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Dear Justice-Seeker,

This issue of MFSAVoices is jam-packed with resources and information. So much so that it won't all fit in your email message so be sure to click view entire message at the bottom of this email to view the entire issue. Our newsletters are designed to be used all month long. So take a quick glance and take note of important dates to add to your calendar but also come back in the following weeks to work your way through the action items. 

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We continue to see the urgency of our work to make broad systemic change. Change that honors the dignity and worth of all people, puts people over money, and honors the earth and all her inhabitants. COVID-19 continues to highlight the inequities in our society that has literal life or death consequences. Since 1907, MFSA has been shining a light on injustice and organizing to change it. 

You make our collective work possible by your witness for justice every day in your church, community, and Annual Conference. MFSA does not receive any financial support from the United Methodist Church's giving channels. 100% of our budget is funded through your membership dues and your generosity in giving.

All Saints' Day

We mourn those we have lost.
Grant us the wisdom and courage to honor them
by living lives of faith, hope, justice, and love.

MFSA Demographic Survey

For the last two years, Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) has partnered with Crossroads Antiracism Organizing & Training to conduct a racism audit of our culture, policies, and practices. The aim of the audit is to identify the ways MSFA upholds racism and racial inequity despite its commitments to racial justice. This survey is a very important piece of this process. The results of this survey will assist the MFSA Audit Team to finalize their analysis of the culture, policies and practices of the organization and to formulate a plan of action.

Completing this survey is voluntary. You can choose to not answer specific questions except for providing your email and your racial identification. In order to be considered we invite you to answer several demographic questions. We will use this information to be sure that the second phase of the survey includes a representative sample of our community. This information is confidential and will not be used or reported in a way that would allow individuals to be identified.

We appreciate and thank you for your engagement as MFSA works to become an organization where racial justice is a reality. We ask that you complete this form by Monday Nov. 8, 2021. This survey will take approximately 3 mins.

Thank you!

Racial Audit Team Reflection

When the MFSA Board voted to undertake a racial audit process, I offered my name as a potential team member from the MFSA board. I perceived this process to be important work for MFSA to undertake and felt that God was asking me to step up and volunteer. I knew from the beginning that there would be hard work ahead of us – tough questions to ask and even tougher answers to receive, an extended time commitment, and a willingness to make significant changes. I have since learned that I really didn’t know what that meant.

The process has taken longer than we expected, and we have dug deep into the culture and work of MFSA. That digging deep reminds me of removing a sliver from a finger. It is necessary to remove that sliver before it gets infected and causes more pain/harm. Sometimes that means digging deeper than you really want to in order to get it out. The digging deep causes some necessary pain. The digging deep into the culture and practices of MFSA has caused some necessary pain.

I think we all went into this audit process with an understanding that there is racism in MFSA. We have dug deep to find the places/causes of that racism and to figure out how to get it out to prevent further harm. So far, we have used two different tools to explore MFSA and its history. We have not liked some of the things that we have found. We have experienced a wide range of emotions and recognized the need to make changes for the better. We have identified ways in which white power and control have harmed others; and we have acknowledged our responsibility to change our system. 

Changing the system also means changing ourselves as individuals. It means recognizing our own individual racism. It means acknowledging that we still have lots of work to do. It means identifying who has been left out and learning to work alongside people who have previously been excluded. 

It also means creating a new way of doing and being that is more inclusive and listens more carefully to all voices and creates a much more diverse leadership base.

We aren’t done with the audit process yet. The next step, which we have been working on for several weeks, is creating a survey to find out how others perceive and experience MFSA. An effective audit requires us to look deeply at who MFSA is internally and how it functions externally with others. The survey will gather the input of many people to truly give us a realistic look at ourselves as an organization.

Once we have analyzed the survey results, the hard work of making recommendations to the board will happen. Throughout all this work, we have been blessed to have Crossroads working with us and helping us to dig a little deeper. 

Living out our mission means being willing to make changes and we invite you, as a fellow justice seeker, to help us. Fill out your survey when it arrives and together we will make changes for the better. For God calls all of us to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with God.

Giving Tuesday 2021

MFSA has once again joined #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving that harnesses the collective power of individuals, communities, and organizations to encourage giving and to celebrate generosity worldwide. Giving Tuesday, a follow-up day to major shopping days Black Friday and Cyber Monday, is an opportunity to kick off the holiday season with generosity. Save the date November 30, 2021 for #GivingTuesday2021

This year we have a match goal. All gifts given via FB fundraiser or via check with Giving Tuesday in the memo will go towards the match. More info to come.

Upcoming UMKR Webinar

Sister Cities with Palestine: Activism that Challenges the Narrative

Save the date for the next MFSA and United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR) webinar Wednesday November 10, 2021 at 1PM ET on the Sister Cities program and how it can be used to foster greater understanding of Palestine and Palestinians and be used as a tool for advocacy. Special guests are Youssef Elzein and Essrea Cherin, from Boulder, Colorado and Dayton, Ohio respectively. Both have wisdom to share about the benefits of this international exchange of ideas and perspectives as well as practical tips about how to make it happen. 

