Below please find the statement from Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA) President, regarding “All Roads Lead to the South,” today’s National Day of Action for Voting Rights. President Sofía participated in the Moral Moment for Faith Leaders, an interfaith action this morning.

Black clergy from across denominations are returning to Selma and Montgomery, Alabama this weekend as we are once again called to bear witness to the entrenched racism, fear, and violence in the United States. The past decade – and in particular, the past few weeks – have laid bare once again the depths of anti-Black sentiment that is so pervasive in this country. Its depth threatens not only the safety and well-being of Black people, but also the very democratic institutions upon which the U.S. is built. I am honored to join with many Black clergy and other colleagues in a return to Selma to oppose and resist recent incursions into our voting rights, and to affirm that Black people will not comply with efforts to limit or curtail our rights.

For Unitarian Universalists, Selma is a sacred site of resistance. It is the place where the Rev. James Reeb, Jimmy Lee Jackson, and Viola Liuzzo were killed because of their faithful commitment to equal rights of all people. It was Jackson’s death that, in part, inspired the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to call for clergy and other leaders to join in the Civil Rights Movement to visibly resist oppressive laws and policies targeting Black peoples’ access to vote. Rev. Reeb and Liuzzo lost their lives in their work responding to King’s call. We follow in a path laid by these and many other forebears to offer our own prophetic witness today. As UUs, we will continue to put love at the center of all that we do, even while acting – as a direct expression of our faith – to create a more pluralistic, just, and equitable society.