So folks, as we settle in this evening, I know many of us are just returning from, uh, long days out in the world. Um, and I just wanna introduce, uh, as a centering piece, um, a reflection from the Reverend James Luther Adams. James Luther Adams, if you are not familiar, was a Unitarian minister, a professor of theology, um, often considered the greatest unitarian theologian of the 20th century. James Lutheran Adams spent time in Germany in the mid 1930s, hanging around with folks like Carl Barth and Albert Schweitzer, and watched the rise of fascism in Germany and throughout Europe, and was deeply impacted by that, um, throughout the entirety of his ministry. And he wrote in his famous essay, um, that we often refer to as the Five Smooth Stones. Uh, but that is actually entitled, guiding Principles for Free Faith, the Following Words. And Cal, I'm gonna ask you to share that slide, please, with the words up on it. Adam's wrote, I believe, I actually, you know what? I'll have to find you the year in a minute. 'cause I didn't write it down. I don't wanna quote it wrong. He wrote, the Community of justice and love is not an ethereal fellowship that is above the conflicts and turmoils of the world. It's one that takes shape in nature and history. One that requires the achievement of freedom with respect to material resources, as well as with respect to spiritual resources. Indeed, the one kind of freedom is not fully authentic without the other freedom, justice and love require a body as well as a spirit. We do not live by spirit alone. A purely spiritual religion is a purely spurious religion. It is one that exempts its believer from surrender to the sustaining, transforming reality that demands the community of justice and love. This sham spirituality far more than materialism is the great enemy of religion. Anything that exists effectively in history must have form. And the creation of a form requires power. It requires not only the power of thought, but also the power of organization and the organization of power. Zi, why I love James Luther Adams right there. Um, so friends, this is why we are coming together. Thank you, Kelly. You can take that down for the moment. Um, as you know, this is a series that began, um, with the Reverend Cecilia Kingman's amazing Berry Street lecture about combating fascisms, both internal and external to Unitarian Universalism. Many of you joined us last month for our conversation in which we got to really hear more deeply from Cecilia about that essay and process it a little bit together. And today we get to talk about how the rubber hits the road for us, how we do in fact, um, harness the power of organization and the organization of power. So, uh, I am so delighted this evening that, um, my new friend and colleague Kate Bitz is joining us tonight. Kate is, um, and I'm gonna try and get your title right here. Kate, you are the program manager and trainer slash organizer at the Western State Center. Is that correct? Yes, that's right. Beautiful. Okay. Um, we, we have pretty long titles at the center, uh, because each one of us does a lot. I suppose That is how it goes in our small little organizing shops that are trying to change the world. Um, we're gonna let Kate introduce herself a little bit more in a minute and talk more about her work. But, um, before we do that, I just wanna let you all know that, that the majority of tonight is gonna be a conversation between me and Kate. Um, Kate is in the position of watching a lot of white national nationalist groups and other, um, radical right groups show up, um, what, what they are doing on the ground around the country right now. And so we're gonna talk, um, through the lens of Kate's experience and our experience, um, about what that looks like right now, and then move into, in the latter part of our conversation, some very concrete, um, proactive things that we think congregations should be doing in order to be equipped to be ready and to be skilled enough to meet the moment. Before we do all of that though, Kate, I know that you have a poll question that you would like to ask our fabulous audience here. Do you wanna let them know what that is? Sure. So the point of this poll question is just to learn a little bit more about, uh, what you all are experiencing in your locations. So, uh, we would, we'd like to hear from you about whether you are seeing, uh, white nationalists and anti-democracy groups operating on the ground in your area, and kind of to what extent. So there are a few different options, whether that's just not something that you see in your area. Maybe you mostly read about it in the newspaper, or this is a new topic for you. Maybe it is something that you're seeing but your congregation has not been involved. Uh, perhaps it's something where your congregation has seen this happen and is working to show up in allyship, or maybe your congregation itself has become a target of some of these groups. Um, so please let us know how you're positioned when it comes to that, using the poll. So Everybody should see this poll pop up on your screen. Um, please submit your answer and then we'll wait while our answers roll in for a minute here. I'm watching the numbers tick up. We've got 107 out of 185 who are live right now, 1 33 37. Ooh, we're getting close here, friends. 152. We'll give it maybe a another minute here. Fabulous. We're at a hundred sixty two eighty 7%. Okay. I think we'll give it eight more seconds here. We'll give it a full minute. Yeah. And I can see a couple of folks, uh, adding into the chat, uh, what they are seeing in their area. Um, and I especially hope that, uh, that you'll stick around for our unrecorded portion where we can get into it a little bit more, talk about what you're experiencing and, uh, some of the ways that we might be able to assist. Yeah. Yeah. So the results are in everybody. Um, our, uh, most popular option here was no, not that I know of 33% of folks, 54 out of 166, and then the next two are sort of the, the majority, that middle chunk. Um, so my congregation has not been involved, but I've seen it locally or Yes. And my congregation has shown up in some way in allyship. So this sounds like the majority of people on this call, Kate, are experiencing this next door, but not directly. Um, we do, however, have 14 people on this call who have been, uh, who are in congregations that have already been directly targeted. Um, and that matches with my experience. Part of the reason why, um, Kate and I got to meet at the 22nd Century Initiative conference. I went to a couple of workshops that Kate and the Western State Center were leading. Um, and we ended up actually getting a whole lot of conversation about this, it turns out. Um, but over the last several months in particular, we outside with love and the u u a have witnessed this just escalating number of congregations who are seeing the Oath Keepers show up at their drag show, or who are having, um, folks come in and infiltrate their events or their worship services with the intention of recording and putting things on the internet and getting a whole lot of attention at folks, getting it on conservative media. Um, we've had folks who have, you know, the proud boys outside with guns for a particular community event that's happening. So, um, and we, we know many of us heard the story of our congregation in Plano, Texas a few weeks ago, who after an incidence of infiltration into the congregation, then got a fire bomb thrown at its door. Um, thankfully that congregation, nobody was harmed. But, um, it's all very scary. So we're seeing a lot of this. Um, and I think that's a great place to just start, Kate, uh, for you to tell us a little bit about you about the Western State Center. Um, I, I'm sure that some folks are familiar with your work, but for those of us who don't know you and the Western State Center, tell us a little bit about the work that you are all doing. So, Western State Center has been around for about 40 years as a, uh, organization that started out doing organizing training and technical