WHAT WE CHOOSE: ETHICS FOR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults
WORKSHOP 4: CULTIVATING A VIRTUOUS CHARACTER
BY AMBER BELAND AND MANISH MISHRA-MARZETTI DEVELOPMENTAL EDITOR, GAIL FORSYTH-VAIL
© Copyright 2012 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 11:33:37 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
The moral virtues are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit. — Aristotle
The philosophies of Kant and of Mill examined in Workshops 2 and 3 provide two different frameworks for ethically sound decisions. Virtue ethics, the focus of this workshop, provides a third framework. Frequently traced back to Aristotle's influential work, Nicomachean Ethics, this approach to morality holds that cultivating and practicing virtues leads to virtuous character and ethical living. Our own virtuous behavior can, in turn, inform our community and shape the world around us. Virtue ethics holds that the individual cultivation of virtue is the foundation for societal transformation.
Virtue ethics, while often associated closely with Greek philosophy, is the approach taken by other important spiritual and ethical leaders. Jesus of Nazareth cultivated a virtuous life and exhorted his followers to live an examined life characterized by virtue. Mahatma Gandhi made this ethical framework the centerpiece of his world view. In modern times, the Dalai Lama is an example of a spiritual leader who strives to live a life of virtue. Unitarian Universalists need look no further than our own seven Principles to discover a call to virtuous living and the cultivation of character.
This workshop examines virtue ethics as a framework for our moral choices and actions. What does it mean to make cultivation of character the primary focus of our morality? In what ways is this approach sensible? In what ways might it present challenges? Participants explore what it means to live a life of virtue? What are important virtues to cultivate in our daily living? By what authority do we determine which virtues ought to be cultivated? How should we respond when we personally fall short of virtues we hold dear?
Activity 1, Opening Scenario, has two options. Read and consider them both and decide in advance which one you will use. Before leading this workshop, review Accessibility Guidelines for Workshop Presenters found in the program Introduction.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
Activity | Minutes |
Welcoming and Entering | 0 |
Opening | 2 |
Activity 1: Opening Scenario | 15 |
Activity 2: Reflection and Conversation | 20 |
Activity 3: A Question of Virtue | 15 |
Activity 4: A Life of Virtue — Mahatma Gandhi | 20 |
Activity 5: The Middle Path | 15 |
Faith in Action: Civil Disobedience and Virtue | |
Closing | 3 |
Alternate Activity 1: The Music of Justice Making | 30 |
Alternate Activity 2: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | 20 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Set aside time for journaling, reflection, prayer, and/or meditation, using these focus questions:
WORKSHOP PLAN
WELCOMING AND ENTERING
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Welcome participants and direct their attention to the agenda.
OPENING (2 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Light the chalice and share Reading 562, A Lifelong Sharing, by Mother Theresa, from Singing the Living Tradition.
ACTIVITY 1: OPENING SCENARIO (15 MINUTES)
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Share one of these scenarios:
Scenario 1
A person discloses to your congregation's leadership that they are a convicted sex offender, stating that they seek to establish open and honest relationships as they pursue spiritual and other forms of rehabilitation. In your opinion, should this individual participate in congregational life and/or become a member of your congregation? Why or why not?
Scenario 2
Your congregation recently awarded a Board member an annual award for exemplary "Moral/Ethical Leadership" within the congregation. Subsequently, it is discovered that this individual withdrew money from the congregation's bank accounts without authorization and used it to respond to an emergency plea for funds from a local shelter the congregation has a history of supporting financially. Some now say this person's award should be revoked and criminal charges filed. Others say this individual's actions demonstrate exactly why they were given the award in the first place. What is your reaction and what decision should the congregation make?
Invite participants to share and explain their reactions and responses. Ask: "What virtues (or deep-seated values) were at play?"
ACTIVITY 2: REFLECTION AND CONVERSATION (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity with these or similar words:
One school of ethics, known as virtue ethics, holds that our sense of morality should be informed and guided by the virtues we hold dear. For example, if we value honesty, then honesty should be a framework that we use to guide and shape our ethical/moral choices and actions. The virtues we practice give rise to our character. In this sense virtuous living is a form of self-cultivation and development of character.
This approach to ethics, while often associated closely with Greek philosophy, has also been followed by other important spiritual and ethical leaders. Jesus of Nazareth cultivated a virtuous life and exhorted his followers to live an examined life characterized by virtue. Mahatma Gandhi made this ethical framework the centerpiece of his world view. In modern times, the Dalai Lama is an example of a spiritual leader who strives to live a life of virtue. As Unitarian Universalists we need look no further than our own seven Principles to discover a call to virtuous living and the cultivation of character.
Say that this activity explores how we understand virtue. Distribute Handout 1 and explain that it contains a list of some of the virtues participants might value in themselves and in others. Allow a couple of minutes for participants to look over the list. Call attention to the newsprint reflection prompt you have posted and invite participants to take five minutes to write or draw in journals. Have participants move into groups of three and respond to these questions:
Allow ten minutes for small group conversation, and then re-gather the large group. Ask:
ACTIVITY 3: A QUESTION OF VIRTUE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity with these or similar words:
What we view as virtuous is frequently driven by context. The virtuous action in one situation may be different from the virtuous action given another set of circumstances. With that in mind, imagine that a friend does something that makes you angry. One extreme response on your part might be to explode with rage. The other extreme might be to say nothing at all.
