Join the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, CA, Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church (Hayward, CA), and the Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of California for this informational session & activation opportunity.
The First Unitarian Church of San Jose & Starr King UU Church have been supporting the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to protect their sacred grounds of Juristac, just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. A proposed open pit sand and gravel mine threatens this sacred site of the Amah Mutsun Trbal Band, as well as the rich ecosystems the tribe’s stewardship has protected throughout its history. Learn more about this critical effort to protect religious freedom and respect the rights of indigenous communities in California, and how your congregation can take accountable action in your region to do the same.
At our 2020 UUA General Assembly, UUs adopted an Action of Immediate Witness to Address 400 Years of White Supremacist Colonialism. Indigenous spirituality has been devalued since European colonists arrived to the land we now call the United States. In the 1800s Congress ignored the 1st Amendment and passed a law making it illegal for indigenous communities & nations to practice their religions - that wasn’t repealed until the 1970s. Indigenous religions are still considered "less than" by the dominant US culture, and their sacred sites get desecrated with impunity by commercial interests. We are asking for your help to stop those desecrations here in California.
Join us on February 13 as we identify and commit to our call to overcome the effects of centuries of settler colonialism by being in solidarity with Indigenous communities & nations to protect their sacred sites and their rights to practice their religions.*
Speakers:
Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones, First Unitarian Church of San Jose
Colleen Cabot, First Unitarian Church of San Jose
Beth Oglive, Starr King UU Church (Hayward, CA)
*This program is intentionally designed for non-Indigenous Unitarian Universalists to learn from each other about our role as allies and accomplices in this critical effort. Doing the work to understand our positions of power & privilege and how we are called to show up, includes internal information opportunities and self-assessments that do not put the burden on indigenous communities and nations to teach or work with us without first knowing we can be trusted to answer the call to address white supremacist colonialism accountably.