National Guardsmen In Washington, DC
Dear Rev. Bond-Upson, Members of the Social Justice Committee and the Congregants of the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu,
I am a member of the All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington D.C. involved with the Reeb Project for Voting Rights (a non-partisan social action committee) at All Souls Church, working with the League of Women Voters of D.C. and UUs for Social Justice (UUSJ).
I’m reaching out to you because we need help from you and your congregation and the need is great right now! The Joint Task Force-DC reported on August 18th that National Guard troops posted in Washington, D.C.,are 4,440. These troops include units from 15 states (AL, AK, AR, FL, GA, HI*, ID, IA, LA*, MI*, MS, NV*, SC, WV, WY*) and 2 territories (P.R. and V.I.*). Those marked with an asterisk were sent specifically to support events marking the 250th anniversary through the end of August.
Our request: Would you and your congregants call their governor and ask them to bring their National Guard troops home right now?
This effort to militarize D.C. is costing all of us tax payers millions of dollars to have armed troops roaming our streets. This is not improving public safety and DC residents are not in support of their presence.
Here is the list and contact information of all the governors and links to their websites: https://www.nga.org/governors/
If they receive enough calls it can influence their actions. Calls are very effective because they know you took time to make them instead of just filling out a form for an email. Don’t worry if it is not perfect – proves you are a real person, not a lobbyist.
You may feel that neither you, nor your congregation, have the bandwidth to support another cause right now. But this affects safety and expenses in your state. If our UU faith means anything in moments like this, it’s that we show up for each other — especially when the democratic rights of an entire community are at stake.
Please contact Abbie Nelson (abbienelson@comcast.net) for questions or more information.
Thank you for your support in this matter,