Invite participants to make a list of all the possible actions one could make in this situation (exploding with rage, refusing to speak, explaining what made you angry, and so on) and record the list on newsprint. Go through the list and decide together whether or not each action is virtuous. Acknowledge that there may be differences of opinion; what one person views as virtue another may think is not virtuous at all. While participants may want to discuss differences at length, encourage them to make a general decision or agree to disagree and not get too bogged down. After going through the list, invite each participant to identify which one response or action they consider the most virtuous in this situation and share their reasoning. Point out that often how we decide what is virtuous is embedded in our cultural context, and that what is most virtuous in a given situation is often decided by implicit community, family, or group consensus, but rarely discussed. Invite participants to reflect on how difficult or easy it was to agree on which actions were virtuous when asked to consider them one by one. Ask: "Was there any difference in the ease or difficulty when you had to choose the overall most virtuous action?"
ACTIVITY 4: A LIFE OF VIRTUE — MAHATMA GANDHI (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the story using these or similar words:
Virtue ethics invites us to think about the role cultivation of virtue plays in our ethical decision making, and, more broadly, how virtue cultivation guides and shapes our lives. To what degree do we invite virtues such as egalitarianism, fairness, compassion, and justice to guide our lives? How does the practice of virtue shape our character? What does living a life of virtue ask of us? The life of Mahatma Gandhi provides one example of how a deeply respected spiritual leader responded to the call of virtue.
Read the story "Mahatma Gandhi" aloud. Then, invite brief questions and comments about the role of virtue in Gandhi's life. You might ask: "What wisdom and example does Gandhi's life offer for our own lives? What challenges?" Post the newsprint and invite participants to spend a couple of minutes in silence reflecting on the two questions before turning to a person nearby to share. Allow five minutes of paired sharing. Then, invite participants to turn attention to the large group and to share responses and insights from the partnered conversations. If there is time, take the conversation deeper with these additional questions:
Including All Participants
Create a large-print handout with the discussion questions, to assist those who are visually impaired.
ACTIVITY 5: THE MIDDLE PATH (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Introduce the activity with these or similar words:
Aristotle defined virtue as "the mean between extremes." For him, seeking the middle path, the one between two extremes, cultivated an even temperament—and thus, a virtuous character—that would serve us well in all the seasons of life.
The notion of the middle path is not unique to Aristotle. Great progressive thinkers throughout time have espoused the middle path, or nonviolent resistance, as a core value for social transformation. In ancient Palestine, for instance, Jesus advocated resistance to injustice by rejecting both the violence of those who would overthrow the Roman occupation and the passivity of those who would accept it. In the 19th century, Henry David Thoreau, influenced by Hindu and Buddhist texts, wrote his major political work, Civil Disobedience. Thoreau's philosophy influenced Gandhi in the development of his nonviolent resistance movement. Gandhi, in turn, influenced Martin Luther King. These activists viewed nonviolent resistance, civil disobedience, or noncooperation with injustice as the middle path between passive acceptance and violent insurrection. They all believed that following the path of nonviolent resistance was following the path of virtue.
Introduce the posted questions and lead a discussion about the connection between cultivating a virtuous character and engaging in acts of nonviolent resistance, civil disobedience, or noncooperation with injustice.
CLOSING (3 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Invite participants to share a word or phrase indicating something that they are taking away from the workshop. Distribute Taking It Home. Share Reading 577 in Singing the Living Tradition, "It is Possible to Live in Peace" by Mohandas K. Gandhi, and extinguish the chalice.
FAITH IN ACTION: CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AND VIRTUE
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants examine ways congregational and/or Unitarian Universalist movement-wide nonviolent resistance actions are grounded in the practice of virtue ethics.
Invite a member of the congregation or an organization the congregation supports to share their experience of engaging in or supporting nonviolent resistance. Ask your guest how they prepared or cultivated themselves before engaging in the action. Find out how individuals can participate in or support similar or follow-up actions. What is required? What virtues would one need to cultivate?
Variation
If you do not have a guest speaker, distribute handouts 2and 3 and invite participants to read them. Discuss how people who engaged in civil disobedience prepared themselves for the action and how those who supported the civil disobedience prepared themselves. Share what you have learned about follow-up or similar actions. Discuss how individuals can participate in or support such actions: What would be required? What virtues would need cultivation?
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Consider these questions as you review the workshop with your co-leader:
Save the covenant newsprint to post at each workshop. Review and assign tasks for the next workshop.
TAKING IT HOME
The moral virtues are produced in us neither by nature nor against nature. Nature, indeed, prepares in us the ground for their reception, but their complete formation is the product of habit. — Aristotle
Pay attention to how you make moral decisions and examine the ethical commitments you honor in your day-to-day life. As you do so, consider these questions:
Find a trusted conversation partner and share your reflections, challenging one another to more fully cultivate the virtues you each deem most important.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: THE MUSIC OF JUSTICE MAKING (30 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Say:
Music and justice-making often go hand in hand. Have you been a part of protests, sit-ins, marches, or any other activity related to justice where music and singing had a part?