assistance for people organizing for inclusive democracy across the Western states. The cute way to describe our, uh, core region is that it's Idaho and every state that touches it. Um, ever since 2017 when our now former, uh, executive director Eric Ward, who has a very long history, uh, of organizing in the human rights movement against, uh, one of, one of the prior times that white nationalism was rising in our region and in the country, um, ever since then, for obvious reasons, uh, Western State Center has built out some programs that are really based around countering white nationalism, countering antisemitism quite directly, and building capacity in our communities and our institutions to do that work of standing up for inclusive democracy. Uh, that's also where I entered the Western State Center story. Um, I first came to Western State Center through a fellowship program, um, in 2018, have been on staff for pretty much exactly four years this week. And, uh, I spend the bulk of my time talking to folks who are, um, experiencing all of the things that I see scrolling past me in the chat right now. Um, threats, harassment, uh, attempts to take over local government and turn it to anti-democracy ends. Um, we are also in conversation with a growing number of institutions at the local state, and even federal level, um, who are starting to respond to and to recognize this problem. So, uh, it has, it has been a lot, but, um, I'm, I feel extraordinarily lucky to be in this position to assist people across the region and the country, and also to be here with you tonight. And boy, are we lucky to have you both in your position and with us tonight. Um, I'll transparently say that one of the reasons why we didn't publicize the crap out of you being here tonight is because we knew that there was this huge number of people who were already signed up. Um, and the work that you all are doing often actually makes you targets on the internet. And so, um, we know that we're, uh, we're at a, a tipping point, as I've said to Kate a couple of times where, um, this is a moment where more and more Unitarian universalists are, um, understanding how important it is to be really public with our pro L G B T Q stances, our pro-abortion stances, our, um, defense of democracy as a central tenet of our faith and our values. And it turns out that when we do that really loudly, especially in times of escalating fascism, authoritarianism, white nationalism, um, we become targets. And, uh, Reverend Cecilia, when we talked last month, um, mentioned how that is actually a sign of encroaching fascism, right? As you move from just the targeted people themselves, right? The, the gays, the non-Christians, the trans folks, the, you know, the black indigenous people of color communities, and then to anybody who has anything to do with them or supports the agenda of liberation in any way. And that, that's what we're seeing right now. Um, so, you know, I think I wanna acknowledge in this call that we've got folks on all ends of that spectrum, right? We're seeing folks who have no personal experience with this in their own communities yet, and we've got folks who are dealing with this every day up close and personal, where they live. Um, I also wanna be clear that we are talking tonight specifically with Kate in the Western State Center about white nationalism and white Christian nationalism. We're gonna do a little definition of terms here. So, Cal, could you pull up that, uh, fascism definition here for me? So you will recall, if you're with us last month, that we defined fascism in the way that Reverend Cecilia does as a mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of both the nation and the single powerful leader over the individual citizen. Next slide. In the contemporary United States white nationalism, specifically white Christian nationalism, is a pillar of rising fascism. So many of you're talking about how your elected leaders are in fact, uh, demonstrating fascist tendencies and talk the talking points of fascism. Um, we have a whole campaign for that. It's called You the Vote. We encourage you to join us, and we're gonna be doing a whole lot of work on that over the next year, what it looks like actually to address fascism specifically through electoral politics. And, um, we also know that, uh, there's a cycle, right, where the white nationalist groups made it possible for these folks to get into quote unquote legitimate political positions. And the folks in those legitimate quote unquote PO positions have now made it legitimate for white nationalist groups to exhibit the behavior much more publicly than they have been allowed to in other moments in United States history in much more, in a much more widespread way. So Kate and I are gonna talk a little bit about that. Kate, um, I wanna turn it to you to talk a little bit, you, you made some really excellent slides to talk about what you mean when you say white nationalism. So I'm gonna turn it to you to, to do a little definition making for us. And Cal, we can have the next slide, please. Yeah. Um, thank you so much for, uh, for bringing these along, because I do find that these topics are always a little bit easier with visual aids. Uh, and these are a couple of distinctions that we do make in our work at Western States Center. Uh, these, this terminology is not absolute. Um, you know, as I'm sure that you learned the first time around in this webinar, and also through that great Berry Street essay from Reverend Kingman, um, there's a lot of different ways that people talk about similar problems, uh, depending on the historical context and depending where we find ourselves, uh, both in time and in space. So this, these are essentially working definitions that we use to be able to talk, uh, using some shared terminology. Um, please don't email me and say, Hey, my friend Wendy says, it's actually called this. Um, I, I kind of don't care as long as we're all on the same side. So, uh, let's get the next slide, please. So, if I'm talking about white supremacy in this conversation, what I mean is, um, a system and a set of ideas if we're talking about white supremacy, this is referring to the systems, structures, institutions, and ideas that privilege or prefer people who are recognized as white, as we all know historically, that has certainly been a sliding scale. Um, white supremacy is also something that, um, that can show up in pop culture in ideas about whose vote is worth something. Ideas about who has leadership qualities, um, shows up, of course in religion. Uh, and my simple example of what systemic white supremacy looks like is a redlining map. Uh, this is the map of Spokane, Washington, where I reside. And as you can see here, this is like literally a scale of which properties were considered to be worth backing through a federal mortgage, depending on the demographics. So what you see in the areas that are marked red, why it's called a red lining map, um, are areas that were predominantly black people, people of color, recent immigrants. Um, the yellow areas in many US cities are areas that had a lot of recent, um, immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe. Uh, this was the mid 20th century. So these were some of the, like, more recent folks who had moved from Europe. Uh, and actually a lot of Jewish neighborhoods, once you get into the blue neighborhoods, those are ones that, um, spoilers here, Cal, wow, those are ones that would be considered, uh, really worth backing a mortgage in those areas from the federal government's position. And the key thing I think, to keep in mind about white supremacy is that this is a system that perpetuates itself. So you could even imagine someone applying for a mortgage, uh, back before the, um, the housing legislation of the 1950s and sixties, uh, and a mortgage agent saying, oh, wow, I'm so sorry, but like, we just can't do this paperwork. This is so messed up. I am really ashamed to say that your house is in a redlined area, and this is really racist. You know, it's based on some very