{"id":21342,"date":"2019-12-18T21:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T02:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/?p=21342"},"modified":"2019-12-30T11:49:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T16:49:12","slug":"pat-behenna-on-amplifying-voices-at-the-margins-why-i-witness-with-uusj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/pat-behenna-on-amplifying-voices-at-the-margins-why-i-witness-with-uusj\/","title":{"rendered":"Pat Behenna on Amplifying Voices at the Margins (Why I Witness with UUSJ)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Pat Behenna<\/strong>,\u00a0member of Paint Branch UU Church, MD. Pat is a retired elementary school teacher and counselor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cShow me what Democracy looks like. This is what Democracy looks like.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This chant is often heard in nationwide protest rallies. I love it! It affirms that we Americans have freedom of speech, freedom to assemble and the right to urge our government to make changes. It also affirms our Unitarian Universalist principles of the use of the democratic process and the worth and dignity for all. I\u2019m proud to be on the board of Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, which actively works to promote and preserve these values.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, I joined members of UUSJ, the UU Service Committee and other organizations in protesting the administration\u2019s inhumane and unjust immigration policy that separates immigrant children from their parents and detains them in squalid conditions. We delivered petitions with more than 100,000 signatures to the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, calling for closing the largest for-profit children\u2019s detention center in Homestead, Fla. and reuniting children with their parents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our kick-off speaker was high school student <\/span>Alex Kohn<\/b>, UUSJ\u2019s <\/span>2019 Emerging Leader award- winner<\/b><\/a> and member of the UU Congregation of Columbia. Alex brought attention to the plight of immigrant children by displaying children\u2019s pajamas as part of his <\/span>Where are the Children?<\/b><\/a> campaign on\u00a0 the National Mall.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the way to the HHS office, we chanted, \u201cWhat does democracy look like?\u00a0 This is what democracy looks like!\u201d We also chanted \u201cRefugees under attack. Stand up. Fight Back.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In October, UUSJ Executive Director Pablo DeJesus<\/strong> and I joined activists protesting the administration\u2019s decision to cap the number of refugees annually admitted to the United States at 18,000, helping to ensure UUs are \u201cflanking the impacted.\u201d This is the lowest number in the history of the 1980 Refugee Act, which set average U.S. refugee admissions at 95,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marching to the Capitol, I carried a photo of a refugee and joined in chanting: \u201cSay it loud. Say it clear. Refugees are welcome here.\u201d It was important to be there as an UUSJ activist bearing witness.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the steps of the Capitol, police arrested 18 leaders of faith and humanitarian organizations such as the Church World Service and Amnesty International who refused to stay silent on the plight of refugees seeking safety in the U.S. Police handcuffed the leaders, put them in police vans and drove off.<\/span><\/p>\n

I also remember the Sunday morning at my church after the 2017 Women\u2019s March. Those of us who had attended the rally in Washington, D.C., were invited to continue our march at the beginning of the service. We held up our signs and walked around in the Meeting House at Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church. Those seated chanted \u201cShow me what Democracy looks like\u201d and we replied, \u201cThis is what Democracy looks like.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As I put on my yellow Side With Love shirt and join protests and marches, I\u2019m grateful to be part of UUSJ\u2019s social justice work. To me, \u201cThis is what Democracy looks like.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In gratitude,<\/span><\/p>\n

Pat Behenna<\/span><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>* Please consider making a donation to UUSJ to support our work into 2020 *<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pat Behenna<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>has been a member of the Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church (PBUUC in Adelphi, MD) since\u00a0 2013 She is a member of the UUSJ Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps and organizes Write Here! Write Now! events monthly. She is also the PBUUC representative to the UUSJ Board of Directors. She is a retired elementary school teacher and counselor. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cShow me what Democracy looks like. This is what Democracy looks like.\u201d\u00a0 This chant is often heard in nationwide protest rallies. I love it! It affirms that we Americans have freedom of speech, freedom to assemble and the right to urge our government to make changes. It also affirms our Unitarian Universalist principles of the … Continue reading Pat Behenna on Amplifying Voices at the Margins (Why I Witness with UUSJ)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,1241,93,1934,29,11,31,73,12,13,1952,14,335],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-civil-liberties","category-dc","category-democracy","category-economic-justice","category-health","category-human-rights","category-immigration","category-interfaith","category-politics","category-testimonials","category-volunteer","category-voting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21342"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21377,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21342\/revisions\/21377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}