| I’m excited to see some of you face-to-face again at the end of this month when we return to a hybrid format!
Although living through a pandemic can be exhausting in its unpredictability, there are also new opportunities that come with everything being thoroughly shaken up. Everyone knows now that sometimes, big changes can happen rapidly. While everything is in flux, we have a new opportunity to create the community we always imagined, but have never quite brought into reality.
Rather than trying to go back to our old normal, what if we found a new normal that was even better?
What would it look like if we aimed for more than being “not racist,” for becoming truly anti-racist, and multicultural, as a community? What would it look like if we found ways to work together for justice in our community, as a whole congregation?
At our most recent Justice Action Ministry (JAM) meeting, multiple Focus Groups agreed to work together this spring on on voter registration. The primary this spring and election this fall will have a huge impact on every aspect of justice work in Ohio and the US – from racial justice and immigration, to environmental justice, to healthcare and women’s reproductive rights. We have a US Senator seat open, and the U.S. Congressional and Ohio House and Ohio Senate districts are in the process of being redrawn according to our amended state constitution. Our Ohio Supreme Court has continued to uphold the constitution’s requirement of fair, representative districts – and yet, Ohio continues to strike voters from the rolls whenever they miss voting in a few elections.
If our community joins others in Ohio to ensure that those who have been unjustly struck from the rolls can register, who knows what might change?
Thinking of you and wondering with you,
Amanda Hays
Justice Coordinator
amanda@firstuucolumbus.org
616-350-1409
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