On this Anniversary of August 11-12 2017, I am braced for the burgeoning assault on Democracy. 

We can overcome this horror, but, will we?

Will we lay aside fear and privilege and class and economic and social status, tribal allegiances and plain old human greed to allow the safe, live birth of the necessary next phase of this republic? 

The Civil War is still being adjudicated here--we know this is so because all roads from that time to the January 6 insurrection to Charlottesville's Summer of Hate, to tRump’s current occupation of Washington, DC are all living proof that America's original sin still and always muddies the waters of our collective life. 

Jim Crow and the Klu Klux Klan could not have existed in a country whose people really believed that all people are created equal. 
Could not happen in a country whose people really trusted in GOD (however GOD is called). 
Would immediately be recognized as the hypocrisy of white nationalism posing as Christianity when it is really apostasy, in a democracy of the people, for the people, by the people.

On this Anniversary of our Summer of Hate, the time is fast approaching when we will not be able to stop the devastation of the death of Democracy.  All that is necessary to kill America, this dream, is for good people to continue to do nothing.

As Bishop Vashti McKenzie reminds us, sin isn't just what we do.  It's what we allow. 

Will we allow this cruel, insanity coming from the White House, resonating in the souls of a portion of the country's populous who are so afraid of being outnumbered by what were once "minority" populations that they are choosing the nihilism of burning it all down rather than seeing what can happen in an actual society where all people are created equal and therefore treated as equals?

No one is going to save us but us.

-Brenda Brown-Grooms
President, Charlottesville Clergy Collective

Dear Representative McGuire, and Senators Kaine and Warner: 
 
We are members of the Charlottesville Clergy Collective, a community of over ten different faith traditions. We are citizens of Virginia. We write to demand due diligence and action on your part to address the following:
 
On the day of President Trump’s inauguration, he signed an executive order, directing Kristi Noem (DHS Secretary) and Pete Hegseth (Defense Secretary) to compile a report in 90 days that includes “…recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.” 
 
That 90-day mark is April 20, 2025. We and our congregations are well aware that Mr. Trump may decide to invoke that Insurrection Act, a rarely used law that allows a President to declare martial law under extraordinary circumstances to replace a civilian government by military rule, and civilian legal processes by military powers.
 
Although none of this has happened yet, recent history suggests the real possibility that this President, with complicit Representatives, Senators, and Supreme Court Justices, may well declare martial law for his own ego and bank account, rather than any actual emergency. Such an unconstitutional abuse of power would be the final step in replacing our democracy with an authoritarian state. Under our Constitution, the government must be motivated by truth and justice and not hatred, prejudice, malice, or caprice.
 
The time to act is now. The time to enforce our constitutional protections is now. It is past time for you, our elected officials, to stop this unconstitutional power grab and to start REPRESENTING US. Not to speak out and stand for the people who voted you into office at this time is to be complicit in the destruction of our democracy. 
 
We demand that you perform due diligence, both as elected officials and as citizens of the United States of America, to 

1. Use your platform to make sure that all of your constituents know that invoking the Insurrection Act for a non-existent emergency crisis is a profound abuse of power.
2. Use your platform to challenge – at every level – this abuse of power.

 
We implore you to summon your courage to protect our democracy. Work on our behalf to make America possible again.
 
