It Starts with Us

As Unitarian Universalists we must speak and act to stop the frequent, state-sanctioned violence committed against members of our shared community. The murders of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, Tony McDade in Florida, and George Floyd in Minnesota, among so many others, were all committed by police or former police. Here in San Diego, we also see police brutality such as that perpetrated against an individual walking her dog on the beach as well as in La Mesa when a police officer had an altercation with a black man at a trolley station. This is not about a few rogue officers. This isn’t about the need for more training. This isn’t even about a change in leadership. Replacing one police chief with another is not enough if the pervasive racist system that empowers them is unchanged. The work of transforming our law enforcement and justice system into a true JUSTICE system will be long and difficult, messy and painful. We commit to that work, in solidarity with our partners. Violence against Black and Brown bodies, committed by officers of the law, demands this system must be remade.

​The COVID-19 virus has further highlighted and worsened this country’s systemic inequities. The pandemic has struck Black, Indigenous, People of Color communities at much higher rates than non-Black, non-Indigenous, non-People of Color communities. This is yet another injustice heaped on the great mountain of injustice we as a country have created and allowed to fester - all compounded by the policing of Black and Brown lives to the point of death. All this creates the rage being expressed in the protests. 
 
As people of faith who affirm and promote the interdependence of all life and the inherent dignity and worth of each person, we are called by Love to act.

• First - we must acknowledge and feel the soul wrenching pain caused by these broken systems and the racism that has allowed them to dehumanize Black and Brown life.
• Second – we must act, in solidarity with Communities of Color, to create new systems built on a morality that honors Black, Brown, and Indigenous life specifically. This we know is done through relationship building, listening to and following the lead of Communities of Color, and then creating together the systems we need.
• Third - we must act to create accountable systems to ensure justice and peace prevail for ALL living in this country.

 
It starts wherever we are…in ourselves, in our neighborhoods, in our congregations, throughout the San Diego region. It starts now. It starts with US.
 
From the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego, Social Justice Executive Team in collaboration with our Journey Towards Wholeness team.