Upcoming Events
For more information, check the Calendar of Events
Social Justice Council Meeting: May 12
'Hungry Not Hopeless" Dinner and Movie Night: June 1
Last Day to Donate Recycling: June 9
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Newsletter Team
Megan Selby
Erin Rusmi
Laurel Johnson
Jill Parsons
Liz Kindig
Dayna Eglinton
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Recent 2U Plate-Sharing Recipients
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If I Had a Hammer...
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words and music by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger
"If I had a hammer
I'd hammer in the morning
I'd hammer in the evening
All over this land
I'd hammer out danger
I'd hammer out a warning
I'd hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters
All over this land"
Over the past several months, 2U's Social Justice Council has been revamping our work to increase our effectiveness, encourage participation in the congregation, and build our power to create the changes we want to see. We heard numerous times from congregants that they knew 2U was engaged in a lot of social justice work but didn't know exactly what we were doing. We hope The Hammer will be a tool to inform and engage people in the social justice work of 2U.
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Social Action Updates
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Marriage Equality:
Marriage equality STILL NEEDS YOU!
Marriage equality passed the Illinois senate on Valentine's Day, but it hasn't yet passed the House. Until it does, Illinois Unites for Marriage, a coalition of various state and national LGBT organizations including Equality Illinois, the ACLU, and Lambda Legal, is hosting daily phone banks around Chicago to ask voters in swing districts to call their state reps and ask for a yes vote on marriage equality. Each phone bank begins with a comprehensive training, so there's no experience required. All we need is you! Sign up here: http://www.illinoisunites.org/events Questions? Contact Katherine Wolf at 630-779-5424 or katherinerosewolf@gmail.com. Let's get this done!
Community Renewal Society:
On Tuesday, April 16th, Gene Horcher, Megan Selby, Liz Kindig, Jill Parsons, and Laurel Johnson headed to Springfield for the Community Renewal Society's annual Day of Faith in Action. Over 300 people from CRS member congregations came together at the Capitol to lobby in support of universal background checks for gun owners as well as the Illinois Sealing Bill, HB3061. This bill would allow for ex-offenders to have certain nonviolent felony records sealed after 4-7 years following release from prison. Passed into law, the Illinois Sealing Bill would allow more people to reintegrate into society as working citizens, reducing the rate of re-offending and returning to prison. Along with members of the FORCE (Fighting to Overcome Records and Create Equality) project, CRS lobbying teams met with over 40 elected officials and won 5 new co-sponsors for HB3061. Three days after the Community Renewal Society Day of Faith in Action, HB3061 passed in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support! HB3061 must now pass the Senate.
Lakeview Action Coalition:
The Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC) is a multi-issue community organization, comprised of 49 institutional members: religious congregations, social service agencies, business associations, for-profit, not-for-profit private institutions, and individual caucus members, of which Second Unitarian Church (2U) is a founding institutional member. LAC works on issues of Affordable Housing, Access to Healthcare, Economic Justice, and Homeless Youth and Police Relations.
On the issue of affordable housing, LAC is working to protect SROs (single resident occupancy units), which serve an important housing option for the working poor, people with troubled credit, and people on a fixed income in our neighborhood. Jamie Purcell, of BJB Properties, has bought 5 SRO buildings, which account for more than 500 units of affordable housing in Lakeview alone. The owner has vacated low-income tenants from these buildings to make way for upscale, market-rate rental units, making them out of reach for all the prior tenants. SRO tenants and LAC have been working together to meet with the owner to bring affordability and accessibility into these newly rehabbed SROs and get commitment from our local Aldermen to preserve SROs in our neighborhood to be affordable. If interested in taking part in LAC's housing work or other efforts, speak with Curtis Smith or Norman Groetzinger.
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Plate-Sharing Recipient
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Jane Addams Senior Caucus
2U's plate share this month will go to the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, "a multiracial, grassroots organization led by concerned seniors in the Chicago metropolitan area. Through leadership development, organizing and popular education, we use the power of our collective voice to work for economic, social and racial justice for all seniors and our communities. Presently our issues include the preservation and creation of affordable housing, improving in-home health care and ensuring on-site social workers in senior buildings."
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Everyday Change
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Ideas for practicing social justice and living out our UU values in our daily lives!
Here's an organization to keep in mind for your spring cleaning and summer projects! Rebuilding Exchange provides training and employment opportunities to people who are formerly incarcerated and people with other barriers to employment and promotes sustainable deconstruction and reuse practices by diverting materials from landfills and making them accessible for reuse through their retail warehouse, partnering with nonprofit organizations working to rebuild their communities with reclaimed materials, and creating innovative models for sustainable reuse, including RX Made, an in-house furniture line made from local and salvaged materials. Rebuilding Exchange affirms the inherent worth and dignity of every person by providing opportunities to people who are systematically excluded by many employers and face much discrimination as they try to rebuild their lives. They promote respect for the interconnected web of existence of which we are all a part by using and teaching sustainable practices. Ways to support Rebuilding Exchange include buying furniture from RX Made, taking one of their workshops in woodworking, home improvement, or homesteading, or making a donation! For more information on this great organization go to rebuildingexchange.org
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| Family Corner |
They may seem small, they may seem plain, but our little ones can do wondrous things. Inherent in our UU beliefs is the common thread of caring for each other and the great big earth that we call home. It is important that each one of us pass these traditions along to not only our own children but those in our community as well.