Invite participants to share names of songs that come to mind when recalling those events. Invite reflections, comments, and observations on the use of music in social justice resistance or witness activities. Ask: "How is music a tool for cultivating personal virtue?"
Invite participants to closely examine the lyrics of the hymns you have selected. Ask:
Lead the group to sing the hymns. Afterward, ask:
If participants have brought recorded music to share, invite them to do so and reflect on the virtues promoted by the music.
If there is time, lead a discussion, asking:
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Share the story, "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper." Lead a discussion guided by the posted questions.
WHAT WE CHOOSE: ETHICS FOR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS: WORKSHOP 4:
STORY: FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER
By Polly Peterson, originally published in Stirring the Nation's Heart: Eighteen Stories of Prophetic Unitarians and Universalists of the Nineteenth Century (Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, 2010).
In the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the year 1858, a young woman entered a streetcar and sat down. The conductor came to her and insisted she leave, but she stayed quietly in her seat. A passenger intervened, asking if the woman in question might be permitted to sit in a corner. She did not move. When she reached her destination, the woman got up and tried to pay the fare, but the conductor refused to take her money. She threw it down on the floor and left.
What was that all about?
It was all about racism. The white conductor was giving the woman on the streetcar, Frances Ellen Watkins, a hard time because she was African American, and Watkins was having none of it. She believed in equality. She believed in treating all people with dignity and respect. Her work obliged her to travel from place to place, and she was used to enduring prejudice and injustice. She had the courage not to let it stop her.
Frances Ellen Watkins was born in 1825 in Maryland, when slavery was still legal. Born to free parents, she was never a slave. But by the age of three, she was an orphan, living with relatives in Baltimore. Her sad situation had one fortunate outcome. Her uncle William Watkins ran a school called the Academy for Negro Youth, and Frances received an excellent classical education there. Such schools for blacks were very rare.
By the age of fourteen, Frances had to leave school and go to work. She became a domestic servant. But this unfortunate situation also offered an opportunity. The Quaker family she worked for owned a bookshop and also had books in the house. Whenever time allowed, they gave her free access to all those books. She was an avid reader and soon became known as a writer too. By the age of twenty, she had written enough poems and essays to publish a small book.
Life for free blacks in Maryland was difficult and became worse after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. William Watkins was forced to close his school. He moved to Canada with some of the family, but Frances, at age twenty-five, moved to the free state of Ohio, where she took a job teaching sewing. Two years later, she moved to Pennsylvania, where she continued to teach. Her heart told her that educating black children was the most important work in the world, but she soon realized that managing fifty-three unruly pupils in rural Pennsylvania was not the right job for her.
While she considered what to do next, events in her home state gave her a new aspiration. Maryland passed a law saying that any free person of color who entered the state would be arrested and sold into slavery. Frances Watkins heard about a young man who unwittingly crossed into Maryland and was sold to a Georgia slaveholder. He escaped but was recaptured and sent back to Georgia, where he soon died. "Upon that grave," Watkins wrote to a friend, "I pledged myself to the Anti-Slavery cause."
Watkins moved to Philadelphia, where there was a substantial community of well-educated and successful blacks. Homeless and friendless, she found her way to William Still, a leader in the African American community. Still was chairman of the Vigilance Committee, organized to assist runaway slaves passing through Philadelphia. His home was the busiest station on the Underground Railroad—a place where people fleeing from slavery could rest and find assistance. Watkins met many fugitives there and heard their heartrending stories.
For Watkins, the antislavery cause opened a whole new career. Abolitionist papers began publishing her work, and, in 1854, she gave a public lecture on "The Education and the Elevation of the Colored Race." She gave several more lectures that same week, and soon she had a full-time job as a traveling lecturer for the State Anti-Slavery Society of Maine. She drew large audiences, and judging from newspaper accounts and reviews, she did not disappoint them. New Englanders had long disapproved of women who spoke in public, but opinions were beginning to change, and Frances Watkins was a novelty. Audiences, whether black or white, male or female, wanted to hear this eloquent woman of color who outshone nearly all other orators on the circuit. They were charmed by her musical voice, her well-reasoned arguments, and her poetic language. She published a book of poems in 1854, and thousands of people who attended her lectures bought her book after hearing her speak.
She donated most of the money she earned from her books to the antislavery cause. Whenever she could, she sent a few dollars to William Still for the Vigilance Committee and the fugitives. At one point, he must have admonished Watkins to keep more of her earnings for herself. She wrote back, "Let me explain a few matters to you. In the first place, I am able to give something. In the second place, I am willing to do so." In fact, she was more than willing and able. To her, helping humanity was a sacred calling, and she felt blessed to be able to do it. "Oh, is it not a privilege," she wrote to a friend, "if you are sisterless and lonely, to be a sister to the human race, and to place your heart where it may throb close to down-trodden humanity?"
Watkins supported a movement called Free Produce, which encouraged people to boycott all products tied to slave labor. "Oh, could slavery exist long if it did not sit on a commercial throne?" she wrote. "Our moral influence against slavery must be weakened, our testimony diluted if . . . we are constantly demanding rice from the swamps, cotton from the plantations, and sugar from the deadly mills."
She hoped that blacks would establish a network of schools, newspapers, and churches dedicated to the betterment of themselves and each other. She believed that an important goal of antislavery work was to teach her people "how to build up a character for themselves—a character that will challenge respect in spite of opposition and prejudice; to develop their own souls, intellect and genius, and thus verify their credentials."
