UUSC calls for justice in DC: Day one

UUSC's Call for Justice Weekend is in full swing. We've had a huge attendance at our panel discussions and are looking forward to tomorrow's 6-hour Mock Trial, which, by the way, will be available to watch online within the next few days.

I came to DC primarily to help with videography, to edit photos, and to manage this blog. I filmed the panel discussions on torture, held all morning and afternoon, and can testify to the personal strength and integrity of torture survivors and others who spoke, as well as to the overwhelming sense of empowerment this interfaith initiative inspired in everyone present. From testimonies of terrible suffering came a unifying message of hope, faith, and the integral necessity for hands-on activism -- an activism based more on feelings than on intellect or impersonal politics. By this I mean that we were encouraged to become angry. As people who had come to hear the stories of torture survivors, their family members, educators, political activists and faith leaders, we had a right to be outraged, to be naturally upset by the atrocities these speakers have lived through as well as the crimes perpetrated by the U.S. administration, past and present.


The key is to turn this anger into a mobilizing inertia, from hopelessness and fear to understanding, unity, and power. What we were left with was the plea of every panelist to take their stories with us as we demonstrated in the street, as we wrote our members of Congress, even as we talked with neighbors or family members about politics and nationalism and torture and human dignity. Whether or not you made it to DC, your individual efforts matter in this collective struggle, and it's our responsibility as thinking Americans to stand up and audibly disagree with U.S. policy instead of sitting around feeling bad about the world.

During a break between panel discussions, many people attended the huge march to the White House. I walked with several UUSC staffers and volunteers and was amazed not only at the sheer number of people marching (I wouldn't be surprised if there were a half a million) but at the diversity of attendees -- babies, seniors, families, students, people of color, white people, Christians, Muslims, Americans, non-Americans, etc.


The other thing that struck me about this march was its feeling of positivity -- sure, it was an anti-war protest; there was an overwhelming anti-Bush sentiment -- but instead of outright resentment, many signs declared "Love your enemy", "Love eachother", and other faith-based and rights-based messages. It was a long but uplifting day. I feel like there very well might be some hope for this country after all.

Stay tuned for a full report on UUSC's Mock Trial after it happens tomorrow...