Public Witness at General Assembly

The 2013 Public Witness event at General Assembly is scheduled for the evening of Thursday, June 20. The witness will focus on Environmental Justice. Wendell Berry will participate.

Wendell Berry is the author of more than fifty books of poetry, fiction, and essays. In April 2012, Berry delivered the 41st annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities, the highest honor the federal government has for “distinguished intellectual achievement” in the humanities. He was recently awarded the National Humanities Medal, the Cleanth Brooks Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and the Louis Bromfield Society Award. For more than forty years, he has lived and farmed with his wife, Tanya Berry, in Kentucky.

The event is scheduled to use the Belvedere outdoor facility adjacent to the Galt House Hotel (map). It is an open park with ample cement paths, grassy areas, some benches and low cement walls for seating, very little shade. Terrain is sloped but not steep. Restrooms are located in the park, as well as at the Galt House, accessible through the pool area.

2012

Interfaith Witness for Human Rights:
Candlelight Vigil at Tent City Jail

Standing on the Side of Love—Stop the Incarceration and Human Rights Abuses of Migrants!

Over 2,000 people are being held at Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s infamous Tent City Jail. Another 6,000 people are being held in other Maricopa County jails in the same areas, south of W. Durango St. To date over 427,000 inmates have gone through Tent City Jail where people are crowded together on wooden planks in broiling heat in the summer and freezing cold in the winter.

This facility represents the worst of a culture of cruelty perpetrated in the name of the U.S. government  and is a key component of the federal system of mass detention and deportation. With the passage of SB1070 and copycat laws around the country, and the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement ‘Secure Communities program,’ the climate of fear has reached crisis proportions.

We will Shine a Light on the human rights abuses here in Arizona and across the nation! We stand on the side of love.

Hear UUA President Rev. Peter Morales, United Church of Christ General Minister & President Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, other interfaith clergy, and local UU and human rights leaders. Multimedia coverage.

2011

Standing on the Side of Love with LGBT People Everywhere!

Rev. Peter Morales, Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) President, Rev. Mark Kiyimba, Minister of the UU Church of Kampala, Uganda, Ian Palmquist, Executive Director of Equality North Carolina Interfaith, and community partners joined together for a witness to help spread our values of equality and justice, inclusion and acceptance. Event Flyer (PDF)

2010

Standing on the Side of Love for Marriage Equality

General Assembly attendees were invited to join in an Interfaith Community Public Witness Event at the Twin Cities’ Pride Weekend—the fourth largest bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender (BGLT) PRIDE in the nation.

General Assembly attendees joined Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) President Peter Morales, interfaith and community leaders in a witness for our values. The event included worship, music, testimonials, and information about what we can do for BGLT equality. Full story.

2009

Members of the General Assembly joined Unitarian Universalist Association President William Sinkford, Bishop John C. Wester, The Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish, Rev. Canon Dr. Pablo Ramos, and interfaith and community leaders to Stand on the Side of Love with Immigrant Families.

2008

Public Witness at General Assembly 2008 (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) was Valuing ALL Families: Interfaith Community Witness Event—Immigrant & BGLT Families (PDF).