Who Are We?
Preached 9/1/2019 at SouthWest UU in N. Royalton OH
By Rev. Meg Mathieson
I’m going to start off today by quoting from another UU ministers sermon:
"Reflect on this: In the United States today the average Euro-American has a net worth of eighty thousand dollars. The average Hispano-American has a net worth of eight thousand dollars. (That’s a whole decimal point less!). The average Afro-American has a net worth of. . .six thousand dollars. We can complete Dr. King’s work on the racial injustice issue by fighting the other two evils he named. Poverty and war are issues of equity. Dorothy Day knew that when she worked with the poor, she was entertaining angels. The Dalai Lama has said, “Dangerous consequences will follow when politicians and rulers forget moral principles. Whether we believe in God or karma, ethics is the foundation of every religion.” And so our politicians have forgotten moral principles; and so dangerous consequences are following; and so the principles of Unitarian Universalism call us to action. Take action. Join UUSC, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and get information about the wage justice initiative.
"Join UUJEC—Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community—and learn more about what justice and equity can mean in action. Donate to the work of Unite Here. March with striking workers. When you stay in a hotel, ask management if the staff is unionized. And when the minimum wage bill comes back to Congress, insist that a raise in the minimum wage is not tied to a reduction in estate taxes, so that twenty-seven million Americans are not held hostage by the richest 8,000 Americans. We have a message for this nation and this world: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.
So may it be.”
Tomorrow is Labor Day. That can mean a lot of things: kids are going back to school, teens are going away to school, even if the school year doesn’t affect your household directly, you’ll have to plan to leave a little earlier in the morning for your daily commute, now that all of those school buses will be on the road.
The summer is over. Well, not really, not yet. The Autumnal Equinox is still a few weeks away.
But all the indicators of autumn have arrived: the days are cool and breezy, we are turning off our air conditioners and putting blankets back on our beds, leaves are beginning to fall, and Starbucks is advertising pumpkin everything.
Labor Day is a day when we generally don’t labor. Most of us have the day off of work or school, and it feels like this is our last chance to relax before the real work of the year begins.
Here at SWUU, we are gearing up for Ingathering and Water Communion next week, and the kick-off of the RE year the week after. Things are happening! The gears of life are turning.
I’m sure that this must hearken back to pre-industrialized days, when the cooling of the air meant that farming was about to get a little more difficult. It would have been the end of a bountiful summer, and people would have to begin to tighten their belts and plan for winter. There would be the labor of preparation: canning, jarring, winterizing the house, extra care for our animals.
But historically, Labor Day arose out of the industrial age. With industry came a need for a new set of laws: looking at the length of the workday, fair compensation, and a slew of human rights issues.
The issue I want to address today is the issue of not what or how, but who. Who are we? How do we define ourselves? Who is in and who is out? And, turning toward Labor Day, the question of who can work. The American Dream promises that anyone who works hard can achieve a comfortable life, but of course, we all know that is not true. George Carlin famously said that “It’s called the American Dream because You’d have to be asleep to believe it.”
Again, this is for many, many reasons.
“A thousand small sanities” is a new book by Adam Gopnik, a longtime New Yorker staff writer. The title refers to the plodding, incremental work of liberalism. To quote the author, “One central truth liberals know is that effective reform almost never happens as the result of big ideas sweeping through the world and revolutionizing life. Whenever we look at how the big problems got solved, it was rarely a big idea that solved them. It was the intercession of a thousand small sanities.”
We are reminded that liberalism is a grown-up idea, a slow-and-steady ideology. “A Thousand Small Sanities” defines liberalism as “an evolving political practice that makes the case for the necessity and possibility of (imperfectly) egalitarian social reform and ever greater (if not absolute) tolerance of human difference through reason and (mostly) unimpeded conversation, demonstration, and debate.” Most of the book is devoted to two chapters with opposing ideas. One is titled: “Why the right hates liberalism” and the other is “why the left hates liberalism.”