In 1860, Frances Ellen Watkins married Fenton Harper. When war broke out between the North and the South, she was living on a small farm in Ohio. But her husband died after less than four years of marriage, leaving Frances with a little daughter. She returned to the lecture circuit and traveled throughout the North, supporting the war effort and encouraging the Union Army to allow black troops to join them in the fight.
The Civil War ended slavery in America, leaving blacks with great hopes but also enormous problems. Frances Harper continued to give speeches and lectures, working in the South now, as well as the North. She did all she could to defend, support, and educate the newly freed blacks.
Frances Harper advocated for equality and reforms for the rest of her life. The racist rhetoric of her day was ugly and white people who harmed or even murdered blacks usually went unpunished, yet she did not give in to anger or despair. Her words helped Americans across racial lines understand their common humanity and common yearnings. She believed she could contribute to the betterment of society by uplifting her listeners, and she hoped that her life might "gladden the earth." She shone a light on injustice so that others might see it more clearly—but she remained confident that some day, there would be liberty and justice for all.
WHAT WE CHOOSE: ETHICS FOR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS: WORKSHOP 4:
STORY: MAHATMA GANDHI
Mahatma Gandhi is among the many great leaders who placed virtuous living at the center of their lives. Gandhi was a spiritual leader and nationalist in the struggle for Indian independence from Britain. While widely considered a deeply spiritual, self-sacrificing, visionary leader, Gandhi was controversial in many quarters of Indian society, alternately accused of being too radical on the one hand, and too gradualist on the other.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, later known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born and raised in colonial India. As a young man, he studied law at University College London in England and used his time there to learn about English society and its ethical framework. He was active in social issues in law school, but his first position as an attorney, in Johannesburg, South Africa, gave him the opportunity to more fully advocate for social justice.
In South Africa, Gandhi encountered many forms of legal and socially accepted discrimination against people and communities of color. On one occasion, the judge of a court in which Gandhi was practicing law ordered him to remove his turban, a symbol of ethnic, religious, and national identity. Gandhi frequently encountered discrimination on public transportation, as non-whites were required to move to lesser classes of service to make room for whites. In 1906, the government of the Transvaal region specifically targeted residents of Indian origin with a law that "Asiatics" must register and carry identity cards. Gandhi's tolerance for insults and routine discrimination reached a breaking point. Incensed, he pioneered his satyagraha (truth force) opposition movement, advocating nonviolent noncompliance with unjust laws. He made global headlines in 1908 for publically burning his identity card in front of South African policemen. He was promptly arrested and jailed.
These pivotal experiences of social protest gave Gandhi a reputation as a leader and a footing to become a leader of the national independence movement upon his return to India in 1915. In India, he developed his satyagraha philosophy further, and, with his leadership, it became the cornerstone of the Indian struggle for independence. Gandhi famously opposed a British requirement that Indians purchase salt, which was heavily taxed to raise funds to support the continued existence of British Imperial rule in India. He led a march to India's coast where protesters collected sea salt rather than purchasing it, defying colonial law. He advocated undermining unjust British laws by protesting a requirement that all processed cotton in India be imported from Britain. Imported processed cotton was costly and the surcharges were meant to benefit businesses in England at the expense of the Empire's Indian subjects. Gandhi successfully led a homespun cotton movement, urging supporters to spin their own cotton, rather than purchase cloth made in Britain. For the rest of his life he wore the simple, white homespun cloth he made for himself.
For some, Gandhi was too radical. He spoke publicly and repeatedly about the need to abolish the Hindu caste system, a religiously sanctioned form of social control. He believed that the social stratifications of the caste system prevented people from appreciating the fullness of one another's humanity. Conservative Hindus rebelled at this notion, pointing out that that the caste system is enshrined in Hindu scripture.
For others, Gandhi was not radical enough. As he fought for Indian independence, he repeatedly spoke of the need to go slowly and accept small victories along the way, to remain nonviolent while resisting oppressive structures. For those who believed that Indian independence was a political and civil right, Gandhi's willingness to settle for compromises was a great disappointment.
Gandhi's commitment to social reform was characterized by his willingness to risk his health and face death, if need be, in support of the values he held dear. For example, at several points during the struggle for Indian independence, Gandhi vowed to abstain from all food as a strategy to focus world attention on British colonial rule in India. He also fasted to protest violent action on the part of Indian independence supporters. Gandhi's hunger strikes had a strong spiritual component; his purpose in engaging in such strikes was to move people to work toward what he believed was the morally, ethically, and spiritually right outcome—a nonviolent British withdrawal from India.
Gandhi was a social and spiritual leader of great depth and foresight. He transformed daily, practical tasks and issues into potent symbols that helped organize nonviolent resistance to British rule and capture the hearts and minds of Indians and Britons alike. His example serves as a model of how a social protest movement grounded in the cultivation of personal virtue can capture the imagination of millions and change the world.
