Hundreds of UU’s are joining Indigenous peoples in northern Minnesota to stop the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.

Prepare, Before You Go FAQ for more info:  please see our FAQ sheet which includes a map, links to tentative schedule, and a lot of details you might want to know.  Step One: Sign up to come: Join the main Treaty People Gathering orientation and training session on June 1st at 7 pm — this should be your first priority if you have not already tuned in to previous trainings. And, be sure to sign up with the main TPG site so you are registered for the main events and will get updates if anything changes, at www.treatypeoplegathering.com  Step Two: Sign up to be with the multifaith delegation including UU’s, if you wish: To connect with UU’s coming from all over the country, and get updates from the multifaith delegation camp, you should ADDITIONALLY sign up ALSO with the multifaith delegation form. HERE.   Even if you’re camping elsewhere, you’re welcome to come visit Saturday & Monday evening at the multifaith basecamp. Step Three: Meet UU’s who are coming from across the country: If you have already attended one of the main Treaty People training/orientation sessions, Join MNIPL with MUUSJA and others on Tuesday, June 1st, at 7pm Central for an online intro to the multi-faith delegation camp, orientation and weekend logistics. There will be UU-specific break-outs at the end. If you miss this, you are welcome to gather with us late Saturday afternoon and Monday evening, at the multifaith delegation camp (at Northern Pines, see the FAQ for details), for grounding and orientation before the main events, and for debriefing after the actions on Monday, and planning ahead to next steps.  For background: Check out “Prepare to Care” and virtual tours of the Water Protector camps in MUUSJA’s video archive.

Can’t be there in person? Ask President Biden to Stop Line 3.   Join the livestream online virtual rally on Sunday, June 6th.  And donate to support Water Protectors who’ve put their lives on the line:

Donate to the new “THANK YOU, WATER PROTECTORS” fund:  As our attention is focused on Line 3, some water protectors friends, “Rattler” (Michael) and Dion, who’ve made phenomenal commitments still need our help and support. Please consider a direct donation, in any amount to thank two water protectors imprisoned for nonviolent direct action at Standing Rock to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline. Let them know they are not forgotten. See more information and links at https://muusja.salsalabs.org/tpg

Learning about and responding to the terrible knowledge of “Indian boarding schools” We write from Minnesota, the homeland of Dakota and Anishinaabe people, on stolen and unceded land. The world is learning more about the history of settler colonialism and genocide, including about boarding schools where religious and government institutions (including UU’s) forcibly separated Indigenous children from their families and kept them in often horrendous conditions. Becky Gonzalez-Campoy, Jess Landgraf, and others from Unity Church – Unitarian in Saint Paul consulted with Rev. Dr. Clyde Grubbs of the UUA and with the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. They shared this video from the NABS and this video of a forum at Unity by Jim Oberly, Emeritus Professor of History at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire  MUUSJA is grateful to be part of this amazing interdependent UU community. The multifaith, multicultural  gathering next weekend (in person!!) centering the water, land, and peoples of northern Minnesota, and the planned collaborations among many congregations for online summer services this year, both will be historic. Towards justice, carrying what we carry, holding the complicated identities we hold, with sorrow, and with joy. Karen Wills, Executive Director director@muusja.org  P.S. Deep thanks, once again, to all who contributed financially and/or by volunteering to help & share on social media, for our Spring Forward fundraising campaign and grant applications. We raised over one thousand dollars with thanks to 20 new donors in addition to our beloved longer-term sustainers. And we are tremendously grateful for generous grants from the UU Service Committee to support the work we all do together at Line 3, UU Funding Program for the racial justice forum, and First Universalist Foundation for PRIDE fest organizing. Thank you, social justice leaders and volunteers, for sustaining the MUUSJA community, of which we all are part.