Because liberals move slowly, work together, and are inspired by compassion and science, this can be a bit boring for the right and the left. On the one hand, pragmatic, plodding change can never hold a candle to the flashiness of the right, where God inspires the people directly. How can our devotion to reason and equality ever compete with the “Word of God?”
On the other hand, extreme left-wing Marxist ideology, with its anarchy and burning rhetoric is frustrated by the comparative lethargy of liberalism.
The young, idealistic reader (I’m talking about myself) is left frustrated. (Anyone who borrows my book will see my frustration spread across the book in purple ink.) People are suffering now. What can we do right now?
Well, I listed a few things earlier, such as joining UUSC, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and UUJEC, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economy. Closer to home, there’s UU Justice Ohio and The Ohio Justice and Policy Center. There are so many ways to get involved. And I urge you to go home and look these things up. Get involved today if you aren’t already.
We are currently in a renaissance of memoirs published by the underprivileged and the oppressed activists in our midst. On my reading list is “When They Call You a Terrorist,” by one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter Movement, and “How to be less stupid about Race.”
“No Ashes in the Fire,” is such a book, written by Darnell Moore, an African-American gay man who grew up in a poverty-stricken part of New Jersey. No Ashes in the Fire gives us a window into the worlds that many of us middle-class liberal folks want to help and change but are at a loss as to how.
Mr. Moore eloquently paints a vivid picture of the complex structures in place that bully young impoverished black men, these structures that can be completely invisible to those of us outside of that world.
“No Ashes in the Fire” is a case study in intersectionality. It gives, not answers, but rather perspective, hope, and a direction. Yes, people suffer, but what can I do about it, Is the middle-to-upper class liberal’s constant lament. The answer, much like the definition of liberalism itself, is not an easy, flashy bumper-sticker worthy catchphrase. There is depth and complexity to the suffering that is happening in the United States today. So, there must be equal, if not more, depth and complexity to the solution.
Let’s phrase it this way: when we celebrate Labor day, whose labor are we celebrating? Who is in and who is out of the club of people who have access to the sort of labor that is promised by the American dream?
One group of people that has been publicly kicked out of the in-crowd has been transgender people in the military. Our president is actively working to disenfranchise all LGBT people in the workforce. But he doesn’t need to work very hard, or turn back the clock very far.
In Ohio, there are already no state-level protections for LGBT people from harassment and discrimination based on their gender presentation in public accommodations (restrooms, restaurants, malls and the like), schools or private workplaces or when obtaining housing or health care. This means that as an out lesbian, this congregation could vote today to fire me based on that fact alone and I would have no recourse. I can be denied healthcare, harassed, even assaulted and I have no recourse if it is on the basis of who I love and how I identify. There are some federal protections in place that might give me some hope, but those are fading fast, thanks to our current administration.
In the absence of such protective laws, high percentages of LGBT people in Ohio have reported harassment and discrimination. 74% of transgender people have reported mistreatment at work and an equal percentage reported harassment at school.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people calling for an ambulance have been denied care.
But I’m on a tangent. Let’s bring this back to the theme: who are we? Who are we covenanted to be? A caring, empathic, rational liberal people. And how is this related to Labor Day? Because we cannot stand by and watch the American Dream, the promise of fair compensation for a hard day’s work be denied to people based on pure bigotry and discrimination!
The lie of the American Dream is intersectional. It is classist, and cuts across gender, sexual orientation, and race.
Let’s talk about immigrants. About 11 million undocumented people live in the United States. We don’t say “illegal,” a human is not illegal. But 11 million undocumented. As many as 7 million are employed in some capacity; they generally work in construction, agriculture, service, health care and other critical industries. They pay billions into the Social Security system each year — helping to keep it solvent — and billions more in sales, property and other taxes.
Yet our nation does not offer them workplace protections, the minimum wage or other basic benefits. And here’s the thing: as many as 80 percent of undocumented workers have experienced wage theft — denial of overtime, payments of less than minimum wage or no payment at all.
