Beloveds,

Northern Minnesota is abuzz with organizing energy! From election phone-banking to registering voters to pipeline resistance actions to racial and environmental justice initiatives, it's a busy time but we are focused, centered, and leading and learning with love. 

Our Being a Good Relative online course, a collaboration between MUUSJA, UUSC, and the UU Congregation of Duluth, kicks off on October 15 and runs on Thursday evenings at 6:30 pm through November 12. This learning series explores  the intersections of environmental justice, indigenous sovereignty, and UU principles. Over this 5 week series, we'll explore the U.S. history of genocide and erasure and support the ongoing call for Indigenous Sovereignty. This series is an opportunity for Northern Minnesota UU congregations, as well as clergy and key liaisons across our region, to connect, learn, strategize, act, and learn how to be a good relative.

To register click here: https://uusc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Z8VIDmHSRa6gE-QbRKuPcw

Plans are also underway to develop a series of plant walks and related art activities along the corridor of the proposed Line 3 oil pipeline, led by Indigenous and other local knowledge keepers. These walks and companion art workshops will focus on stories and relationships with land and plant life across culture, with special emphasis on the relationships and stories of Anishinaabe people, and the ongoing resistance to extraction and colonial violence. Please stay tuned for details as our planning takes shape. 

The leaves are at peak on the shores of Lake Superior and along the banks of the headwaters. May we ever ground ourselves in these waters, the sacred land, and the history that connects us to them.

With hope, love, and solidarity,

Katie Kline, MUUSJA Northern Regional Organizer

#UUtheVote in Minnesota and the Dakotas

     #UUtheVOTE CARD & LETTER WRITERS: 

Reclaim Our Vote postcards should all be in the mail now (with a September 30 mailing date targeted). If you have any cards or stamps left over, please let Karen know (email director@muusja.org). 

VoteForward Letters should be mailed October 17th (or Monday the 19th if your post office isn't open Saturday!)  Here's a handy FAQ about mailing the letters but in general, just take them to any post office or mailbox.

     ONE RINGY-DINGY.... TWO RINGY-DINGY:

This SLIDE DECK FOR PHONE BANK TRAINING which Karen made for UUA phone banks will walk you through the process that most UUA and many other phonebanks use.  Check the calendar at www.muusja.org/Events for links to make calls with national #UUtheVote partners. We are in conversation with our partners at MN Voice/We Vote to organize a better system for joining calls to under-represented Minnesota voters, as a group; right now, folks can sign on individually, and we can help your congregation or local interfaith group create a simultaneous Zoom or Google meeting to support one another. 

We encourage you to pull together a small team of people who are willing to try! It doesn't require extraversion or great technical expertise... All it requires is conviction and commitment, and a willingness to tolerate that initial awkwardness. It's a lot like learning to ride a 2-wheeled bicycle -- you just keep trying till you hit your balance point, and then it feels like flying.  If your congregation or social action team can pick a date & time, and get 3 leaders to commit to participate and recruit others, we will do whatever we can help you make it happen.

     TEXT YOUR HEART OUT! 

Check out the Text Bank links from our partner "When We All Vote" -- these are great for an introverted solo activity because there is no group Zoom, you just watch the video and download the OutVote app at https://www.whenweallvote.org/texting/  and then hop on one of the Tuesday, Thursday, or other days... There also are texting opportunities with MNIPL or Reclaim Our Vote (see the calendar for details), and a few with #UUtheVote. We are not aware of any Minnesota-specific texting at this time that is nonpartisan.... Because each volunteer reaches 1000 voters per hour with computer-assisted texting, that works best on a national level rather than in smaller regions. 

To text your own friends and relations, it's not too late to download and use Empower, just get the phone app from https://web2.getempower.com/signup/muusja  and check with Allison at awmuusja@gmail.com if you need some help! 

Protect the Vote & Election Defenders: 866-OUR-VOTE is the hotline!

Ranting about rampant "voter fraud" is bogus, but concerns about inappropriate or even illegal interference with voting are warranted, based on recent experience in other states.  Several organizations (including Common Cause, Frontline, the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights, and the National Lawyers' Guild) have created online training with opportunities for anyone to protect free and fair elections. Some actions can be done from home whereas others involve in-person engagement. LAWYERS AND PEOPLE WITH SOME LEGAL TRAINING ARE ESPECIALLY NEEDED, AS ARE ALL MULTI-LINGUAL PEOPLE. Check out protectthevote.net to learn more and sign up, or come to our meeting on Tuesday evening, 10/3/2020, to hear more about what's happening around election protection in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

Meanwhile, some GOOD NEWS is that all of the polling places around Minnesota and our Dakota cities have enough election judges and pollworkers now! A few sites are still working with the political parties to balance their representation.

To join the Tuesday 6pm Central Zoom meeting, click here. 

Meeting ID: 835 1415 4364

Passcode: 160781

You are doing AMAZING work!! We started out with a goal of mailing 10,000 postcards... and we are mailing over 20,000 cards and letters to voters in the embattled states of Georgia, Texas, and Florida. We gather as over 200 volunteers from 20 congregations stretching from Fargo to Rochester, Duluth to Mankato, Willmar to Saint Paul, Mesabi to Minneapolis....  

For Love. With Love. 

In faith and solidarity,

Karen Wills, Executive Director

Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser