Side With Love, in collaboration with the Youth and Emerging Adult team of the Lifespan Faith Engagement office and the UU College of Social Justice, joins in solidarity with Unitarian Universalist young adults and students across the globe who are protesting the ongoing assault in Gaza. These protests are a response to the moral urgency of this moment. The assault on Gaza, sponsored by the United States, has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians. We cannot turn away.We join the chorus of faith and progressive organizations calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the protection of student activists.
In the face of dehumanization, devastation, and death, human beings have always gathered to create life-affirming communities of resistance. Rooted in a strong lineage of student movements, this generation - like those protesting the Vietnam War, calling for the racial integration of their campuses, and for the end of apartheid in South Africa - are, again, asking this nation to embody its highest ideals of liberty and justice for all.
Our values call on every generation to listen with care and compassion to the prophetic witness of these courageous students and offer faithful solidarity. We, too, must rise to meet the highest aspirations of our faith, which rejects the disposability of any human being and proclaims all are worthy of love and belonging.
This generation of students has endured the trauma of COVID-19, school shootings, a climate crisis, and the brutality of U.S. police forces on their campuses and in their communities. It is time to turn around the question, “Where are the young people in our faith movement?” and instead ask, “Where are all of us, as people of faith, when our young people are showing up?” We must not turn away.
Side With Love proclaims the transformative power of love to build vibrant and liberated communities. This dangerous assault on civil liberties on college campuses and human rights – at home and globally –are connected. Too many of our justice movements (labor movement, Civil Rights, Gay liberation), have been met with sanctioned police brutality, imprisonment, and worse. We must not fail our students with our silence. We will not betray our faith with our complicity.
We call on university administrations and public officials to remove police from campuses, end the militarized response to student activism, and come to the table in good-faith negotiations with student demands. We call on our community to show up in solidarity. We welcome all, in this pivotal movement, to Side With Love.
Add your signature to this letter.
Signatories
Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association
Rev. Scott Aaseng
Abigail Abysalh-Metzger
Rev. Dr. Julia Aegerter
Dr. Robert Alexander
Dr. Amanda Alexander
Ms. Melody Allan
Ms Gaylee Amend
Dr. Susan Anderson
Rev Dr Leonisa Ardizzone
Ms. Larissa Armstrong
Ms. Dana Ashrawi
Ms. Ellen Asprooth
Barbara Atkinson
Dan Bailey
Rev Erica Baron
Dr. Lynette Bassman
Ms. Sharon Bell Stevens
Mrs. Sharon Bell-Stevens
Patricis Bennett
Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt
Ms. Joyce Bianchini
Rev. Ashley Birt
Mx. Emily Blair
Ronnie Boyd
Cole Breedlove
Mr. Farrell Brody
Ms. Beth Brunton
Ms. Dana Buhl
Mr. Benjamin Burch
Sue Burke
George Burman
Rev. Dr. Isabel Call
Mrs Cici Carilli
Dr. Devin Carroll
Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer
