Quote by adrienne maree brown in her book, Emergent Strategy:

“We are in an imagination battle. Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown and Renisha McBride and so many others are dead because, in some white imagination, they were dangerous. And that imagination is so respected that those who kill, based on an imagined, radicalized fear of Black people, are rarely held accountable.

Imagination has people thinking they can go from being poor to a millionaire as part of a shared American dream. Imagination turns Brown bombers into terrorists and white bombers into mentally ill victims. Imagination gives us borders, gives us superiority, gives us race as an indicator of ability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone else’s capability. I often feel I am trapped inside someone’ else’s imagination, and I must engage my own imagination in order to break free.”

As Unitarian Universalists, we are committed to a responsible search for truth and meaning, as stated in our Shared UU Value of Pluralism (and previously our 4th UU Principle). So, as we engage in a practice of imagination, we must discover the ways in which imagination can not only be beneficial, but also dangerous and harmful to other people. We currently live under an administration which is conjuring up a dangerous imagination amongst citizens of this country. This sort of imagination stirs up a fear which pulls us towards violence and the acceptance of violence towards other people, notably those with brown and black skin, LGBTQ+ people, and women. Our Shared UU Value of Equity holds the idea that was once in our 1st UU Principle: that every person is inherently worthy. A responsible search for truth and meaning must have us asking: if we partake in the fear-mongering imagination, are we upholding our value of Equity? I hope you see the answer as clearly as I do: no, definitely not.

Once we recognize this, we must form our imagination around the idea that every person is inherently worthy and ask ourselves: what should our treatment of immigrants, refugees, brown and black skinned citizens, LGBTQ+ people, as well as people who commit crimes look like? How can we build a country in which diversity is realized as a strength? How can we build systems of curiosity and respect? How can we ensure that democratic processes consistently show up in the decisions that are made about human beings-each person known to us as sacred? What sort of justice system, built upon our Shared Values and Universalist theology, can we imagine?

I hope brown’s quote and these questions help to stimulate your imagination and that you join the Side With Love Zoom call tonight so we can imagine together how to stop the deportations that are harming people, families and communities.