80 percent wage theft. Imagine if you knew that you only had a 20 percent chance of being paid for the labor that you do? And what labor was that again? Construction, agriculture, service, health care… I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know.
The person picking your fruit, the person laying the foundation of a new school, the person caring for our elderly loved ones are suffering from little to no pay for their hard work, simply on the basis of bigotry.
Happy Labor Day. And the thing is, I really do hope that you have a happy Labor Day. I do. You deserve it. You work hard. I work hard.
Guilt alone doesn’t help anyone … unless it leads to action. Enjoy your privilege, but be aware of it as you enjoy it. Notice how you can help others with less privilege than you. We have forebearers to thank for the things that we are fortunate enough to take for granted today.
To quote another reverend, “We take for granted the eight-hour day, the minimum wage, child protection laws, sick days, paid vacation, retirement benefits, unemployment compensation, and OSHA laws. But it was the power of unions that brought these rights and protections to the workers of America. And workers of today, especially workers at the bottom of the wage scale, still need protection and advocacy.
‘Whose side are you on?’ was once a popular rallying cry of the labor movement… Religious traditions of all times and places tell us which side to be on, compassion and justice dictate that we stand with the poor and oppressed rather than the rich and powerful. Unitarian Universalism is a faith committed to democracy, to freedom and justice for all, and to the worth and dignity of every person. We must stand on the side of the worker.”
So on this day of where we are pausing to remember who we are as a loving, open, liberal community, a community that believes in change, who believes in change because we have seen it happen in our lifetimes! As we remember the workers and laborers from whose sweat we benefit, I’d like to leave you with a UU prayer,
On this day…when we rest from our Labor, may we honor our ancestors and all who have gone before. May we take the time to stop and just for a little while see ourselves in the awesome sacred arc of time. And know that we are a part of something grand. May we see that greatness in each other and finally remember to say to someone, “Thank you for the work that you do, I trust that you are doing your best to make the world a better place. And on this day, I celebrate you.”
Please turn to the person beside you and those around you and say “thank you!”
Preached 9/1/2019 at SouthWest UU in N. Royalton OH
By Rev. Meg Mathieson
I’m going to start off today by quoting from another UU ministers sermon:
"Reflect on this: In the United States today the average Euro-American has a net worth of eighty thousand dollars. The average Hispano-American has a net worth of eight thousand dollars. (That’s a whole decimal point less!). The average Afro-American has a net worth of. . .six thousand dollars. We can complete Dr. King’s work on the racial injustice issue by fighting the other two evils he named. Poverty and war are issues of equity. Dorothy Day knew that when she worked with the poor, she was entertaining angels. The Dalai Lama has said, “Dangerous consequences will follow when politicians and rulers forget moral principles. Whether we believe in God or karma, ethics is the foundation of every religion.” And so our politicians have forgotten moral principles; and so dangerous consequences are following; and so the principles of Unitarian Universalism call us to action. Take action. Join UUSC, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and get information about the wage justice initiative.
"Join UUJEC—Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community—and learn more about what justice and equity can mean in action. Donate to the work of Unite Here. March with striking workers. When you stay in a hotel, ask management if the staff is unionized. And when the minimum wage bill comes back to Congress, insist that a raise in the minimum wage is not tied to a reduction in estate taxes, so that twenty-seven million Americans are not held hostage by the richest 8,000 Americans. We have a message for this nation and this world: the inherent worth and dignity of every person; justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.
So may it be.”
Tomorrow is Labor Day. That can mean a lot of things: kids are going back to school, teens are going away to school, even if the school year doesn’t affect your household directly, you’ll have to plan to leave a little earlier in the morning for your daily commute, now that all of those school buses will be on the road.
The summer is over. Well, not really, not yet. The Autumnal Equinox is still a few weeks away.
But all the indicators of autumn have arrived: the days are cool and breezy, we are turning off our air conditioners and putting blankets back on our beds, leaves are beginning to fall, and Starbucks is advertising pumpkin everything.