WHAT WE CHOOSE: ETHICS FOR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS: WORKSHOP 4:
HANDOUT 1: VIRTUES
acceptance | assertiveness | attention | autonomy |
awareness | balance | caring | caution |
charity | citizenship | cleanliness | commitment |
compassion | confidence | conscientiousness | consideration |
contentment | cooperativeness | courage | creativity |
curiosity | dependability | determination | diligence |
discernment | empathy | encouragement | endurance |
enthusiasm | equanimity | fairness | faithfulness |
flexibility | foresight | forgiveness | fortitude |
friendliness | generosity | gentleness | goodness |
gratitude | helpfulness | honesty | honor |
hopefulness | hospitality | humility | humor |
impartiality | independence | individualism | integrity |
intuition | justice | kindness | knowledge |
loyalty | mercy | moderation | modesty |
nonviolence | nurturing | openness | optimism |
order | patience | peacefulness | perseverance |
prudence | purposefulness | reason | resilience |
respectfulness | responsibility | reverence | self-awareness |
self-confidence | self-control | self-discipline | self-reliance |
self-respect | sensitivity | service | sharing |
sincerity | spirituality | strength | sympathy |
tactfulness | temperance | tenacity | thankfulness |
thoughtfulness | trustworthiness | truthfulness | understanding |
unselfishness | vigilance | wisdom | |
WHAT WE CHOOSE: ETHICS FOR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS: WORKSHOP 4:
HANDOUT 2: TWENTY-NINE UUS ARRESTED IN PHOENIX PROTEST
Reported by Donald E. Skinner, and originally published in UU World, August 2, 2010.
Twenty-nine Unitarian Universalists, including eight ministers, were arrested in Phoenix, Ariz., for acts of civil disobedience protesting Arizona's strict anti-illegal immigration law.
Among those arrested were Unitarian Universalist Association President Peter Morales and the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, minister of the UU Congregation of Phoenix. They were among 150 UUs, many from out of state, who came to Phoenix for actions in support of immigrant families on Thursday, July 29, the day Senate Bill 1070 went into effect. Opponents of SB1070 say it encourages racial profiling by police, although a federal judge issued an injunction July 28 that blocked several controversial provisions of the law.
UUs were among hundreds of people who swarmed into downtown streets, blocking traffic at midday in the vicinity of the Fourth Avenue Jail and the offices of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio, who calls himself "America's toughest sheriff," is a strong supporter of anti-immigrant legislation, launching workplace raids and authorizing the arrest and deportation of thousands of undocumented people.
Morales and Frederick-Gray were arrested as they blockaded the prisoner intake entrance at the jail with three other UUs and members of Puente, a Hispanic human rights group. One of those arrested at the jail entrance was Salvadore Reza, a Puente leader who came to the UUA General Assembly in Minneapolis in June to invite UUs to Phoenix to act in concert against SB1070. Most of the other UUs were arrested as they blocked a city street outside the sheriff's office several blocks away. Across the downtown area similar blockades were undertaken by other groups.
UUs were acting in support of local immigrant groups, including Puente, an affiliate of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. In all, more than 80 people were arrested Thursday.
The demonstrations went forward as planned, even though a federal judge blocked key parts of the law from going into effect, because a higher court could reverse that decision. As written, SB1070 would have authorized local police to check the immigration status of people already stopped or detained if a "reasonable suspicion" existed that they were undocumented; the law also would have made it a crime for undocumented workers to solicit or perform work. Under the new ruling, both provisions have been removed, although much of the law remains, including a part making it a misdemeanor to harbor or transport undocumented people.
Phoenix police and sheriff's deputies allowed the blockades to go on for one to two hours before arresting those who refused to move. Arrests began around noon on Thursday; prisoners were released overnight or Friday morning. Court appearances were set for some in mid-August. Most were charged with obstructing a public roadway and with failure to obey police, both misdemeanors.
Events started early on Thursday. Some UUs were at the State Capitol in Phoenix at 4:30 a.m. to march about a mile to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for an interfaith worship service. UUs marched in support of a group of mostly Hispanic and Latino/a people who have held a daily vigil at the Capitol since SB1070 was approved in April. The vigil ended Thursday morning out of fear that some participants, who are undocumented, might be arrested.
The nearly two-hour service at the cathedral included Roman Catholic, Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Episcopal, Muslim, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, and nondenominational faith group representatives. A rainbow lit up the sky just before the service began, following a rainstorm that passed through overnight. A mariachi band participated in the service, as did a combined choir that included many UUs. During the service immigrant family members told stories of being separated from loved ones.
During the service, Frederick-Gray noted that her congregation includes families separated by deportations as well as the family of a police officer who was killed. She received strong applause when she said, "We must not be intimidated, and we must not be silent about where we stand. We must be clear that we stand on the side of love, that we stand on the side of family unity, that we stand for justice. We will not let more families be torn apart."
From the cathedral, UUs and others marched downtown, gathering in Cesar Chavez Plaza amid a complex of city and county government buildings, before beginning the blockade.
There were echoes of the 1960s civil rights movement in Phoenix. Tempie Taudte, from the UU Church of Tampa, Fla., says she was too busy graduating from college in the sixties to do anything. But at General Assembly this year she made a decision to come to Phoenix. "Now I have time, and I want to give back, in part because I didn't do anything then." On Wednesday she decided to risk arrest the following day. "It breaks my heart to know that families are being disrupted and parents taken away," she said. "I want the rest of the country to hear us. I'm also concerned that other states, including mine, will try to adopt something like this."
