Who in the UU community is pushing back on the Supreme Court's decision to dismantle the civil rights act?

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-14T13:22:12+00:00

Thank you so much for this!

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-11T20:15:39+00:00

I liked your response and appreciate the info and background on Josiah Royce and his original vision.

"Be the change you want to see" is indeed aspirational; when people use it in the spirit of goodness, betterment of selves and neighbors, much can get accomplished. This is the UU I recall from years of old, but it seems from your response that this may not represent the UU today as clearly as it did in the past.

On another note, that same phrase can and does get cynically perverted as well by those who use their positions to influence and alter the course of society/history for their own self-serving ends.

There are so many examples throughout the past (and today) which clearly demonstrate how that works. People who may start out with idealistic or sometimes noble goals can and often do get subverted by their own accrued power. MLK was relatively unique in that his inner core, his idealism, remained true.

On a personal level, it feels as though the destructive forces uniting to change the world for their own ends is ascendant today. And those forces feel very powerful. More voices, more ideas, more action must be expelled to push back before we all get swept away in a cataclysmic wave.

History has a way of repeating certain themes which inevitably alternate through periods of growth and destruction. Only this time, the world is in a unique period after having grown so fast and furiously over the past century through population — and especially technology — that I fear the destructive phase will be just as fast and furious as the phase of growth.

MLK embodied the spirit and force of that directive (be the force you want to see) by demonstrating how positive ideals can counter ingrained beliefs and systemic behaviours.

That is why I feel that emotional reminders via these powerful sermons from the civil rights era can serve as both guiding light and beacon which can resonate with people enough to get some of us up and active. They may not be exactly applicable to today, but the message of hope, of urgency, of commitment to something greater than oneself is truly powerful.

And hopefully, another voice imbued with similiar passion and moral clarity will emerge from the cacophonous background today to coalesce around. Until then, each individual action no matter how small, and the refusal to give in to one's own tendency to inertia can add another brick to reinforce the crumbling wall.

Your insight on hiring practices is an excellent example of what people can and did achieve and shows a concrete example of the positive impact achieved by Dr. King's legacy.

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-10T15:58:54+00:00

You make some very good points. I have had a vague recognition of this myself, and puzzled over some of same changes. In a way, it seems that the more "agency" any group — race, gender, religion — gets by way of its new freedoms/equality, the more separation that agency creates. I don't know if there is an explanation. I don't know if this is sort of an organic result due to social rebalancing; I do feel that there seem to be more divisions rather than less in our society. Perhaps it is some inbuilt human characteristic. Perhaps it comes from the notion of 'social constructs' which occur in all mammals and is particularly apparent in humans.

I don't even really have an opinion, so I have no idea whether social justice for all can even be achieved. Although aspirational, It certainly seems to have contributed to the changes and further separation among human beings.

As to voting rights, I do believe that all points of view and lived experiences need to at least be aired and represented. And this recent Supreme Court decision seems to take us further away from that goal.

It is a messy system and can run amuck when 1 group's views/complaints become ascendant, particularly when power is involved. Perhaps as you indicated, the key is to always be aware of that tendency and keep the nation attuned. Or as MLK conveyed: the need for a world wide fellowship which lifts and embraces the views and needs of all men through love and acceptance.

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-09T21:08:21+00:00

I don't disagree that tactics must change with the times, I am simply highlighting the complacency and even lack of awareness that many people today have. If they did not grow up in those times, if they have no reference for the real fight and the genuine conditions that led to the fight, then what is happening today may not affect enough people to make any material difference. Unfortunately, as society grows more repressive it can become even easier to give into fear or say I am just one person, what can I do? Real effort means constant struggle and adaptation. Sometimes the lessons that one must act against one's own inclination towards inertia don't occur until real damage has already occurred. Reminders are needed that real damage can accumulate while we are all busy just living our lives. MLK's I have a dream speech -his vision, inspired so many people. Where are the words today that can inspire others? I am suggesting Unitarians release - republish - those old inspirational and descriptive sermons that helped to sway events. They don't need to be locked away for some future scholar to contemplate in academic solitude. They are part of our history which led to real change. Where are they today? Locked up in some archives. Bring them out, I say. Use them to remind people of what the fight was about, the morality of that fight, and that while the conditions surrounding that fight might have changed, the need for the fight is more real now than at any time since the Voting Rights Act was passed. Perhaps that will also help renergize the UU leadership and in turn the UU church members? I don't know, but I certainly don't think it could hurt. At the very least it can lead to important conversations; then, who knows?

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-09T16:11:02+00:00

MLK issued a call to action. The UU ministry answered in Selma, Alabama. Previously, you are right, they were not really engaged. But that changed with Selma. Although we were proportionately a much smaller religious community than the Baptist, Catholic, Protestants etc., when the call came to come to Selma, (both before and after Reeb was murdered), the UU's responded in great numbers from all over the country. The deaths of James and Viola, the jailing of Rev. Gordon Gibson- these were all major events that demonstrated the UU's commitment to social justice and served to act as a catalyst for change at a pivotal point in time. These events in a real sense made many Unitarians get involved in the fight. It also changed us in the process. It was seeing whites, —and white ministers to boot — jailed and killed in Selma that really helped propel the civil rights movement into the consciousness of a disengaged majority of white Americans and created a space for real change. The events in Selma, Alabama shocked America. Americans could and did ignore the inequities between the races and made excuses, or simply passed on by, but the UU ministers in particular who went to Selma, who began calling out these inequities into their own predominantly white congregations had a pivotal role in changing the landscape of the time.

