Mark, Anita Mentzer, Natalie Gehosky
nuclear energy, TPP, environmental justice, the faith community’s role and practical solutions available now to make the transition away from fossil fuels. The bottom-line message: climate change needs immediate action. The world needs to be carbon neutral by 2040; the USA, and notably Pennsylvania, need to move faster than countries who are energy poor. The Summit was remarkable for the sense of urgency and the shared commitment among 300 participants.
What does faith have to do with it? Unitarian minister, Rev. Alison Cornish, Executive Director of PA-Interfaith Power and Light said: “Faith communities are unique – we speak to the beauty and integrity of the world, and we speak with moral authority. People of faith are truth seekers and must be truth speakers.”
Credit: Adam Zolkover
While the Climate March proceeded, UUPLAN members and others from the Unitarian Society of Germantown and the UU Church of Delaware County staged a rally in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Alltogether, there were 40 USG members, 30 from other UU churches, and about a dozen
From left: Jondai Harrel, Executive Director of The Center for Returning Citizens, Rev. Kent Matties, Unitarian Society of Germantown. Credit: Adam Zolkover
community members. They gathered in Constitution Park and at Independence Hall – the perfect setting for their message: this movement is simply demanding the fairness and justice the Black community deserves. Wristbands with the message “Black Lives Matter” were distributed and we engaged with passers-by to share our concerns. As UUs, we believe that our principle stating the inherent worth and dignity of every person must apply to people of color. Because Black people have been historically marginalized, devalued, oppressed, discriminated against and extinguished, they deserve justice, equity and compassion. We have created a society where fear is a daily experience for Black people and law enforcement must be trained in de-escalation and bias awareness. We are in this together and we need to do all we can to make a better world. So let us stay in it and Stand on the Side of Love.
On Monday, immigrants from around the country were joined by our Berks County, Unitarian Society of Germantown and Mainline UUs as they marched to the Wells Fargo Convention Center to voice their support for immediate immigration reform. “We must stop separating families with deportations and 
close down the Berks County Residential Center” which detains mothers and children who are seeking asylum. The center has been operating without a license from the Commonwealth since February of this year, and immigration advocates are fighting for it to close and for the families to be released. The march was led by Juntos, the #Not1More Campaign, the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, Congress of Day Laborers and others. UUSC has called on all UUs to join the Standing on the Side of Love campaign, fortify the movement and use the power of love to stop oppression.
Pennsylvania is a critical state in the coming presidential election.
Please consider making a commitment to work on Voter Registration given the urgency of this election year. Sept. 27, 2016 is National Register to Vote Day. Partner with others or create a plan in our own congregations to staff voter registration tables at shopping centers, other public places or events.
The UUA is offering grants of $500 to groups who wish support in doing this. Details on Getting Out The Vote Grants for voter registration are available for any congregations who plan to work on this. Consider partnering with the NAACP or the League of Women Voters.
Link to the Grant application HERE (it is very easy to complete – just 3 pages long with three questions). Encourage your social justice teams to apply. Applications must be submitted by November 1, 2016.
UUPLAN immigration activists Dennis Brunn, and Yvonne Marlier, (Germantown) Hiro Nishikawa (Mainline), Pat Uribe Lichty (Berks) attended the Annual Meeting of the PA Immigration and Citizenship Coalition (PICC).
This year the meeting was hosted by Make the Road PA at their Reading offices, in order to emphasize the importance of the immigrant family detention issue. In addition to UUPLAN, over 20 immigrant and allied organizations from across PA participated.
The meeting reviewed PICC’s major campaigns: Tuition Equity (formerly the PA Dream Act), Drivers Licenses for all immigrants, and the campaign to shut down the Berks Detention Center.
Prior to the start of the meeting, members of UUPLAN Immigration Justice Team joined with PICC at the Berks County Services Center to demand that the Berks County Commissioners close the Berks County Residential Center in Bern Township, which detains asylum-seeking undocumented immigrant families.
Although the protesters were denied access to the Berks County Services Center, they delivered a petition calling “for commissioners to close the facility, saying the practice of detaining families is illegal, a misuse of resources, and that the center does not provide adequate medical attention to residents.”
UUPLAN joined the Pennsylvania Immigrant Citizens Coalition for their annual Immigratnt and Refugee Advocacy Day on April 11th in Harrisburg. Over 150 people attended from throughout the state and UUs from Germanton, MainLine, York and Harrisburg participated. After a morning program and training in the Rachel Carson building, we were assigned to teams and made lobby visits to over 30 legislators and key members of Governor Wolf’s cabinet.
We spoke with legislators about why immigrants are good for Pennsylvania, the need for immigrants to secure an unmarked driver’s license, increasing the miniumum wage, and closing the Berks County Residential Center.
Join the Pennsylvania Immigration Citizens Coalition on April 11th for a Lobby Day in Harrisburg. Register here.
In other news, the Immigration Team is working with CIVIC regarding plans for a possible tour of the Berks detention center. They will work through the ICE visitation directions with the hope that this will eventually lead to a visitation program. Even as we work to shut down the center, it is important to let the mothers and children know that they have people on the outside who are actively working to help them become free.
The Team has been in contact with CIVIC a group who is committed to endng the isolation and abuse of people in U.S. immigration detention through visitation, independent monitoring, storytelling, and advocacy and will work closely with CIVIC to complete all the necessary paperwork and to include other local religious contacts. For obvious reasons CIVIC suggested that we have at least several Spanish-speaking members who will join the tour so that when we get a chance to speak to the detainees, we can communicate effectively with them.
If you can speak Spanish, please consider joining the Immigration Team as they pursue a visit with the detained mothers and children at the Berks facility.
UUs made a significant contribution to the protest against immigrant family detention on Feb. 22 at the Berks County Residential Center. There were some 150 or more demonstrating, and 20 of these were from eight UU congregations – Pittsburgh, York, Lancaster, Reading, Lehigh, Germantown, Restoration, and Buxmont. After the protest, the UUPLAN team at First UU Church of Berks County did an outstanding job welcoming everyone who participated in the protest and providing lunch and a place to plan next steps. This was one more very positive step toward creating a partnership with immigrant leaders and faith-based allies that will ultimately lead to the shutting down of the Berks Center.
Participants witnessed an astounding display of courage as dozens of detained immigrant women andtheir children defied threats of the Berks Center staff by walking to the very edge of the property (separated by only 30 feet) and speaking out repeatedly about their poor living conditions and treatment, and most importantly about their determination to continue struggling for their freedom. The chanting of the children, many younger than 5 years old, brought the demonstrators to tears and reminded everyone of what is at stake in this campaign.
Readers, we urge you to keep these brave mothers and children in mind if, from time to time you may feel discouraged by the extremely slow pace of change toward a more just and fair society. This issue — immigration justice — we have chosen because we know that as UUs that we must stand up for the dignity and common humanity of all regardless of documents or status. Under current conditions, immigration is one of the most difficult issues to advance. May the courage of the Berks detainees remind us of why we must persist!
Submitted by Dennis Brunn