Labor Day is a day when we generally don’t labor. Most of us have the day off of work or school, and it feels like this is our last chance to relax before the real work of the year begins.
Here at SWUU, we are gearing up for Ingathering and Water Communion next week, and the kick-off of the RE year the week after. Things are happening! The gears of life are turning.
I’m sure that this must hearken back to pre-industrialized days, when the cooling of the air meant that farming was about to get a little more difficult. It would have been the end of a bountiful summer, and people would have to begin to tighten their belts and plan for winter. There would be the labor of preparation: canning, jarring, winterizing the house, extra care for our animals.
But historically, Labor Day arose out of the industrial age. With industry came a need for a new set of laws: looking at the length of the workday, fair compensation, and a slew of human rights issues.
The issue I want to address today is the issue of not what or how, but who. Who are we? How do we define ourselves? Who is in and who is out? And, turning toward Labor Day, the question of who can work. The American Dream promises that anyone who works hard can achieve a comfortable life, but of course, we all know that is not true. George Carlin famously said that “It’s called the American Dream because You’d have to be asleep to believe it.”
Again, this is for many, many reasons.
“A thousand small sanities” is a new book by Adam Gopnik, a longtime New Yorker staff writer. The title refers to the plodding, incremental work of liberalism. To quote the author, “One central truth liberals know is that effective reform almost never happens as the result of big ideas sweeping through the world and revolutionizing life. Whenever we look at how the big problems got solved, it was rarely a big idea that solved them. It was the intercession of a thousand small sanities.”
We are reminded that liberalism is a grown-up idea, a slow-and-steady ideology. “A Thousand Small Sanities” defines liberalism as “an evolving political practice that makes the case for the necessity and possibility of (imperfectly) egalitarian social reform and ever greater (if not absolute) tolerance of human difference through reason and (mostly) unimpeded conversation, demonstration, and debate.” Most of the book is devoted to two chapters with opposing ideas. One is titled: “Why the right hates liberalism” and the other is “why the left hates liberalism.”
Because liberals move slowly, work together, and are inspired by compassion and science, this can be a bit boring for the right and the left. On the one hand, pragmatic, plodding change can never hold a candle to the flashiness of the right, where God inspires the people directly. How can our devotion to reason and equality ever compete with the “Word of God?”
On the other hand, extreme left-wing Marxist ideology, with its anarchy and burning rhetoric is frustrated by the comparative lethargy of liberalism.
The young, idealistic reader (I’m talking about myself) is left frustrated. (Anyone who borrows my book will see my frustration spread across the book in purple ink.) People are suffering now. What can we do right now?
Well, I listed a few things earlier, such as joining UUSC, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and UUJEC, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economy. Closer to home, there’s UU Justice Ohio and The Ohio Justice and Policy Center. There are so many ways to get involved. And I urge you to go home and look these things up. Get involved today if you aren’t already.
We are currently in a renaissance of memoirs published by the underprivileged and the oppressed activists in our midst. On my reading list is “When They Call You a Terrorist,” by one of the founders of the Black Lives Matter Movement, and “How to be less stupid about Race.”
“No Ashes in the Fire,” is such a book, written by Darnell Moore, an African-American gay man who grew up in a poverty-stricken part of New Jersey. No Ashes in the Fire gives us a window into the worlds that many of us middle-class liberal folks want to help and change but are at a loss as to how.
Mr. Moore eloquently paints a vivid picture of the complex structures in place that bully young impoverished black men, these structures that can be completely invisible to those of us outside of that world.
“No Ashes in the Fire” is a case study in intersectionality. It gives, not answers, but rather perspective, hope, and a direction. Yes, people suffer, but what can I do about it, Is the middle-to-upper class liberal’s constant lament. The answer, much like the definition of liberalism itself, is not an easy, flashy bumper-sticker worthy catchphrase. There is depth and complexity to the suffering that is happening in the United States today. So, there must be equal, if not more, depth and complexity to the solution.
Let’s phrase it this way: when we celebrate Labor day, whose labor are we celebrating? Who is in and who is out of the club of people who have access to the sort of labor that is promised by the American dream?