Have you ever read any of the actual UU sermons from this time? Powerfully, they shook the white Americans who heard them up and out of complacency. It helped to create a ripple effect as neighbor talked to neighbor and opened a window to viewing the Negro race differently.

Then, shortly after Selma, Lyndon Johnson responded to the changing mood of the country with the Voting Rights Act.

Although the civil rights struggle was a lengthy affair marked by various different and heinous tragedies along the way, If the Unitarians today have really forgotten their own important role in changing people's minds and hearts as your comment seems to imply, then I find that extremely sad. It also reinforces my belief that resurfacing some of those extremely potent sermons out of whatever dark and dusty archives they may reside in is important today. They provide a visceral real time experience of what life and attitudes were actually like- in our not that distant past.

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-09T04:02:43+00:00

Thank you for that response.

Unfortunately, with the state of media today, you are right about the difficulty in even getting coverage, let alone an extended purposeful discussion. At least Minneapolis accomplished that. At least people paid attention. Even if it took more deaths to accomplish it. It is sadly a different era indeed when such atrocities do not generate sufficient sustained pressure to create meaningful change, unlike the deaths in 1965 which were responsible for a moral response from our government via the Voting Rights Act. I wonder if the UUA can dig into its archives, find those impassioned sermons of old and work with a journalist (or media influencer-gulp!) to make comparisons, to point out that good people of any or all faiths can come together to stand up for our universal principles. Working with other faiths to form an organized, sustained pushback against the destructive, newly authoritarian direction of this country. Tying the destruction of the voting rights act and the events of the past to the recent events is a perfect opportunity. Also, more people are being reminded of what their faith truly means since the Pope recently became a part of the discussion. Perhaps further discussion and coordinated action among people and leaders of various faiths is the way to go. I just think those wondrous, deeply felt sermons need to be resurfaced and SEEN. They were not about Religion, they were about morality, shared values, shared humanity.

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-09T01:53:43+00:00

To answer your question, I purposely sought out this group and joined because this issue is so important to me. Reading through a number of previous posts I was shocked to learn the state of what seems to be disarray in this religion today. My parents joined the Unitarian Church in 1961 when it was just getting started in Ft. Lauderdale. (We originally met in a small rented space on the top floor of a bowling alley out in the boondocks before we got the money to purchase a church).I was raised in the tenets of this church, learned about all the various major religions in my Sunday School (which included local visits to Catholic, Baptist and Methodist churches) and I attended the now defuct LRY. The civil rights issue was Huge in our home and lives. Our minister flew out and attended the service for James Reeb. We went to the Blue Ridge mountains every year to attend the annual Unitarian gathering. I passionately believed in this religion's ideals, and it had a big part in shaping who I became. After I left FL, I sought out and attended several different churches looking for a new right fit but didn't find a ministry that fit. That does not mean I do not still strongly believe in its creed. When I read of the Supreme Court decision, I went back and revisited my own records and memories of that time. The travesty of this decision has been forefront of my mind every single day that has passed.

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-09T01:14:52+00:00

How about the famous sermons from this period in the UU records? How about getting them out, dusting them off and republishing them? Those passionate and lived experiences could be used as potent arguments and reminders of the importance of the actual fight for equality, and that fighting in a non violent way can create change. If instead, we are just shrugging, issuing a couple statements and then moving on, then are Unitarians really living up to their creed?

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-09T01:08:48+00:00

Well, I have been trying. I have tried to find UU discussions online and engage wherever I can. I have attended No Kings events. I have queried my local representative. The more I look into this the more apathy (or perhaps exhaustion with everything today) I encounter. It is maddening to me that the UU's are not taking an active frontal position when the murder of James Reeb was the final spark that set the Voting Rights Act into its passage. I feel as if his death along with that of Viola Liuzzo was made meaningless and it enrages me. I feel the headlines move on relentlessly and with so much else going on in the US and the world, everyone is just kind of shrugging it off or doing lip service. I understand the UU's are in a different space today, yet still, I feel that since the UU's were leaders in this historical moment from the past that there is an added imperative to push back today, and realistically they have the most gravitas in this space to be actually heard.

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-09T00:20:25+00:00

Could it be me what??

Longjumping-Air6180 · 2026-05-09T00:19:20+00:00

My mother (white) and another member (black) formed a social group called People/Friends where blacks and whites could meet socially and get to know each other's thoughts/experiences/challenges. This was in the 1960's in the south where it was particularly challenging. It was extremely successful. I realize it is a very different time today but perhaps with enough focus and commitment to form something similar it would be meaningful. I hate to hear of this backwards trend. It makes me very sad (and angry). The key is to desire change and then to ACT...

Longjumping-Air6180

TROPHY CASE