Stand up. Speak out. Get organized.

July 2025

Beloved Community,

This July, as many in our country prepare to wave flags and celebrate a story of freedom, I invite us instead to tell a deeper truth.

Freedom – real freedom – cannot exist where cages do.

It cannot coexist with the brutal machinery of ICE raids, family separations, and detention centers built on the backs of cruelty and white supremacy. It cannot thrive under the policies of a government bent on fascism, fear, and dehumanization. And so I say to you plainly: Now is the time for bold resistance. Now is the time to defend our migrant and brown siblings with everything we have – our voices, our votes, our pulpits, our streets, our sanctuaries, our sacred love.

The current administration has made its agenda clear: to criminalize migration, to target Black and brown communities, to use fear as a tool of control. This is not simply politics. This is moral violence and our faith demands that we respond.

As Unitarian Universalists …
– We believe every person is inherently worthy of dignity.
– We believe that no human being is illegal.
– We believe in the power of collective liberation.

These are not abstract ideals. These are the truths that must shape how we show up – in solidarity, in sanctuary, in resistance.

This month, I am calling on every congregation, every justice team, every heart tuned to love:

– Stand up. Speak out. Get organized.
– Partner with local immigrant justice organizations.
– Show up to shut down ICE raids and courtrooms.
– Declare your congregation as a sanctuary space if you have not already.
– Help raise bond funds. Write letters. Protest publicly. Preach with fire. Protect each other.

Let us not be lulled into silence by fatigue or fear. Let us be emboldened by the courage of those who risk everything in pursuit of safety and dignity.

To our migrant, Latinx, Afro-Caribbean, Indigenous, and undocumented siblings:
– You are not alone.
– We see you.
– We honor your bravery.
– We commit to your freedom as if it were our own – because it is.

And to those feeling overwhelmed or uncertain, know this: You do not have to do everything but you are called to do something.

Together, we can build a movement rooted in fierce love and unwavering solidarity. Let us make July not just a month of fireworks and flag-waving, but a month of faithful uprising. Let us resist the machinery of hate with the unstoppable force of collective love.

In resistance, in care, and fierce love,

AJ
Pastor AJ Blackwood
Community Minister
UUs for Racial Justice

Office:  720-336-0923
Office:  714-699-3313 (direct/text)

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