horrible ideas about which neighborhoods are nice to live in and which homes are valuable, but I just can't back this mortgage. That mortgage agent might feel horrible about what she had to do, but at the end of the day, those papers were not getting signed. And I bet you can still guess by looking at this map, which neighborhoods in Spokane are the best maintained, which the city invests in, where the highest rate of people are who vote, who has the longest lifespan, uh, many, many, many years after redlining was banned. That's white supremacy. Um, however, however, you know, there is this phenomenon that requires someone to actually have intent. Uh, and that is where we get into the subject of white nationalism, if we could get the next slide. And white nationalism is a social movement, is the main thing to keep in mind. Not all social movements are movements for justice. Some of them are movements that are trying to take us into a far worse future than most of us would, uh, envision. White nationalism, I think, is important to think about in terms of its historical context, because we don't just call people white nationalists because, um, it's anine effective insult or something like that. Uh, this is what this movement calls itself. Uh, this movement came together in the years following the Civil Rights Movement, um, as a backlash to the social and political gains of that civil rights movement. The people who began to call themselves white nationalists would've earlier called themselves white supremacists or segregationists, but their argument after they were out, organized and beat in the courts, in the streets, in Congress, on every single level, um, they decided that white supremacy had actually failed white people. That it was not enough to just uphold the, uh, the power and the supremacy of white people over people of color, and instead, they turned toward an eliminationist argument. So, white nationalism is a social and political movement with the goal of turning the United States into a white ethnostate, which would obviously be a very violent process. Um, this is a movement that really relies heavily on, on bigoted arguments, um, to both build political power and also to explain the world. So we, this is why white nationalism goes hand in hand with conspiratorial antisemitism. Uh, this is why white nationalism is anti-black, misogynist, anti LGBTQ plus anti-immigrant and many other things. Um, I think I also already used the term anti-democracy groups, uh, which is on the next slide. And this is how Western State Center has begun to talk about kind of the broader scene of this big tent authoritarian coalition that we saw show up at in situations like, um, the January 6th insurrection. So the anti-democracy movement is a much broader category than white nationalists. Um, certainly there are people who ideologically consider themselves white nationalists who are part of the anti-democracy movement, but it also includes a big majority of people who would never describe themselves that way. Um, such as Proud Boys, people who describe themselves as part of the, the Patriot movement. A lot of paramilitary groups across the country right now, these do not describe themselves as white nationalists. And sometimes they really have a knee-jerk angry reaction if you, uh, suggest that their ideology is in some way racist or bigoted. But what you will typically see from them is that they don't stand up to white nationalists who want to join their coalition. And in an increasing number of instances, they do work closely with overtly bigoted groups. Uh, many of us, I'm sure have seen pictures or have been on the scene when, for example, a paramilitary group shows up with American flags to protest a pride event. Um, and at the same time, there are just masked, uh, neo-Nazis next to them holding really bigoted signs. Um, if they're not kicking them out, then essentially they are, uh, giving their presence some legitimacy. Right. Um, I see a question in the chat. Uh, Christian nationalist, I would not say is the same as white nationalist. Um, and this is a term that's, uh, not really been the focus of western state center's work, uh, thus far. Um, Christian nationalism is, uh, something that some people are starting to overtly claim in terms of believing that folks who have a certain Christian theology should be the ones who are making all of the laws, uh, that US law should be the same as how they perceive biblical law. Uh, that's a little bit different. What I can say for sure about the relationship between Christian nationalism and white nationalism is that white nationalists are very willing to use religious arguments, um, to, uh, promote their political ideas, if that makes sense. I hope that was helpful. It was super helpful. I wanna jump in on this a little bit too. Um, I, I think I would also say that here in the United States, because of the way that, um, from the very beginning of, uh, invasion and theft of land here, which was based on the Christian, um, doctrine of discovery, right? The idea that in order to, um, legitimize the theft of the quote unquote new world from in the indigenous peoples who had been here for thousands of years, um, the Catholic Church issued a papal bull saying that, uh, it is our right and our, um, duty to steal this land and to forcibly convert or exterminate all of the people who are currently here in the name of Christianity. Turns out that a lot of that was about money too. So the, the development of western Christian hegemony and Christian supremacy alongside the evolution of Western capitalism, um, and the happy marriage of capitalism and Christian supremacy around chattel slavery and indigenous genocide have a long and particular history here in the United States. So, um, definitely agree. There's a huge overlap of like Christian nationalists and white nationalists, and in that centered Venn diagram, they will be very, very happy to sell you rhetoric. Um, bumper stickers, bibles, uh, even skincare, uh, that is a, around reclaiming our country for God and for Jesus, you know, um, and eliminating all threats to that, which just happens to include anybody who's not white, um, or a whole list of other categories that Kate already named. So I think we can go deeper into that another time, but, um, largely I think we're talking about that broad group of white nationalists that belong under that anti-democracy umbrella. So with that, I'm gonna segue into the next question, which is, um, you know, you dropped the term multiracial democracy earlier, and, um, I think we do a lot of talking about what we're against, but I wanna actually invite into the room as we are in the middle of this conversation, what are we fighting for, right? Like, I think sometimes we get so, um, traumatized and badgered by this really hateful ideology that is literally trying to kill many of our people, that we don't stop and articulate what we mean. Um, so can you just give us, what is, what is your definition of a robust multiracial democracy came? Hmm. So, at Western State Center, we often talk about everyone having the right to live love work in worship, free from fear. And, uh, I think it's taken me a while to understand just how much change that actually implies for us to be able to, um, have freedom from fear, be able to live our lives in, uh, in the way that we find right for us, um, and also make space for many other different worlds and ways of living. Um, that's a huge vision. And I think to me personally, it's more of a freedom dream for the future, and not something that I necessarily always see the possibilities of right now. Uh, big part of my work has been accepting that I don't know exactly what that better future is going to be, and that my fight is the fight to keep that space open for people who are going to create that vision. Um, whether that's black women organizing for reproductive justice, trans folks re-imagining what gender means to them, you know, indigenous people figuring out what land back is going to look like, um, that's who I'm fighting for, is