Social Justice in Action

The Social Justice Council has been active.  We are happy to be able to welcome a few new members and would love to have more. This is an especially critical time to be fighting for justice.  Our meetings take place on the first Wednesday of every month at 5:00 p.m.  

 

There are announcements elsewhere about developing teams to support immigrants and LGBTQ folks.  These areas will likely be where the bulk of our energies will go.  The two teams will be functioning under the umbrella of SJC.  The UUCM minister and congregation president, along with some other clergy, met with the Meriden Chief of Police and Assistant Chief to discuss the Trust Act and how that would be enforced in Meriden.  The Trust Act is a Connecticut law that prevents local and state police from assisting ICE in enforcement actions except in a few specific instances.  The meeting was cordial and the Chief told us the department follows the letter of the law. Some members of SJC have participated in accompaniment and rapid response training and have participated in meetings with interfaith groups working on justice for immigrants.

 

A disappointing development was the closing, for now, of the Welcome Corps refugee settlement interfaith group.  We were part of this group and were supposed to be welcoming a family from Venezuela.  Unfortunately, all refugee resettlement has been stopped by the Trump administration so there is no further work that can be done at this time.  Another effort we are part of is "Laundry Love." This is an interfaith group working with the owner of a local laundromat to help people be able to afford to do their laundry there.  That group is getting organized and should be up and running soon.  Conditions at the housing apartments in town for elderly and disabled people were also discussed and more research is being done to see if improving conditions is something we might get involved with.