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Addressing the brokenness of our society
Penobscot leader Sherri Mitchell spoke at UU Community Church of Augusta, Maine, recognizing the state’s first Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Mitchell said the name change acknowledges “the inaccuracies of our shared history and [makes] a move towards righting those inaccuracies by shifting from the celebration of a man who had committed horrific genocidal acts against the indigenous peoples of the Americas and actually never stepped foot here on this continent.” (Central Maine, October 13)
The Rev. Fred Small, an attorney, climate activist, and singer-songwriter, spoke at Mattatuck Unitarian Universalist Society in Woodbury, Connecticut. He asked attendees to imagine a small child, and to imagine “that it’s up to you whether this child suffers, is in pain, endures famine, drought, storms, is poisoned by contaminated water. Now imagine that child growing up happy, in a place with renewable energy, under a democratic government. Which future is real . . . It’s up to us.” (Voices, October 9)
The National Poor People’s Campaign held a rally in Portland, Maine, drawing an enthusiastic crowd. The Rev. Jodi Hayashida, of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Auburn, Maine, noted that “Portland, like so many places in Maine, has so many people suffering because of the brokenness of our society.” (Central Maine, October 11)
The pride flag displayed outside May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society in Syracuse, New York, was vandalized. The congregation’s Facebook page noted that “Our flag may have been burned, but our resolve to affirm the worth and dignity of every person will never be destroyed.” (WSYR, October 14)
Short notes
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, Virginia, will be one of two recipients of the Shirlington Employment and Education Center’s annual Emily DiCicco Humanitarian Award. (Inside NoVA, October 8)
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Chicago, Illinois, the home of a UU congregation, received a 2019 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (Curbed Chicago, October 10)