Sujitno Sajuti has been freed!
But that’s not the whole story. Governor Malloy is considering including all of Connecticut in the Safe Communities program which allows people to be put into detention centers with no reason given, no recourse, no due process, and then often deporting them. And for us UUs, emphasis and action on this issue will be a big part of GA in Phoenix this year.
Please come Saturday to the Rally – Celebration – Fundraiser Saturday, February 25 at Grace Lutheran Church, 46 Woodland Street, 3-5 p.m., to begin thinking about how we in Connecticut can ensure that this doesn’t happen in our state.
There will also be great food from many ethnic communities!
For questions, call Nancy Parker, 860-643-0065
Read the Feb. 20th article from the CT Mirror on this topic:
“State Finds Fault with Immigration Crackdown Program.”
Inside and Outside Our UUS:East Walls
Jazz Funeral at the Hartford Courant
This morning Rev. Josh, along with members of the UUS:E Social Justice/Antiracism Committee attended the Jazz Funeral for the Hartford Courant’s janitors. The event was organized by the Hartford Organizing Group (HOG). Here’s Rev. Josh’s video rendition of the event:
Video of Jazz Funeral for Hartford Courant Janitors
Rev Josh, Polly Painter, Kate Kimmerle, Tom Robidoux, Al Benford, Anne Carr
Rev Josh has also written about the event here:
As I mentioned earlier in the week, the Courant is outsourcing its janitorial services. The result is that eight janitors who earn $13.50/hour with decent benefits are losing their jobs and being replaced by eight new janitors earning $8.50/hour with no benefits. The Courant will save about $100,000 annually. That might sound like a lot of money for a struggling newspaper, until one learns that senior Courant staff have received $42,000,000 in bonuses in recent years. I can’t help wondering why $41,900,000 wasn’t sufficient!
Looking at the big economic picture, the Hartford Courant really isn’t a big player. There are greater–and more disturbing– examples of corporate greed causing the disappearance of jobs that mean a lot, especially in poor communities like Hartford. Still, the Courant and its parent, the Tribune Company, could have handled this situation differently. 
They could have saved these eight moderately decent jobs, instead of “creating” eight new jobs on which nobody can realistically survive, let alone support a family. This is a perfect example of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This is a perfect example of why the wealth gap is increasing. This is a perfect example of why the 99% are so frustrated and angry.
The Courant could’ve chosen to behave in a civic-minded way. It has the resources to do so. It could’ve chosen to be sensitive to the economic needs of the community in which it is located. It could’ve chosen to behave in a patriotic way, doing its part to maintain viable jobs during challenging economic times. The Courant could’ve chosen to stand by its janitors. But it didn’t. And its choice is symptomatic of what is wrong with our nation. The American corporate community needs a revolution in its value system. The American corporate community needs to learn to hold itself more accountable to workers and their communities.
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Goals of the UUS:E Social Justice Committee:
One of our primary Social Justice Committee goals is to achieve a better balance between our advocacy and service work within the Greater Hartford community and our connective work within our own Unitarian Universalist Society: East community. We are accordingly working harder to listen and to respond to stories of our own members and friends. As a starting point, representative members of our Rainbow Alliance and Social Justice committees have been meeting together to determine how Unitarian Universalist Society: East can be an “additionally welcoming” place for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) members and friends. Rainbow Alliance and Social Justice will accordingly cosponsor an appropriate range of educational, legislative advocacy and relationship oriented activities. Some suggestions have been forums,movie nights and direct discussion opportunities (e.g., getting together in members’ homes). During our last meeting, we also discussed”radical communication” as a possible metaphor (e.g., more openly sharing our individual journeys and our resulting hopes and dreams).
Social Justice Committee
The Group’s/Committee’s Chairperson(s): Nancy Parker and Anne Carr
Contact the Chairperson(s) at: uuse153@sbcglobal.net. In subject line put: Social Justice Committee.
Mission of this Group/Committee:
“When people come together to work on social justice projects, they break the bonds of individualism and isolation that fragment communities. They make sacred space for one another. Together they explore the issues that tear at their hearts, and cause them concern for the future. The issue and the passion can only come from them. And, together, they partner with others to understand their place in the community, the gifts they bring to the community, and the hopes and dreams of others. Too many people think that spirituality and social justice are at opposite ends of the continuum, even polarized from one another. In truth, neither can be fulfilled without the other.” Rev. Jeanne Lloyd
The Social Justice Committee (SJC) fosters and focuses the passion for social justice among the members and friends of Unitarian Universalist Society: East by undertaking certain activities itself, and by providing an umbrella forum for the initiation, coordination and lifting up of social justice activities in other groups at Unitarian Universalist Society: East. In doing so, we cover the full spectrum of social justice work, including service (S), education (E), witness (W), advocacy (A), community organizing (CO) and transformation (T).