the people who make those visions. Yeah, and I think we do, you know, we do get glimpses every once in a while. Um, I live in Minnesota, in Minneapolis, and, you know, in the same summer, um, that George Floyd was murdered here, and we were infiltrated, in fact, by a lot of white nationalist group who saw that as a moment for disruption and, and breaking forward around their cause. Um, that same summer, we also saw the, uh, the furthest forward movements that we've ever seen around, um, defunding the police and creating alternative structures of safety, uh, here in the west, actually, like it, I mean, it all happened in as part and parcel. Um, I live in a state where we just passed, uh, we had the most remarkable legislative session that we've ever seen here once in a, you know, 10 generations legislative session for liberation, um, at the same time as we are seeing all of this stuff. And so I think, um, it's really helpful to hear you talk about understanding yourself as sort of part of a longer arc of history and part of, uh, a sense of being connected to people who have fought this in the past and who are, um, dreaming the dreams of the future, and that our, our role is as a, a part of all of that. Appreciate that a lot, Kate. So let's get nitty gritty. Unfortunately, you, you're on the receiving end of the calls a lot of the time, you and your comrades at Western State Center when stuff pops off. So can you just give us some concrete examples of like, what you are seeing, um, across the country, how these sort of threats are manifesting both in sort of the like bluster and talk side of things, but then also the actual violence that we're seeing replicating itself? Sure. And I will say, uh, one thing that we know from research on political violence is that where there is talk, there is always a potential for action. Um, so these two things really go hand in hand. And if you see prominent people in the anti-democracy movement, uh, or who are close to that movement, beginning to ratchet up, uh, talk about violence, talk about people, you know, deserving harm, um, often what follows that is you, that's not a direct instruction to their following, but the, there's a certain type of person who will pick up on that and decide to carry it out. So really, whether you call this, um, scripted violence or stochastic terrorism or any of those terms, uh, action is a result of, of this type of discourse. Um, I think we're seeing this in a few different ways. First of all, obviously threats against marginalized communities directly, um, threats, harassment and political violence, as well as just the silencing of our histories and our truths. You know, I want to name that as, um, people attempting to take away the basis for movements like the Black Lives Matter movement of, you know, uh, 2014, end of 2020. Um, I think it was a real shock for people in smaller communities to see that, um, that these protests were not put together by people from outside of their communities as was alleged so often at the beginning through these kind of conspiratorial frameworks. Um, it was actually their own kids who were standing up against police brutality. And I think this is the moment that really leads to a lot of the attacks against inclusive education and accurate history education that we are seeing right now. Um, I guess that's a good segue into, uh, threats against our institutions, right? We all know that our civic institutions do not serve everyone equitably as they should. Like, that's just a given. Um, but as imperfect as institutions like public schools, city governments, libraries, you know, et cetera, may be, they are currently being targeted by the anti-democracy movement because these institutions are the closest thing that we have to guarantors of our civil rights, um, our ability to become educated, our ability to enjoy public space, you know, and, uh, make rules that we all live under as equally as possible. So that's where you get these threats against our institutions. Um, and this is the constantly shifting picture, right? I'm sure we can all remember threats against, uh, public health workers at the start of this pandemic era. Uh, we can all recall, you know, the threats against elections administrators in 2020 and also last year during the midterms. Now of course, we see our schools and our libraries in the focus. Uh, this is going to be constantly shifting based on what the current target of the anti-democracy movement is. Um, and then thirdly, I think we have threats against our democracy itself. Uh, it is really worth taking a look, you know, two and a half years after the January 6th insurrection. Now we have a historic indictment against former President Trump. And it is important to read through these things, even though we saw it all happen on television to understand what we were, were up against at the time, what the discussions in the White House were and what we are still dealing with. I mean, the most striking to me was a justice depar department official saying that if people protested against attempts to steal the 2020 election, like direct quote, that's why we have the insurrection act. That is what they were willing to weaponize against people who were gonna stand up for our democracy. Um, what protected us in that moment was people who were inside of that very flawed institution threatening on mass to resign. Um, so that's real, that's a live issue, and it's something that we're trying to currently get legal accountability for as a country in ways that are unprecedented. So certainly that's kind of a, a major factor is not just what are we seeing on the ground, but how does that play into this broader picture of, uh, of the ultimate anti-democracy goal goal, which is to change the rules of the game and box, all of us out of decision making processes. Um, I will just throw in that some of what we're hearing from our congregations on a very, um, just granular level is things like, um, you know, we're hosting a pride event or a public forum about, uh, uh, abortion L G B T Q issues, whatever it is, and there's an unknown person who comes in as an infiltrator. Um, you know, these are public events, right? So open to anybody in the community. So often there are people who are not members of the congregation come in and they will film something and then, uh, either stand up during the event and disrupt it, try and get into an altercation with people in the moment, um, trying to bait a reaction, uh, and then they will go and edit that footage and spin it, and then put it up on the internet. Um, this is included in several instances, uh, film of people's children. Um, you know, the, the, the grooming narrative about exposing children to drag performers, for example, has been one that folks have really tried against us. We've seen, you know, uh, folks leaving, you know, obvious threats on the doors, graffiti vandalism with white nationalist messaging, letters, emails, um, trolling on the internet, a lot of online threats. Um, and I think this is a moment that folks really need to be thinking about digital security as well as that in-person infrastructural security. Um, and as I mentioned, you know, we, we have in a few instances seen either actual altercations, um, happen at events between far right groups and, excuse me, and community members or other, um, groups who are there, uh, and or actual attacks on congregations. We know that this has happened in, um, a number of times through the years, but most recently in, in Plano, Texas. Um, I'll also just mention that our Jewish siblings have dealt with this, um, and our, uh, black church siblings have dealt with this kind of terrorism for generations without ceasing. There is always a conversation about what security looks like in those places, um, that we have not Sure. And in mosques. And in mosques, yes, thank you. And in mosques. Absolutely. Um, and, and, you know, the Sikh Center in outside of Milwaukee, right? We, we know that, um, there are again, that intersection of white Christianity. If you are not at it, um, I think