Justice Broadside
The Justice Broadside provides a compendium of area social justice events and actions of interest to First Unitarian. We are small in number, but we can add our voices to people of good will throughout the community to effect change.
Most recent Broadside:
First U Lou Socially Distanced Broadside
22-Oct-2020
Been a while. Been a bit busy. Things keep happening, computer crashes, photos that need to be taken. A lot of anger, a lot of love, a lot of hope.
NOW!!
Tonight the Louisville Metro Council is expected to hear and vote on an ordinance that would raise current LMPD policies, subject to change by any chief of police, to the level of a Metro ordinance. This would make more permanent the recent policies changes put in place after the murder of Breonna Taylor.
Read these two admittedly skimpy articles, then go to the third link to find and email your Metro Council representative your recommendation:
https://www.wave3.com/2020/10/
https://www.wave3.com/2020/10/
https://louisvilleky.gov/
Sanctuary
Remember when Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda on the steps of Notre Dame, climbs to the top of a tower and shouts “Sanctuary” while holding her? Well, First U’s several nights weren’t quite that cinematic, but they were oh so REAL! If you haven’t followed these events, check out:
https://apnews.com/article/
https://www.facebook.com/
Warning: There’s a lot of love and appreciation for First U on the Facebook pages, but there is also a lot of, keeping it polite, hate and lack of understanding.
Understand that the police sought a search warrant so they could enter the church late at night, seeking a few people who had been ejected from the church earlier and apparently torched a car a few blocks away. This was a church filled with scared people, some with weapons, legal in KY. Really smart crowd handling. The reaction of local clergy can be seen here:
https://dar-lcp.smugmug.com/
Breonna/Injustice Square
The square previously known as Jefferson Square is now the site of random feeding of people, a memorial to several murdered people, including Tyler Gerth, killed in the Square by a mentally unstable person who grabbed a gun from someone else. The planters in the Square were used to grow food, which has been harvested and donated to local kitchens. The Square may not look “suburban lawn” perfect. It looks a bit worn, a bit used. But it is Good Used, as in Good Trouble. Thank you John Lewis!
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/
There are frequent marches STARTING in the Square, such as the recent on to the YUM Center, so people could vote on the first day of this election season. There are frequent marches TO the Square, such as a bunch of young and old, white and black, people following a lawyer who draws cartoons from the Highlands Tyler Park to Breonna/Injustice Square to take a knee around the Breonna Memorial in a call for Justice!
https://dar-lcp.smugmug.com/
There are events happening TODAY at the Square:
https://www.facebook.com/
If you see a medic, or the medic van, wave! The medic probably was at First U during Sanctuary and is working out of First U.
The following is courtesy of Roger Ohlman!
Community Input Needed for Equitable Land Development Code
As First Unitarian’s response to racial justice evolves, congregants support of this more equitable Land Development Code (LDC) is encouraged.
The LDC is a set of rules that regulates development and what can be done with private property. Many elements within the LDC have not been revised since the early 1960s and continue to incorporate discriminatory policies first introduced in 1931. “While racist regulations remain on our books, we cannot fully move toward creating a more equitable city for our marginalized communities,” said Mayor Greg Fischer.
Residents’ feedback and suggestions are needed as Louisville Metro conducts a full-scale review of the Land Development Code (LDC) to identify and correct inequitable land use regulations and policies within the code. For historical background, proposed LCD, meeting times, and ways to comment click on this link https://louisvilleky.gov/
VOTE!!
Please, please vote. You may not like any particular candidate. But there are value judgements to be made. Ignoring values, ignoring responsibility is never a good thing.
Hopefully at some point in the future, life will return to the old normal. Until then …
Thanks for reading,
Del Ramey
First U Lou Justice Ministry
[email protected]
http://dar-lcp.smugmug.com/
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To subscribe and receive up to the minute updates of the Broadside, contact Del Ramey, First U Lou at [email protected]