One of the greatest things that we can do, is to simply listen. Listening is the best tool that we have to understand what our children care about. This will blaze forth a path to what will be a lifelong passion of fighting for social justice and being in tune to the needs in the community. Simply listening allows you to discover what both small and big children alike care about.
A simple way to getting started is to create a peace flag, a visual picture of those things that children hold dear. Have children gather images or objects, that to them, represent the meaning of peace. Clip these items along a string, and hang it in a meaningful place. When you step back and look, you may discover a pattern inside, or even motivation for future projects.
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Social Justice Committee Member Profile
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Spotlight on jUUstice
Gene Hoercher
He first began his work in Bloomington, IL at the age of 21 when he started getting involved in the Unitarian church, prior to the merger. He's had a lot of mentors along the way, rooted in a long tradition of social justice work. He remembers fondly working with UU for social justice and their walk to raise funds for the homeless and even meeting with the President, while he was still a senator. Recently Gene has been spotted working closely with the Jane Adams Senior Caucus and handing out flyers to raise awareness for the amount of money spent on the wars and to change legislation.
Of course, there are the rumors that Gene has been arrested for activism work, and they are true! He states that it's an effective tactic and it's happened three times for him. It's included a stand in for poor conditions at an Alden nursing home as well as standing up for funding issues related to Medicare, Medicaid and HUD.
He cites the principle of "inherent worth and dignity of every person" as guiding his ideas and eliminating the concept of the "other." Stating that, "we all need to follow the rules, and that no one should be left behind, that right now people are being left behind like trash". His future projects and ideas include his recent involvement with studying the prison complex, ensuring that people are cared for and quoting Paul Simon, "putting America back to work."
Gene speaks passionately about looking to other Unitarians for inspiration. He states he just keeps his eyes open and has someone give him ideas and a poke in the right direction.
In his words of wisdom Gene emphasizes the importance of meeting with your legislators and the impact that face to face meetings can have. From hearing all the work that Gene does, it's easy to think of him as a leader, but he views himself more as follower, and he stressed that followers can be leaders, in their own way.
And what would this article be without a shout out to social justice council? Gene himself states this is the best way to surround yourself with leaders such as Curtis, Katie and Megan. Surround yourself with fellow Unitarians in the fight for social justice.
-A sincere thank you to Gene for speaking to me and for his kindness and his pure humility and humbleness.-
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Good Reads
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The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
The New Jim Crow is this year's 2012-2013 Unitarian Universalist Association Common Read, and it comes highly recommended by the 2U Social Justice Council. Michelle Alexander sheds a much needed light on the racial injustices of our current criminal justice system in the United States. By taking a critical look at the War on Drugs, she argues that what has really happened is that we have found a new way to enact the same old injustices that we supposedly left behind in the Jim Crow era. The same old institutionalized racism, exclusion, and discrimination are as present as ever, but this time we have found a way to do it without explicitly talking about race.
As the UUA Common Read, Unitarians across the nation will be reading this book this year. Many of us do not yet know the magnitude of the crisis faced by communities of color as a result of mass incarceration. Many of us know but have not had the facts or data to convince our friends and loved ones of its magnitude. As we seek to live out our inner convictions through struggles for justice, may this book enlighten and equip us to seek an end to the destruction and injustice caused by mass incarceration.
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Spring Recycle Challenge!
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By donating the following items to 2U, you can clear out clutter, help us raise funds and help keep our landfills free of electronic waste!
Accepted items to recycle:
- Inkjet Cartridges
- Cell Phones/Pagers/PDAs
- iPods/MP3 Players
- iPads/Tablets
- eBook Readers
- Digital/Video Cameras
- Mobile Hot Spots
- GPS and Radar Detectors
- Calculators
- Video Games and Accessories
- Video Game Consoles
- Video Game Handhelds
Drop off by Sunday, June 9th at Second Unitarian. The Recycling Box will be located in the Palmer Room.
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Who is the Social Justice Committee?
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The Social Justice Committee is made up of about 30 2U churchgoers. This newsletter was written and edited by Megan Selby, Erin Rusmi, Laurel Johnson, Jill Parsons, Liz Kindig, and Dayna Eglinton.
Do you want to join the Social Justice Committee or help with the next newsletter? We would love to have you! Just come to the next social justice meeting on May 12th at noon, or email Megan Selby at meganselby@gmail.com
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