One group of people that has been publicly kicked out of the in-crowd has been transgender people in the military. Our president is actively working to disenfranchise all LGBT people in the workforce. But he doesn’t need to work very hard, or turn back the clock very far.
In Ohio, there are already no state-level protections for LGBT people from harassment and discrimination based on their gender presentation in public accommodations (restrooms, restaurants, malls and the like), schools or private workplaces or when obtaining housing or health care. This means that as an out lesbian, this congregation could vote today to fire me based on that fact alone and I would have no recourse. I can be denied healthcare, harassed, even assaulted and I have no recourse if it is on the basis of who I love and how I identify. There are some federal protections in place that might give me some hope, but those are fading fast, thanks to our current administration.
In the absence of such protective laws, high percentages of LGBT people in Ohio have reported harassment and discrimination. 74% of transgender people have reported mistreatment at work and an equal percentage reported harassment at school.
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people calling for an ambulance have been denied care.
But I’m on a tangent. Let’s bring this back to the theme: who are we? Who are we covenanted to be? A caring, empathic, rational liberal people. And how is this related to Labor Day? Because we cannot stand by and watch the American Dream, the promise of fair compensation for a hard day’s work be denied to people based on pure bigotry and discrimination!
The lie of the American Dream is intersectional. It is classist, and cuts across gender, sexual orientation, and race.
Let’s talk about immigrants. About 11 million undocumented people live in the United States. We don’t say “illegal,” a human is not illegal. But 11 million undocumented. As many as 7 million are employed in some capacity; they generally work in construction, agriculture, service, health care and other critical industries. They pay billions into the Social Security system each year — helping to keep it solvent — and billions more in sales, property and other taxes.
Yet our nation does not offer them workplace protections, the minimum wage or other basic benefits. And here’s the thing: as many as 80 percent of undocumented workers have experienced wage theft — denial of overtime, payments of less than minimum wage or no payment at all.
80 percent wage theft. Imagine if you knew that you only had a 20 percent chance of being paid for the labor that you do? And what labor was that again? Construction, agriculture, service, health care… I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know.
The person picking your fruit, the person laying the foundation of a new school, the person caring for our elderly loved ones are suffering from little to no pay for their hard work, simply on the basis of bigotry.
Happy Labor Day. And the thing is, I really do hope that you have a happy Labor Day. I do. You deserve it. You work hard. I work hard.
Guilt alone doesn’t help anyone … unless it leads to action. Enjoy your privilege, but be aware of it as you enjoy it. Notice how you can help others with less privilege than you. We have forebearers to thank for the things that we are fortunate enough to take for granted today.
To quote another reverend, “We take for granted the eight-hour day, the minimum wage, child protection laws, sick days, paid vacation, retirement benefits, unemployment compensation, and OSHA laws. But it was the power of unions that brought these rights and protections to the workers of America. And workers of today, especially workers at the bottom of the wage scale, still need protection and advocacy.
‘Whose side are you on?’ was once a popular rallying cry of the labor movement… Religious traditions of all times and places tell us which side to be on, compassion and justice dictate that we stand with the poor and oppressed rather than the rich and powerful. Unitarian Universalism is a faith committed to democracy, to freedom and justice for all, and to the worth and dignity of every person. We must stand on the side of the worker.”
So on this day of where we are pausing to remember who we are as a loving, open, liberal community, a community that believes in change, who believes in change because we have seen it happen in our lifetimes! As we remember the workers and laborers from whose sweat we benefit, I’d like to leave you with a UU prayer,
On this day…when we rest from our Labor, may we honor our ancestors and all who have gone before. May we take the time to stop and just for a little while see ourselves in the awesome sacred arc of time. And know that we are a part of something grand. May we see that greatness in each other and finally remember to say to someone, “Thank you for the work that you do, I trust that you are doing your best to make the world a better place. And on this day, I celebrate you.”
Please turn to the person beside you and those around you and say “thank you!”