Boycott Wendy's Week of Action 
November 15-21, 2021

Mark your calendars for Boycott Wendy's Week of Action this month Nov 15-21. Wendy's still refuses to join the Fair Food Program, leaving farmworkers in its supply chain vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

Sign up for Coalition of Immokalee Workers Fair Food mailing list to receive virtual daily actions that you can do to increase the pressure of the Wendy's Boycott. 

Save the Date: Stealing the Earth Part 3 

Save the date for part three in Stealing the Earth webinar series: "Pervasive & Self-Perpetuating: The Continuous Falsifying of Narratives" December 8, 2021. Keep your eyes out for more information on speakers and registration coming out later this month. 

Watch the the latest webinar in our Doctrine of Discovery series titled, "Stealing the Earth Part 2: 'Whose Land?' The Doctrinal Legitimization and Theft of the People’s Land" sponsored by MFSA, Native American International Caucus (NAIC), and United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR). 

Texas Impact Courts and Ports

Courts & Ports: Faithful Witness on the Texas-Mexico Border  is a two day immersion experience designed for people of faith to explore immigration justice issues in South Texas. Participants experience first-hand, the legal and law enforcement processes related to immigration, detention, and deportation occurring in South Texas. Through interactions with policy experts, law enforcement officials, volunteers, and asylum seekers, participants gain an understanding of the challenges migrants and public servants face at the Texas-Mexico border.

Now's the Time for Action

Here are a few ways you can seek justice and work for broad systemic change:

1. Sign up for Coalition of Immokalee Workers Fair Food mailing list to receive virtual daily actions that you can do to increase the pressure of the Wendy's Boycott. 
2. Contact your members of Congress and tell them to stop the use of Title 42 policy to deny Haitian migrants' rights to seek asylum, restore asylum protections, and stop all deportation flights and expulsions to Haiti.
3. Urge your members of Congress to co-sponsor HR 2590: Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act. 
4. Call your representatives and Senators and tell them to pass the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act. 
5. Join the #WelcomeWithDignity movement by signing the pledge to reimagine the way our country and our communities treat people seeking safety.
6. Contact your Senators and Representatives to pass common sense legislation that saves the lives of farm workers like the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act.
7. In solidarity, join workers demanding $15/hr and tell McDonald’s to raise wages now.
8. Check out what military acquired by your local law enforcement, and sign the petition to demanding more police transparency.
9. Contact your elected officials and demand Congress cut funding for ICE and CBP and defund hate.
10. Tell your Member of Congress to support the Accessible, Affordable Internet for All (AAIA) Act, an act that can help bridge the digital divide that disproportionately impacts Black, Latinx, Indigenous, rural, or low-income people.
11. Write to the leadership of the township of Fairfield, CT to contact Sturm Ruger, the largest firearm manufacturer in the United States with headquarters in Fairfield, and demand the company suspend weapon and bullet sales to Israel.
12. Tell President Biden and Vice President Harris to hold Israel accountable to its obligations as an occupying power and insist that Israel provide COVID-19 vaccines equally and fairly to Palestinians living under its occupation.
13. Contact your elected officials to take an intersectional response to the incidents of AAPI hate and to center the needs of those most impacted, Asian American women and elders.
14. Check the State Voting Bills Tracker to find out if your state lawmakers have introduced one of the 253 bills aimed at suppressing voting rights, and contact your state lawmakers to demand they support voting rights.
15. Sign the petition and tell Congress to abolish the federal death penalty.
16. Has your country signed on to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons?  Contact your elected officials to support the end of nuclear weapons in the world.
17. Check out the BDS Toolkit and learn what economic actions you can take to fight along the side of Palestinians and their struggle.
18. Manufacturing in an illegal Israeli settlement is a war crime.  Tell General Mills to stop making Pillsbury products on stolen Palestinian land by signing the petition, sending an email to the CEO, and #BoycottPillsbury.
19. Write a letter and join the grassroots organizing for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants.
20. Sign the petition and join Palestinian Cry for Hope: a Call to Decisive Action, a global movement set by Kairos Response that "rouses churches to action and awakens civil society to the reality of Palestinian suffering."
21. Take free online university courses on systemic racism.
22. Host a virtual Card Writing Party to write and mail letters to immigrants in detention via The Casa Mariposa Detention Visitation Program.
23. Call your legislators (202-224-3121) and advocate for permanent federal paid sick leave, expanded unemployment benefits, SNAP increases, and a moratorium on evictions, utility shut-offs, and payments. 

In Case You Missed It

1. Watch the second webinar in the Stealing the Earth series: "Whose Land?” The Doctrinal Legitimization and Theft of the People’s Land
2. Access the latest webinar and resources from MFSA and UMKR's webinar "Black-Palestinian Solidarity"