I spent last week in coastal Georgia and South Carolina, on my third Living Legacy Pilgrimage to visit sites connected to the Civil Rights Movement and to learn from people directly connected to that history.

Speaker after speaker talked about the importance of doing the work in community, because none of us can do it alone.

All day today, in between meetings, I watched fragments of Senator Cory Booker’s record-setting 25 hour, 4 minute speech protesting the current administration and calling his colleagues and all of us to action. He did not do that alone—his staff prepared ten binders of information organized by topic for his use, and his senatorial colleagues gave him periods of respite by asking questions with lots of background context.

Watching even fragments of Senator Booker’s speech on the heels of a powerful Civil Rights pilgrimage reinforced another of my learnings from the trip: the lessons of what is often referred to as “the Civil Rights era” are still relevant today. Many of our speakers spoke about their grief at the backsliding away from the rights gained 60 years ago; they also spoke of the need for us to keep working for those rights now.

In this week’s “Good Trouble Calls to Action” later in this newsletter, you’ll find information about rallies on Saturday in both St. Paul and St. Peter. Showing up at events like these is one way we the people can work for change. I’ll be at the one in St. Paul, and know of at least two UUFM congregants also planning to be there. I hope more of you will join us, or attend the St. Peter rally.

In gratitude,

Rev. Diana