Taudte was indeed arrested Thursday when she sat down in the street and refused to move. After her release Friday afternoon she called her experience "life changing." She said she plans to go back to Florida and challenge her congregation to get even more active than it has been on immigration issues.
The Rev. Wendy von Zirpolo, minister of the UU Church of Marblehead, Mass., and president of UU Allies for Racial Equity, was arrested at the county jail with Morales and Frederick-Gray. The experience was "physically frightening," she said. "The experience validated much of what I understand about white privilege and racism." She said that while she experienced some roughness during the arrest and the jail experience was harsh, fellow inmates of color were treated far worse.
Held overnight in a cell with as many as 30 other women, von Zirpolo said the group bonded, even those people who had been arrested for other issues. "It was an unintended consequence of their strategy to disrupt our sleep by moving us around. Each time, we would share names and origins. We sang together, held those who needed to cry, demanded medical attention for our sisters in need, and most importantly, listened to each others stories. We made community."
The Rev. Gregory Scott Ward, minister of the UU Church of the Monterey Peninsula in Carmel, Calif., said being in jail changed him. "I no longer think I'm different from other people. I was surprised by how quickly one's humanity can be diminished when wearing prison stripes and the pink socks and pink underwear they make you wear. And how that humanity is restored when you find out that people are waiting for you when you come out."
UUs who had not been arrested held a late evening candlelight vigil outside the jail Thursday night, bringing a guitar and flute and singing songs in Spanish and English. A few people remained all night, to be there when fellow UUs were released from jail.
Unitarian Universalists were the most visible religious group in Phoenix. Many wore the yellow T-shirts of the UUA's Standing on the Side of Love campaign. UUA Moderator Gini Courter said, "On the street we were clearly identifiable as religious people. We lived our faith in a very public way. People were coming up to us and thanking us for being there."
As a consequence, Morales was in constant demand for interviews. Dea Brayden, special assistant to the president, said Morales was interviewed 15 times by local, national, and international media. After he was released from jail, Morales participated in yet another press conference. When asked by a reporter if blocking streets is the best way to address human rights issues, he said, "We want to interfere with the incredible intimidation that is going on here. We as people of faith are called upon to take action to stop that. This is what happened in Selma. This is in the greatest tradition of America. While we are law-abiding citizens there are times when the laws are so immoral they need to be changed. That's what responsible citizens do."
Courter said this week's efforts build on the long-term work of UU congregations in Arizona, as well as local human rights groups like Puente and the National Day Laborer Networking Organization, in confronting racism and immigration injustices. She said, "I have seen us take our calling very seriously here. Our ministers and lay people have taken some real risks. Our work here is a substantial move toward living our UU values in a democracy. And there is so much more for us to know and learn."
"What we need to do now is build capacity to do this work," Courter said. "We need congregations to take seriously the fact that their delegates at General Assembly this year chose immigration reform as the next Study/Action Issue. We need congregations offering Spanish and learning hymns of other cultures and building partnerships with groups in their communities. There is such a critical role for Unitarian Universalism in this human rights struggle."
The Rev. Kenneth Brown, district executive for the UUA's Pacific Southwest District, which includes Arizona, said, "I have been doing this work for 45 years, and this was one of the most meaningful events I've been involved with. What we hope happens now is that the people who came here take this issue home and work on it there. This is the civil rights issue of our era."
The main action happened Thursday, but that wasn't the end of things. On Friday, members of Puente, the Ruckus Society, the Catalyst Project, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and Let's Build a U.S. for All of Us, were arrested when they tried to prevent sheriff's deputies from conducting an immigration sweep. Salvador Reza was arrested again while watching events from across the street. For the second night in a row, Unitarian Universalists held a vigil outside the jail until Reza and others were released.
The UU Congregation of Phoenix and the Valley UU Church in Chandler, Ariz., served as headquarters for last week's events. Events were also held across the country, in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia, in support of the protests against SB1070.
Delegates to the UUA's 2010 General Assembly voted to hold a "justice General Assembly" focused on immigration and human rights in Phoenix in 2012; they also passed a resolution condemning SB1070 and similar legislation in other states.
Dan Furmansky, campaign director of Standing on the Side of Love, the UUA's campaign against identity-based oppression, said that UUs made a real difference in Phoenix this week. "Media outlets across the world have images of SB1070 protests with our message of bright yellow 'Love' emblazoned everywhere. Our partners striving for immigrant justice know that their struggle is our struggle, and that we stand on the side of love with them for the long haul. Sheriff Joe Arpaio has met a new form of resistance that brought greater scrutiny to his actions. And those who were arrested showed that there are people of faith who feel morally compelled to put their bodies and their freedom on the line when injustice pronounces itself with an exclamation point and demands a response."
The Rev. David Miller, minister of the UU Fellowship of San Dieguito in Solana Beach, Calif., wrote in an e-mail after last week's events that he believed events in Phoenix marked a turning point for Unitarian Universalism. "It was phenomenal to be part of a well-coordinated effort of civil disobedience with Unitarian Universalists from every corner of this country."