Alesha Chaffin
Ms. Jane Collins
Mr. R.Sidney Collins
Rev. Otto Concannon
Rev. Susan Conrad
Rev. Julie Conrady
Rev Darcy Corbitt
Betty Cornelisen
Rev. Lyn Cox
Mrs. Sue Craig
Chris Crass
Mrs. Jamaine Cripe
Mrs. Lee Curran
Patrice Curtis
Ms. Karen Deaton
Rev. Emily DeTar Birt
Ms. Rebecca Donley
Laura Dooley
Ms. Joyce Dowling
Ms. Helen Duffy
Martha Durkee-Neuman
Angelique Duvet-Tovar
Rev Dayna Edwards
Susie Epstein
Ms. Claire Eustace
Dana Fisher Ashrawi
Beverly Fitzpatrick
Rev Tobi Fleck
Kim Fox-Kristensen
Ms. Roberta Frye
Lori Garcia
Dr. Shernaz Garcia
Dr. Anne Garcia
Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson
Ms. Vicki Gavel
Elaine Gehrmann
Ms. Sally Jane Gellert
Janine Gelsinger
Elisabeth Geschiere
Mrs. Stephanie Giamberardino
Rev Annie Gonzalez
Rev. Sara Goodman
Ms. glenda gordon
Ana Gorny
Danielle Grand
Mrs. Virginia Green
Ms. Katia Hansen
Ms. Aisha Hauser
Peter Helwig
Rev Meagan Henry
Mr. Joel Hildebrandt
Rev. Dr. Lucy Hitchcock
Heather Hoecker
Ray A Hommeyer
rimki honnold
Rev. Ashley Horan
Edythe Hough
Rev. Molly Housh Gordon
Ms. Kathleen Yezierska Hulley
Kirsten Hunter
Reverend DL Hwlfer
Ms. Laila Ibrahim
Diana Ingram
Ms. Catherine Jackson
Dr. Melissa James
Rev. Abhi Janamanchi
Ruth Jenkins
Ms. Cheyenne Jenvey
Mr. Bruce Jewell
Valerie Johnson
Miss Zoe Johnston
Constance Jones
Rev. Dr. Dr. Roger Jones
Mona Jones-Romansic
Dr. Donna Joss
Dr Razan Kaileh
Mr. James Kane
Ms. Rosemary Kean
Carl Kennedy
Asma Khan
Lynn Kimbark
Dr. D King
Rev. Dan King
Rev. Cecilia Kingman
Mary Kingsley
Ms. LINDA KNIGHT
Ms. Katie Kosseff
Rev. Tim Kutzmark
Mr. Steven Sellers Lapham
Ms. Areej Latif
Dr. Kate Lenhardt
Rev. Bran Lennox
Ms. Renate Ley
Tanya Liscano
Andrew Livingstone
Ms. Karin Livingstone
Patricia Looney-Burman
Mr. Terry Lowman
Kathleen Lund
Leigh Ann Luscan
Rev Jason Lydon
Mx. Sherri Lysy
Mr. Melvin Mackey
Dr. Heather MacLeod
Ken Mah
Alisha Mancinas
Rev. Kevin Mann
Jennifer Marck
Ms. Sally McCollum
Clara McCollum
Dr. Renee McCormick
Ms. Pamela McInnes
Kathy McKay
Ms Ann McKay Bryson
Ms. Joanne Michelson
elizabeth miller
Rev. Sarah Millspaugh
Rev John Morehouse
Dr. John Moses
Abbas Moussaoui
Rev. Johannah Murphy
Ms. Christine Myers
Ms. Diane Nassif
Dr. Gail Newel
Mrs. Jackie Newman
Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen
Ms. Susan Nye
Mx. Kyle Osborne
Lori Palmer
Miss QuianaDenae Perkins
Rev. Ali Peters
Lydia Philip
Rev. Millie Phillips
Dr. Marcelle Pratt
Mrs. Virginia Preuss
Ms. Lois Reborne
Ms. Mary Richards
Emily Richards
Alice Richards
Sandra Rigsbee
REv. Cathy Rion Starr
David Roberts
Ms. Amanda Rogers
Jonathan G Rogers
Rev Jonathan Rogers
Ms. Genevieve Rohan
Rev Katie Romano Griffin
Dr. Lee Rossi
Rachel Rott
Mr James Ruelas
Mr. Stephen Sacks
Rev Elizabeth Saunter
Rev Amanda Schuber
Mx. Andrea Schulz
Antoinette Scully
Ms. Isabel Sheridan
Rev. Alia Shinbrough
Ms. Terri Shofner
Dr. Joshua Shurley
Rev. Julián Soto
Sandra Steubing
Catherine Strickland
Wesley Stroupe
Ben Strube
Rev. Sonya Sukalski
Judith Swick
Rev Leslie Takahashi
Dr. Katrina Thompson
Mr. Scott Thomson
Bis Thornton
Ms. Rita Townsend
Dr. Brenda Ungerland
Elizabeth Valencia
Nico Van Ostrand
Ms. Michelle Venegas-Matula
Sandra Villareal
Hannah Villnave
Dr. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa
Virginia Waring
Mylo Way
Rev Vail Weller
Krista Westervelt
G Williams
Gordon Woodworth
Ms. Connie Young
Lenore Yousef
Rev. Crystal Zerfoss
Statement supporting student activism on Gaza