churches can be very dangerous places, congregations can be dangerous, places your, uh, religious communities. So just lifting that up. Um, so in that context, Kate, what are you seeing? How are people fighting back? What are people doing to organize against it? What is successful? What is not successful? Um, give us the, you know, the pro tips. Yeah. Um, happy to, uh, I am trying hard not to launch into like five detailed stories, because our time tonight is short. Um, one thing I will name that I think really works is coalition building that centers the needs of marginalized people in our communities with this goal of building power for democracy, um, this is most meaningful and resilient, I find on a local level. You can always build up from there. But, um, if you have a strong phone tree between, um, minority religious institutions in your town, um, if your church is known, not necessarily completely publicly, but amongst the right folks as a place to go, if there's a problem, um, if there are local businesses that can be counted on to help out with fundraising or provide meeting spaces, or even just put up science showing that they are a safe space and, uh, and live up to that, this kind of coalition, uh, is kind of the classic civil society, um, apparatus. And when everyone gets together, it really does work. It doesn't require everyone to be exactly on the same page in terms of the ideas and the beliefs, but if there's values alignment, like then you're cooking with gas, basically. Um, another thing that I find really inspiring is to see people standing up for our institutions while holding them accountable. And, uh, some of the most impressive people who I've seen do this in my area locally are public school parents. So these are the same parents who are working really hard to push school administrators to do right by black indigenous students, students of color. Um, you could also be cooking with induction heat, thank you, Alan. Um, but at the same time, they're not just, uh, pushing for better. Um, they're, they're not just kind of like talking at their school administrators. They're showing up with care packages for educators and thank you notes, uh, making it really clear that they value the school for what it is, even though it's not everything that it could be. Um, I think this is such a powerful model for participating in civic institutions while also understanding that there are ways that they need to grow and need to be held accountable. But keeping those lines of communication open is so important. Um, and also really importantly, there are so many people within institutions who are doing a lot to figure out how they can use their roles and their power to stand up for democracy. People who are board members of, um, a really mainstream institution in their community, for example, uh, folks who are maybe on a historical, uh, monument commission and will say like, look, there's certain monuments in our town that we are not gonna stand up for preserving them. We don't think that's worth our resources. Um, or people in arts programs who are saying, look, we need to bring young people into our arts programs, and we need to make sure that we are making space for students of color for LGBTQ plus students. So there is so much of that work being done. Um, school librarians shout out to librarians always amazing. Um, so I would, I would take that as a set of options for an inside, outside game. Uh, but we do need to always keep in mind those folks who are inside trying to do what they can. Yeah, I think that's really helpful. And I'm actually gonna, at the end of this, give some resources for congregation specifically to do exactly what you're talking about in terms of that relationship building, power mapping, relationship, uh, discernment, risk assessment, discernment, all those sorts of things. So hang tight, some pro tips coming your way. Um, I think the end of what you were talking about, Kate, is a good segue into this next topic of conversation, which is, you know, we've got folks who live all over the country. We've got folks who are in some of the most progressive towns in, in the us and we've got folks who are in the, the only institution that is remotely progressive within a hundred miles of where they are. Um, and obviously there's a role for everybody in this work. Um, and the situation is just, it is hyper-local right now, and you can move, you know, I can move 15 minutes across my own town and find a very different place where I am. And so, um, I'm curious to hear you talk about, you know, there are these huge differences in the power structures, the kinds of threats, the overtness of violent right-wing activity depending on where you are. Um, so, you know, what should folks be preparing for if they're in a very, in a progressive area versus a more conservative one? Um, what can we learn from the communities of folks who've been fighting these threats for a long time? Um, you know, and in particular because we, um, we skew heavily, uh, toward those more, uh, liberal areas, and many of the folks within our demographics, not all of us, of course, but many of us don't have this kind of personal and generational experience with this stuff. You know, I often get the question, well, what can we do? We're in a blue state, or we're in a blue area. Um, how can we help? Um, so, you know, what can we do when the threats have been relatively minimal? Um, that is both strengthening multiracial democracy where we are, and working in solidarity with neighbors in Maori indigenous places. That was like five questions, but riff as you will. Okay, so one thing I would say is that, um, every community is different, and it doesn't necessarily mean that you are in a more safe and secure position if you are in a community that's perceived as more progressive. Um, you know, we just got through about five years of Portland, Oregon being targeted from the outside by anti-democracy groups, precisely because they perceived Portland and other places, uh, like Seattle for example, like Boston, in some cases, DC obviously, they perceived these places as places that they could go to find the targets that they wanted. Um, and we always have to look at, you know, what kind of specific problems do progressive areas face, because y'all are not, not necessarily ready for what the rest of us have been dealing with. Um, that it can be some of the places where, for example, law enforcement responses have been the most lacking because this, these are places where institutions just do not understand what they're up against. So, I mean, I would put that at the start. Don't assume that because your community appears one way that, uh, if and when this problem comes to your doorstep that everyone is going to be in formation with an adequate response. We have experienced the opposite of that in our country over the past years. Right? Um, keep that in your back pocket. Um, I do think that if you're in a community that tends to have more resources, um, more room to run in terms of asking for, uh, innovative policy solutions, uh, more funding perhaps that you could move in different ways, um, I would almost posit in a network of a thousand congregations, maybe there should be an adopt a congregation program. Uh, perhaps there's some volunteer capacity, some, uh, some time that could be spent, some talent that could be shared or some treasure to spread around to support those who are in the most need. Um, in terms of what can be done, like, I'm also getting a vibe that maybe there are congregations, um, in areas that are more conservative, but that, so far, maybe there's been a little bit of a bubble effect. And in that situation where you know that your community is facing problems, but you don't know exactly what they are or how to help pick up the phone, um, figure out who to call, um, in your community, think about who has been facing problems. Uh, maybe just leaf back through the newspaper and look at what ki what kind of nasty flyers have showed up in your communities, and show up for people. Like