He added, "I was personally thanked many times for being there—the desk clerk and maintenance person at the hotel, someone on the mayor's staff who I met at Starbucks, people in the street. Finally, as I stood on the street corner watching those who had volunteered to get arrested stake their claim to the street, I heard a young African-American girl turn to her mother and say, 'What are they doing?' Her mother replied, 'Do you remember what I told you about Dr. Martin Luther King? That is what they are doing.' I broke into tears.
"Growing up just after the Vietnam era . . . I have never truly felt a part of a great struggle for human rights that has moved my soul. Now, with the struggle for marriage equality and for basic human rights in Arizona, I feel so honored and called to do whatever I can. The desire to do this work is one of the primary reasons I felt called to the ministry. I am filled with deep gratitude for being a part of this act of love, and I have so much hope for our future."
WHAT WE CHOOSE: ETHICS FOR UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS: WORKSHOP 4:
HANDOUT 3: IT TAKES A VILLAGE TO HOLD A PROTEST
Written by Kat Liu, and originally published in the blog Inspired Faith, Effective Action, August 12, 2010. Used with permission.
Let me start by saying that I am not a "protest" kind of person. My experience with numerous protests is that a lot of people assemble, shout angry slogans, maybe sing a few songs, and then go home, leaving piles of garbage in their wake. No matter how much I cared about an issue it always seemed to part of me like protests were something that we "attend" the way that one might attend a rock concert, and that they were geared more towards letting the participants feel good about having "done something" than actually effecting change. For that reason, I approached the Day of Non-Compliance (July 29th) in Phoenix with some personal apprehension. Since I knew that I was not planning on getting arrested, I wondered then what exactly it was that I would be doing. Was I flying two-thirds of the way across the country just to attend a protest? But I tried to approach the coming days with an open heart—letting the Spirit guide me. At six a.m. Thursday, we arrived at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for an interfaith service. A rainbow hung high in the sky, seeming to make its arc right over Trinity. (at www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=324180&id=135542546464323&ref=fbx_album) Seeing it, my heart leapt with hope. I thought of the biblical story of God's promise to His [sic] people. I thought of the moral arc of the universe bending towards justice. After the service, we started marching toward downtown. So far, this was not unlike other rallies/protests/marches/vigils that I had attended. But it was during the march that I first noticed them—people carrying plastic trash bags collecting water bottles and other refuse from marchers, so that the streets remained clean. Cleaning up after ourselves? What a novel concept! How lacking in sense of privilege! I smiled at the young Latino man carrying the garbage bag and felt that he was playing a role as important as any cleric who spoke from the pulpit or any of the rally organizers.
When we got to Cesar Chavez Plaza, I saw that Puente (a local Phoenix movement with whom we're partnering) had set up a staging area where bottles of water cooled in kiddie wading pools full of ice. Two cots were available for those who fell ill. Handmade signs were available for those who wanted to carry them. Those of us who were not going to get arrested made sure that others had plenty of water to drink, grabbing bottles from the kiddie pools and handing them out to everyone, including the police officers who must have been roasting under their riot gear. Someone from the staging area called for volunteers to run sitting pads over to the demonstrators at the intersection in front of the Wells Fargo Building (Arpaio's office). I was handed a pile of bath towels that had been cut in half and then sewn to an insulating backing, to protect people's behinds and legs from the baking asphalt.Wow, I thought, they had prepared for everything.Little did I know.
Much later, after watching the last of our people get loaded into the police paddy wagon (at www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=324211&id=135542546464323&ref=fbx_album), I started heading towards the Fourth Avenue jail where other demonstrators—including Peter Morales, Susan Frederick-Gray, and Puente's Salvador Reza—had blocked the jail entrance. On my way, I stopped by the staging area to see if I could carry some bottles of water over. I was told that there was plenty of water at the jail already but I could carry over two spray bottles for cooling people down.I walked the two blocks with the spray bottles alone—a curious sense of solitude given the frenetic energy all around me, including the beating blades of a police helicopter overhead (at www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=324205&id=135542546464323&ref=fbx_album). Once at the jail site, I looked for red faces to whom to offer a cooling spray of water. (By the time the 4th Ave. protesters were arrested some time later, I was pretty red-faced myself.) Roaming the crowds, I also saw volunteer medics coming to the aid of those for whom water was no longer enough.
Those of us who had not been arrested straggled back to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Phoenix (UUCP) during the mid- to late-afternoon. We ate some food. We cooled off as best we could. We attended to those of us who had succumbed to heat exhaustion. But now what next? Do we just wait at the church? Go back to our hotel or homestays? That didn't seem right. The answer came from Puente, who had had the foresight to apply for a permit to hold an all-night vigil at the jail. It turns out that whenever one of their own is in jail, they hold vigil so that no one is released out to an empty street—every member who was arrested comes out to cheers and hugs. So, with nightfall, we boarded our vans and headed over to the jail. Puente people had already been there since 4 p.m. We lit candles. We prayed. We sang. (at www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=324216&id=135542546464323&ref=fbx_album&fbid=142743255744252) We tried to sing in Spanish. (Note to self: That is something we have to work on before we get to the vigil.) Word came that the 4th Ave. Arrestees would be arraigned at 11 p.m., which meant they would be released in the wee hours of the morning. A group of us stayed all night to greet them as they got out.
