160: Black Lives of UU
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Dr. Takiyah Amin and Kenny Wiley from the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism organizing collective join us!
The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, and Alicia Forde, with production support provided by Lori Stone Sirtosky. The VUU airs Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode aired on November 17, 2016.
Note: The audio above has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
153: Black Lives of UU
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The Black Lives of UU regulars join the VUU regulars. The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Aisha Hauser, Hank Peirce, Alicia Forde, and Slim Moon. The VUU airs Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode first aired on September 29, 2016.
Note: The audio above has been slightly edited for a better listening experience. View the live original recording on YouTube.
Making Justice Now
Usually we honor someone from our history who serves as a role model on this page, but there are plenty of UU justice-makers who are living and working right now.
Take, for instance, Lena K. Gardner, who is the Membership and Fundraising Director for our own Church of the Larger Fellowship. Lena is a leader with the Black Lives Matter movement in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She organizes and speaks out and brings people together to protest racist ways that the police have treated Black people in their community and other places around the country.
Justice-Makers Lena K Gardner and Pastor Danny Givens, Jr, CLF prison chaplain
Working with many other people—many of them young adults or even teenagers, they have protested police killing unarmed Black people and demanded that city officials change policies to hold police accountable.
Always using peaceful strategies, they have held protests in America’s biggest shopping mall and on the highway and in front of a police station.
Some people have objected to the Black Lives Matter slogan, saying that all lives matter. But Lena and many others are pushing people to understand the many ways in which Black people are treated as if their lives don’t matter. They are working for a world where everyone finds fairness.
135: Risk is Real with Black Lives of UU
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Leslie MacFadyen and Carlton Smith join The VUU to talk about their Movement for Black Lives Session at GA2016. How do we connect the desire to show up for racial justice with the reality of risk? The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley, Joanna Fontaine Crawford, Tom Schade, Aisha Hauser, and Hank Pierce. The VUU airs Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode first aired March 17, 2016.
Uncertainty and Solidarity: Reflections on Shutting it Down with Black Lives Matter
I was there on Wednesday, at the Black Lives Matter protests at the Mall of America, at the airport, and on the light rail.
I was there on Wednesday with my 12 and 7-year-old daughters.
I was there because we were there a year ago—our first visit to the mall with 3,000 of our closest friends. As my older daughter pointed out when I was wavering on my decision to go, “It’s our holiday tradition, Dad! On Thanksgiving we protest Walmart. At Christmas, we go to the mall with Black Lives Matter!”
A Black Lives Matter Sermon
This sermon was delivered at the Michael Servetus Unitarian Society in Fridley, Minn. on Sunday morning, the 15th of November 2015, as Jamar Clark lay in hospital fighting for his life, shot by Minneapolis police. It was written in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris, France; in Beirut, Lebanon; and Baghdad, Iraq. We share it with you the day after Lena spent most of the night at the camp at the 4th Precinct in Minneapolis dealing with the aftermath of a terrorist attack launched by white supremacists on the people participating in the occupation and calling for justice in the shooting death of Jamar Clark.
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120: Black Lives of UU
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Leslie MacFadyen and Lena Gardener meet with The VUU team to talk about self-care, the situation in Minneapolis, and a Year Without Tamir. The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley and Joanna Fontaine Crawford and airs Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode first aired November 19, 2015.
The Revolution will be Broadcast by You [VIDEO]
Tonight, as I watch the live feeds of events unfolding at the #4thPrecinctShutDown, I am feeling so much gratitude for all the organizers and ordinary people putting themselves in harm’s way as they collectively call for #Justice4Jamar in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Read more →
112: Seven Principles for Black Lives
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Carlton Smith and Leslie Butler MacFadyen join The VUU for a conversation about UUs and the Black Lives Matter movement. The VUU is hosted by Meg Riley and Joanna Fontaine Crawford and airs on Thursdays at 11 am ET. This episode originally aired on September 24, 2015.