just making that call and asking what do you need? And then figuring out which of those needs you can meet, even if it's very small, that is a trust building exercise. And, uh, if I would say that to the, what was it, around 35% of people who were saying that they're not aware of anti-democracy targeting in their towns, um, especially for that group of people, you need to reach out and start building some trust and finding out what is happening in your town. Because at, in 2023, I can almost guarantee it is not nothing. Yeah, absolutely. Um, you mentioned, um, you know, places where law enforcement don't have a robust and helpful response to some of this stuff. I mean, I, you know, in conversation with one of our state action networks, um, before election day last year, was just having this conversation about how, you know, uh, the same folks who are supposed to be law enforcement or just take their uniforms off and show up as the proud boys where they are, you know, um, and there is, you know, there's a lot of research actually into the significant overlap between law enforcement agencies and, um, some of these far right groups and white nationalist groups. We know that there's, um, real issues with that. Um, and we know that we live in the United States of America, in which the, um, policing and prison system is a, a direct outgrowth of chattel slavery and all of the stuff we were talking before. Um, so this last question I wanna kind of throw at you is, um, as we're talking about increasing security, as we're talking about, um, how we keep, uh, our people safe, there is, you know, a real dance to be done. And I think we, um, here at Side with Love, we are really digging into, you know, what, what is an abolitionist world? What does a, what is a world that where we don't depend on policing and prisons look like, trying to imagine that, while also understanding that we are not yet in that world, which means that we don't have all the time, those alternative structures yet to call upon. Um, so I'm curious what you would say, um, about, you know, the advice you're giving to folks about how to build safety and security outside of policing and criminal punishment systems. Um, you know, how, how you're centering, uh, as you said early on in this conversation, the needs of communities that are most impacted, who are also often the communities that are made less and less safe by the presence of police in these situations. You know, I think this is such a nuanced conversation because there is probably no town where you're going to get an adequate law enforcement response to these kind of problems. Uh, you're really looking at bad and less bad. Um, so given that, uh, a lot of us also do not have the choice of whether or not we engage with institutions like city, government, um, institutions that we're trying to move in other ways, institutions that include law enforcement, um, I think a good starting point for congregations, um, is first of all, getting up on your own research regarding the anti-democracy groups in your area. Um, really pay attention to what is going on around you. Build out those whisper networks with, uh, other religious groups, uh, with, you know, with the queer bars in your area, with people who are on the same page as you, and figure out which bad actors you're all dealing with. Um, it's really, really important to have that picture accurately in your mind, because if you do have to approach government for, you know, for example, uh, a guarantee to try and keep groups apart in a situation in the streets, um, you want to have your own assessment of what you think the situation will look like. And the more data, the more details you can bring with you, the better. Um, that is one side. Uh, definitely do not assume that law enforcement is the best informed about what's going on in your area in this regard. Um, another thing is just making sure that you have, um, independent deescalation teams as much as possible. Um, think about building that capacity internally. Think about groups that might already do that type of work in your location that you can connect with. Um, and if and when you are having to interact with law enforcement as part of event planning, um, establish someone in your group who has the role of police liaison, um, that is someone who can represent your bottom lines in terms of values, your bottom lines in terms of event goals to law enforcement, um, and not get worked on by people who are trying to convince you to cancel or change an event that you don't wanna change or cancel. You know, at the same time, I will say that we have seen a slight shift since 2020, since there have been so many threats, so much more harassment, uh, including of people who are quite mainstream, people who are public officials, et cetera. Um, I now have started advising people if they experience what one might call a true threat to at least contact law enforcement about that, because in that one very specific way, um, responses are slowly getting better. Thank you. So we talked a whole lot. I wanna take a few minutes and just invite folks. Um, you know, there's about, uh, 200 people on this call right now. Uh, I wanna just invite people to take a minute and reflect on maybe one new thing that you learned. Um, drop a comment in the chat and or if you have a question, um, that you'd like us to address, I'm seeing some of these in the chat, uh, in particular about resources. We will be getting to those momentarily, but if there are other things that you'd like to hear Kate reflect on, or that you'd like us to, um, respond to, we would love to see them in the chat. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Yeah, what I'm seeing here is just a lot of, of different experiences of folks and, um, I would really like to connect with you all, make sure that we're getting, uh, our little suite of resources out to people. And if there's something specific that you do need to strategize around, uh, I'm, I'm always happy to do that. Um, and specific intervention in your community. Um, and then there's a whole bunch of other things, community safety kits, how we, how we can begin to build safety without depending so intensely on the carceral and policing systems. Um, several of you have have mentioned some of the resources here around, um, how to do a threat assessment in your own congregation, your own community. So you'll see down here, uh, church Mutual, which many of your congregations may have your insurance through, provide some really good resources there. As well as, um, cisa, the cybersecurity infrastructure security agency, um, of the US government provides some of these resources. Then Kate has just given us this fabulous deescalation and security training resource, which probably includes all of the things that we have here and more. Um, but again, that's a really excellent place to take your folks. Um, if you're trying to get a team who's like, how can we begin to get ready? Find yourself some volunteers who might be willing to do that, even if it's just one from your congregation. And then recruit a couple from a couple of other community organizations who are invested in creating safety together. All right. Uh, now I wanna highlight a few very specific resources. Um, sorry, my menu is causing me problems here in the middle of my page. So, um, we've talked again and again about how so many of our congregations have a lot to offer and really need to have a deep sense of, um, you know, connection to community. Often when we are showing up for the first time, we don't necessarily know what we have to offer. We don't know what's needed. So one of the things we really encourage all of our congregations to do who work with Side with Love, is to do some, um, congregational asset mapping. This is both ideological and theoretical, as well as extremely concrete. So we have this template for you. Again, we'll drop the link, um, that is around, you know, there's some value stuff in here around how do we share what we have? How do we become not bottlenecks for resources, but actual