Friday dawned, tentative. Those who had been arrested in front of the Wells Fargo Building would be arraigned at 10 a.m., which meant they would be out by early afternoon. Members of UUCP bought food and fed us breakfast/lunch. Some of us volunteered to go over to the offices of Puente and the lawyers who were helping us to see if there was a way to pitch in. Others headed to the jail to be there when people got out. By mid-afternoon, all of our people had been released, and we started packing up the base of operations at UUCP to head over to Valley UU in Chandler, AZ. The plan had called for a potluck dinner (at www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=346533&id=135542546464323), followed by a Taize worship service and debriefing. As far as we were concerned, we were done (for this round—we knew there would be others). At the potluck, we were told that the delicious cheese enchiladas and chicken tamales were made by Puente, in appreciation for our participation. Once again, I thought, they really understand community.
We had not even finished our worship service when the word came—more people had been arrested. That part was not too surprising as we knew that our partners intended to keep up the pressure by demonstrating in front of Arpaio's Tent City prison. But what sent a shock wave through all of us was word that Salvador Reza, who had already spent the previous night in jail, had been taken in by Sheriff Joe Arpaio's deputies even though he was across the street and nowhere near the site of the protest. I could call that moment a decision point—the kind of moment that determines what kind of people we were going to be by how we respond. I could call it that but in truth people responded so quickly that there was never any doubt. We packed up as quickly as we could. Audra opened up the boxes of yellow "Love" t-shirts, offering a free clean one to anyone going to the vigil.We loaded our vans and cars, and away we went ... to Tent City. I had wanted to see Arpaio's notorious prison but did not know it would be under such circumstances.
By the time I got to the vigil across the street from Tent City, it was in full swing. People lined the street—an intermingling of Puente and Standing on the Side of Love signs (at www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=346536&id=135542546464323&ref=fbx_album). A drummer stood at the center, with at least one person with a smaller drum accompanying him.UUs and Puente people took turns leading chants (so that no one got too tired).Some of us held signs that said "Honk if you oppose SB1070!" and a steady stream of cars flew by, many of them honking. We were especially gratified whenever a bus would honk. At least two different people walked up and down the length of the vigilers, holding smoldering sage—blessing and protecting every one of us. As had happened the previous day, people handed out water continuously. About two hours or so into the vigil, women started handing out bean burritos and tortas with some kind of meat, and little ice-cold cups of lemonade. It was another thing that they had thought of. We on the outside supported those inside the jail by keeping vigil, but the vigilers too were supported, ensured that standing outside holding signs and chanting did not mean going hungry or thirsty.
At one point a local leader played the drum while chanting a sacred song. Instinctively, we gathered round him in concentric circles—as if the drum were the center of our little solar system.It was a deeply spiritual moment, not only because of the drumming/chanting but because our people—UUs and Puente— were united as one.The only sour note was when, at the end, a handful of UUs started clapping. In Euro culture, that is a sign of appreciation, but it also tends to turn the ritual into a "performance."The leader admonished us "Don't clap! This is sacred."Oh well, we are two groups learning how to be together.There will be small mistakes.(Note to self: Instructions on not clapping should be part of our orientation for future groups of UUs.)
After 10:15 or so, after we had stayed long enough to be featured on the local Fox affiliate, we packed up our vans to move the vigil over to the 4th Ave. jail. Word had come that Sal had been moved there. Once again, people—both Puente folks and UUs—picked up every bit of trash that we had generated. When we were done, you would not have been able to tell that dozens of people had just been there. I climbed into the cool AC of the van. Such relief. I was so tired. I did not know how I would be able to stand for another set of hours, however long, once we got to the 4th Ave. location. But I knew I had to. With grim determination I got out of the van with my fellow passengers and we walked towards the jail. We heard music.
Puente folks who had arrived before us had set up a speaker and they were blasting salsa music. People were dancing on the sidewalk. My heart filled with joy. It was a lot easier to dance than it was to stand. These people knew how to throw a protest!—how to make it so that everyone felt involved and important, so that everyone was nourished physically and spiritually, so that the streets were cleaner for our being there, and so that everything was infused with both reverence and joy. We danced with crazy happiness, grateful for these last few days. When a few sheriffs opened the doors to take a look at us, we danced over to greet them and invite them to join us. (They retreated back into the building.) That gesture—loving and inviting into community, joyful even in the face of oppression—epitomized to me what our days in Phoenix were all about. I plan to go back to Phoenix and learn more from our partners, Puente (and others). But even if for some reason I don't, I will never forget the lessons learned in Phoenix. It turns out that I am a "protest" kind of person after all, when it's done right. And to do it right, it takes a village to hold a protest.
FIND OUT MORE
Virtue Ethics
Pojman, L. Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company,1999. (Chapter 8)
"Virtue ethics (at plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-virtue/)," Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Mahatma Gandhi
Easwaran, E. Gandhi The Man: The Story of His Transformation. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 2007.
Gandhi, M.K. All Religions Are True. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1962.
Wolpert, S. Gandhi's Passion: The Life and Legacy of Mahatma Gandhi. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
See the film Gandhi (dir. Richard Attenborough, Columbia Pictures, 1982).
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
"Frances Harper (at www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/francesharper.html)," by Janeen Grohsmeyer, in the Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography
Peterson, Polly. Stirring the Nation's Heart: Eighteen Stories of Prophetic Unitarians and Universalists of the 19th Century. Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 2010.