RevCyn

In the wake of the verdict about the Trayvon Martin case, there are a lot of protests going on, and petitions calling for a civil rights case against George Zimmerman.  With all honesty, I think that George Zimmerman is innocent under the law.  And what we need to do now is channel this energy, this passion, and change those bad laws, state by state. Michigan is a "Stand Your Ground" state.  There have been rallies and protests going on in Detroit.  What we need to do is get this base mobilized to change these laws.  The Stand Your Ground laws perpetuate and exacerbate an already large problem of racial bias in our sentencing.  In states with Stand Your Ground laws, a new study has shown that whites who kill blacks are more likely to be found to be acting in self-defense than any other racial combination.  It's true in all states, but more so in Stand Your Ground states. The studies aren't as thorough as they could be -- they don't compare hom...

Yesterday at UU Planet , Peter Bowden wrote about how some churches were guilty of ignoring the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case.  He said, "If it is Summer, that’s no excuse.   CLERGY, if you serve a congregation you are responsible for making sure this happens while you’re on Summer vacation." I don't have a plan for how such things will be handled when I'm on vacation or study leave.  I was fortunate to be up and hear the news.  And, upon hearing it, decided that I needed to go to church, and after a little delay, realized that I needed to do something to address the verdict in the worship service, even though the worship service wasn't my responsibility directly that way.  Bowden is right, that it's always our responsibility, even when on summer vacation (or study leave).  We are responsible for the worship of the congregation, even when we're on leave. There's a question about where to draw the line in terms of current events that need to ...

Heartland Unitarian Universalist Ministers’ Statement on Trayvon Martin Case March 29, 2012 Unitarian Universalist ministers from the Heartland District (covering parts of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky) gathered in Lansing, Michigan today and, joining with our Florida colleagues , issued the following statement regarding last month’s tragic killing of Trayvon Martin in Central Florida. Whereas serious questions remain about the events of February 26 and the investigation into those events; and Whereas the public outrage surrounding this case is reflective of deeper issues in our society and the lived experience of many of its people of color; and Whereas these individual incidents are not isolated occurrences but rather are fueled by consistent messages of fear and division in our national and political discourse; and Whereas all people deserve the full blessings of justice, equity, and compassion in our society and in our justice system; We therefore call for a thor...

         I was deeply disturbed when Caylee Anthony went missing and mourned her death.  I know why, too.  She was of a similar age to my own daughter, and at least one person told me that Caylee reminded this person of my own daughter.  Caylee's big brown eyes, in particular, do have a resemblance.          I cried when I read about Christina Taylor Green , who was 9 years old when she died in the shootings in Tucson.  She, too, reminded me of my daughter, a precocious, politically-involved, brown-haired, brown-eyed girl.           I know why I mourned these little girls who, for a moment, caught our nation's attention.  They were innocent, beautiful, and gone too soon.  And they were in the media spotlight -- beautiful little girls -- white little girls.  Their deaths were horrible, outrageous, and made us sad and also furio...