conduits of them, especially in times of crisis and stress on our communities. But this document has a series of questions that invite you to really reflect on what your congregation specifically has to offer, what you bring to the table as you're getting to know your neighbors, right? This is a, this is the Stone Soup approach where everybody has some stuff and all together we keep each other safe and we, um, protect one another. So there are questions here about our physical infrastructure, right? Do you have a secure place that people can meet? Can you offer meeting space to your community? What's your parking lot like? Uh, you know, do you have wifi that extends outside the building? Do you have a wayside pulpit that faces a busy intersection? If you hang a banner, is everybody in town gonna see it? Um, what does that mean for your communications plan? So all kinds of different stuff in this physical, uh, infrastructure section. We also have a lot of stuff about digital assets, communications, and technology. This is both internal, right? Those questions about the phone tree or the texting service or, um, you know, knowing how people will be in communication in moments of crisis, being very clear about those plans, about who's got the keys to what, who's got the phone numbers of whom, who can access the directory if you need to get a hold of folks, um, as well as the externally facing stuff. You know, what, what is the comms plan? If you're in a place where it would make a huge difference to the people in your community, if your congregation were loud and vocal, and showing up, um, around the issues that matter deeply to us, while also thinking about how to do that strategically, uh, and is it the right moment for us to be public? It, does it make sense? Are we helping the movement or are we actually setting people back because we're making it about us in a time when it should really be about all of us? Lots of good discernment questions here. Questions about money. People hate to hear this, but sometimes the most effective thing that you can do, if your congregation doesn't have some of these like, you know, trained Dees escalators or really great community spaces, you can fundraise. There's some really excellent questions in here just about how to think about money, um, and fundraising as a powerful organizing tool. Knowing your volunteer base. Um, often, you know, your partner organizations, part of, um, how we often get to know each other is by doing a thing together, whether it's responding to the crisis, like Kate talked about earlier in the aftermath of something, um, or maybe it's planning in the future, but knowing who you have, who's gonna show up, um, both in those moments of crisis and to do the long haul work is really important. So, mapping your volunteer base is really, um, critical. And there's a bunch of questions in here that you can look at. Then literally, who do you have? Who is in your congregation? This is the, we all take a shift for the revolution. And all of this kind of, um, skills identities, um, professional sets, uh, are important here. So whether it's your, um, you know, people who have that direct action training experience, somebody who served at a marshal at all the Black Lives Matter protests, excuse me, um, in your congregation is also a great person to talk to about how you set up your security team for the first time. Maybe the local Antifa chapter leader is in fact also a how sex educator in your congregation. You know, there's all kinds of folks, but this also extends to people like translators, um, lawyers, right? Folks who have relationships with local, local officials and major institutions who may be able to help broker those relationships. Um, everything journalists, you know, are there people who've got, um, photography and videography skills to show up and help with the comms plan, uh, childcare workers, drivers, cooks, all of this kind of thing. And then finally, there's a page about community partnerships here, um, in particular around some of these democracy areas, how you begin building relationships, which takes me to the next resource I would like to share, which is our community power and relationship mapping, uh, resource. This, I will say, needs to be updated. We made this version of it for our reproductive justice, uh, curriculum that we ran this last year. And, um, it still contains a lot of really vital information about just how to begin this process. So, um, there's some just sort of background on what we mean when we say power and community relationship mapping. Um, but this is a tool that's intended to use with your team. Maybe you've got 3, 5, 10 people in your congregation who wanna have a serious conversation about how to get started, how to do this work together. Um, and so there's just some basic inter introductory information here. So, you know, who does it, what do we mean when we talk about community and power relationship mapping? And then as you move down, we get into, um, an actual template for facilitation. So using this guide with your congregation, there's actually a, like a facilitation guide here, how you would, um, you know, hold a two hour session either with the members of your small team or maybe with a larger leadership group in your congregation to think about what do we know about our community? Who are our partners? Who do we already have trust with? Who, um, do we need to build that trust and relationship with? Who are the folks, who are our targets? Who are we trying to move? Um, who are the folks who are already showing their cards that they're against us? And what we stand for in our values? I'm sorry, um, what we believe, I shouldn't use ableist language. Um, so there's, you know, there's a whole template here about how you might do that kind of conversation in your community, which leads us to the third side of love resource I'd like to highlight, which is our, um, risk, courage and justice facilitating congregational risk, discernment congregations. So obviously, um, you know, we don't love it when there are actual threats of violence or, um, instances of violence in our congregations. And part of our moral, ethical task in these times is to discern how we can be as courageous as possible, as forward facing as possible, taking the risk that we can, um, collectively and, uh, helping to take some of the risk from those people who are experiencing it personally, institutionally, on a constant and day-to-day basis. So this resource is intended to help us begin that work of thinking about, you know, where is, where is our congregation collectively around how much risk we are willing to take right now, how we could be building toward more of that and what that looks like. So again, we've got a template here. We've got some definitions, but you know, it's a, it's a, it's a session. This is a time, um, for either leadership or even a broader congregational group to talk about, you know, where are we in terms of are we willing to host this event coming up? If we know that a white nationalist group might show up, um, you know, we've talked about drag story area, or we've talked about marching in the Pride parade, or we've talked about, um, you know, partnering with the local x y Z fund or becoming election defenders. What are we, how do we understand our, our relationship to risk? How can we push that relationship to be more and more courageous? And how can we know ourselves well enough so that in those high intensity moments, we know how to say a confident yes and a clear no because we know who we are. One of the worst things that we can do is when somebody comes to us with a, you know, intense, we need this now, kind of an ask, be like, oh, we have to go talk to 27 people and have a congregational meeting about this, and then maybe vote on it in another, I dunno, two to three months and we'll get back to you. Um, this exercise is intended to help folks do some of that work in advance of those moments so that we have a sense of who we are together collectively. Um, I also wanna just, uh, point you all, so those are some of the side with love resources. Again, we will send all of these out to you in our emails. Um, as a follow up to this webinar, Kate, I wanna give you a second to talk about a couple of these Western states, uh, resources that are up on your site. This is just the landing page. We're gonna send that to you as well. But in particular, the Protecting Pride Organizing Guide, um, confronting white nationalism in schools and, uh, the Yep. The opposing hate guide that you all co-wrote with the Bard Center for the Study of Hate and Montana Human Right Human Rights Network. Where do you wanna start? Tell us about these. Well, um, a lot of our guides are definitely not as much of a, uh, a wraparound resources. Some of what you've just presented, uh, they tend to help people out in specific situations. Uh, the most general resource that we have, uh, and often ask people to refer back to in these situations is the community guide for opposing hate. Um, this can cover everything from creating an organizing group to specific, like messaging goals that you may have in the moment. Um, there's, there's a lot in there. Uh, it's also very long, so feel free to control f your way through that one for sure. Um, I am also really excited about the third edition of our Confronting White Nationalism in Schools Toolkit. Um, this is, uh, updated. We have issued this guide, uh, I believe it first came out in 2018. And due to how popular it's become amongst educators and school stakeholders, um, we now work really hard to keep it updated with some of the newest things that we're hearing from our folks on the ground. So, uh, this year's edition has some fancy, um, illustrations. It has some, uh, new most common white nationalist arguments that you might have to deal with, uh, as a school stakeholder, including a student or caregiver of a student. Um, there's a lot in there that I think is really, really helpful, uh, also in terms of just thinking about any place where the civic sphere is being infringed upon by white nationalism, a k a all over the place. Um, so please do give that a look. Um, and lastly, I guess this is the reason why we met, right Ashley? Um, this year for the first time we dropped our Protecting Pride Organizing Guide. Uh, protecting Pride is a resource that is most specifically for organizers of Pride events and drag events. Uh, so it takes you through the process of event planning, reaching out to local government, building partnerships, uh, what it can be like day of, uh, some of, again, some of the messaging considerations, how to get the word out and bring the biggest crowd possible to have a safe and successful event, uh, talking to sponsors and vendors about some of the things that might be happening, et cetera. Um, however, I think for those who are kind of wondering where do I start in terms of a risk assessment process, how do I start building up a community monitoring capacity and things like that, uh, I think it'll be a helpful resource for anyone who's in that place of, like, I saw someone saying earlier in the chat, uh, there are seven cities that would all need a phone tree. How do I do that? Which is a great question, um, and you should definitely get in touch with Western State Center if you just wanna think through that on a very practical level. Uh, but you, you will hear in that guide, uh, a lot of stories of pride organizers who have pulled things like that off and how they did it. One last thing that I forgot to stick on here, Kate, you made me aware of the, um, the Rapid Response Security Fund that I didn't know about. Could you just talk about that for one second before we wrap up here? Um, yes. So one of the resources that I really encourage people to check out, if you are in a situation where what really is needed is, uh, cash money, which is often something that's very useful in an emergency response, um, the Urgent Action Fund is definitely worth a look. Uh, this is a fund that works internationally. Um, and, uh, their main goal is to resource activists who are working for what they call women's human rights. Uh, that's a very broad category for them. They're talking about climate, they're talking about LGBTQ plus organizers, uh, a lot of different fields. And, um, they have a fund that one can apply to, uh, in an emergency situation for essentially the holistic safety and wellness of activists under pressure. Um, and you know, definitely I know a few grantees, um, and I would, I would, uh, without reservations, uh, suggest applying to Urgent Action Fund if you are in that situation. Thank you, Kate. Um, I know that folks, uh, may end up reaching out to you all, especially if there's a really specific kind of in the moment. You know, that there's a threat by a specific group coming to your town, your community, your congregation. I know Western State Center fields, those calls. Um, I also really encourage folks to reach out to, um, your Unitarian Universalist Association, congregational Life staff, your point person who will get you in touch with my team, with their team, who have a lot of resources in the moment on the ground to, to help and support, um, from a a EU perspective. Um, again, we just reemphasize, nobody should be doing this alone. Nobody should be, um, feeling like they are unconnected and unresourced in this. Um, so we are here for you all. Deeply appreciate, um, tonight, Kate, you being with us. Thank you so much for joining, uh, side with Love and the Unitarian Universalist Association tonight. Greetings, and thanks to all of your colleagues at Western State Center for all of the work you all are doing. Yes, thank you so much for having me. Uh, it means a lot and I can't wait to connect further with you and all of the awesome folks that you support. Thanks so much for all the good questions too. Agreed. Blessings, everybody, thank you so much for being with us tonight. Looking forward to connecting with you in all the ways. If you're not already connected, decide with love, please do get on our email lists. We will, uh, have many more opportunities for connection, including our series of skill ups this fall, um, through our squads, which will, uh, invite folks into some of that risk expansion space of how we, um, harness our courage, tap into it and keep doing the work that we are called to do. Last things upon all of you, thank you so much. Take care everybody. And goodnight. Thank you again to Cal for being our Zoom host tonight. Yes, thank you, Cal. Have a great night. Everyone. All you folks have gotten my prize, but y'all sell. That is my think money rules and all else. You stay. So keep your shall. I'm trying to protect what I keep inside Of The reasons why I live my life. For those of you that are still sticking around, we're gonna stick, go stick you in the waiting room now. Thank you for being with us or you're welcome to sign off. Take care, everybody. Just sending folks out. Well, that was amazing, Kate. You're the best. Oh, thank you for having me. I was just like, oh, there's a lot to cover here. And I mean, very engaged audience. Yes. Yeah. Um, I mean, definitely like, I, I think that we have pretty concrete resources for some of these situations. Um, and uh, yeah, just happy to keep talking about this stuff. Yeah, Gratitude. Gratitude. Um, please send our gratitude to your colleagues and yeah, we should just continue to check in because yeah, yeah, it's probably not going anywhere anytime soon. Um, but really grateful for the work you're doing. Uh, I will make sure that you also get a copy of this recording and all the resources and the follow up email that we send. Um, if there's anything else that occurs to you between now, and it probably won't go out until Wednesday, feel free and shoot me, um, a text or an email. Uh, but you know, we'll just, we'll take all the links that got dropped in the chat. Ka Cal was doing a fantastic job of keeping up with our, our riffing as we went. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you, Kate. So appreciate you. Yeah, I appreciate you too as well.