Signed,
 
Pastor Brenda Brown-Grooms, New Beginnings Christian Community
Apostle Sarah A. Kelley, Faith, Hope, and Love In’tl Healing and Deliverance Center
Rev. Leia Durland-Jones, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Rev. Karen Mann, Sojourners United Church of Christ
Rev. Eugene Locke, Westminster Presbyterian Church
Rev. Susan Karlson, retired minister, member of Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Joyce Hillstrom, Charlottesville Friends’ Meeting (Quaker)
Karen Boyle. Catholic
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Emrey, American Baptist Churches, USA
Richard Lord, Activists Guide
Rev. Liz Forney, First Presbyterian Church
Dorothy Smith, Presbyterian
Rev. Michael Cheuk, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Rosemary Gould, Charlottesville Friends Meeting (Quaker)
Alvin Mirmelstein, Church of the Incarnation (Catholic)
Beverly Mirmelstein, Church of the Incarnation (Catholic)
Rev. Don Lansky, Unity (retired)
Rev. Karen Lewis Foley, retired Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Sharon Beckman-Brindley, Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Douglas Reed, Charlottesville Religious Society of Friends
Deborah Reed    , Methodist
Jean Thorburn   , Charlottesville Friends (Quaker)
Susan Kaufman, Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Anne Spanos, Ivy Creek UMC
David K Garty, Westminster PCUSA
Rev. James Hassmer, Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church
James Webb, Charlottesville Friends Meeting
Mary Johns, Westminster Presbyterian Church
Bethany Cok, Sojourners United Church of Christ
Laura S. DeVault, Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
The Rev. Carol Carruthers Sims, Episcopal Priest
Hal Brindley III , Buddhist
The Rev. Sandra Wisco, Lutheran (ELCA)
Diana Brawley, Westminster Presbyterian Church
Shirley Fleishman, Unity Church of Charlottesville
Pam Marraccini, Cloud Floating Free Sangha
The Rev. Hillary T. West, Episcopal priest, Diocese of Virginia
Chris Stockwell/Goering, United Church of Christ
Deacon Don Gathers First Baptist Church West Main Street,  Charlottesville
Rev. Dr. James Bundy, United Church of Christ, retired
Harry Kennon, United Methodist Pastor (retired)
Rev Ellen Longmoore, Unitarian Universalist
Julie Gottschalk, Christian values
Cindy Poots Remington, Charlottesville First United Methodist Church
Rev. Seido David Auble, Upaya Zen Center
Diana Boeke, Orthodox Christian
Marty Miles Paciocco, Crozet UMC
Rev. Patricia Barth, Retired United Church of Christ, member of Sojourner’s UCC
Peter Thompson, n/a
Katherine Canter, Charlottesville First United Methodist Church
Pat Lloyd, NA
Shirl Pohl, Unitarian Universalist
Ellen M Dudley, Episcopalian
Barbara Maille, Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Rev. Gary Hatter, Waddell Memorial Presbyterian Church

At our CCC meeting yesterday, we honored outgoing president Apostle Sarah Kelley.

Apostle Kelley, thank you for your leadership these past two years.

​We love you!

​

​We, the undersigned members of the Charlottesville Clergy Collective, are deeply troubled by the rising antisemitism in our country and in our community.
 
Jews have faced, endured and suffered from antisemitism for over two thousand years, based in part on the desire of some Christians to marginalize Judaism, and manipulated in modern times by political movements of every sort in order to divide people from one another and to gain followers or advantage. It consists of several different stereotypes, generalizations, and stories about Jews, including malicious conspiracy theories that have been used and re-used at different times in history.
 
Antisemitism is part of the machinery of division and fear used by some politicians and by those who seek to create a country that is only for themselves or others like them, as we witnessed in our town in 2017. But whether they manufacture fear based on our religion, our skin color, our culture, or how long we’ve been here in this country, their goal is to keep us from working together to win the unified common humanity we all need to thrive. 
 
The Charlottesville Clergy Collective is an interfaith community of prayer, solidarity and impact that seeks to establish and promote justice and equity in the Charlottesville/Albemarle region. We are aware that anti-Semitic speech and ideas can quickly lead to anti-Semitic violence. We invite people in our community to look inward at our own implicit and explicit biases against Jews and Judaism and to learn how antisemitic tropes are expressed and circulated in our communities. In order to resist and speak out against this hate, we must speak up for the respect and dignity for our Jewish sisters and brothers. 
 
For those who want to learn more, we refer you to the following: 
https://truah.org/antisemitism
https://files.integrityfirstforamerica.org/14228/1611248500-832-1-expert-report-of-d-lipstadt.pdf
 
Signed:
 
Apostle Sarah A. Kelley - Faith, Hope and Love Int’l Healing and Deliverance Center
B. Cass Bailey - Trinity Episcopal Church
Carol Sims - Trinity Episcopal Church
Cynthia Power - Charlottesville Friends Meeting
Derrick Stone  - Bahá'ís of Albemarle County
Dr. David K. Garth - Retired Presbyterian Minister
Gary Hatter - Meadows Presbyterian Church
Karen Lewis Foley - Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Karen Mann - Sojourners UCC
Laura DeVault - Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Michael Cheuk - Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Mildred Best - Mount Zion First African Baptist Church
Pam Marraccini - Cloud Floating Free Sangha
Pastor Brenda Brown-Grooms - New Beginnings Christian Community
Rabia Povich - Charlottesville Inayatiyya Community
Rev. Alex Joyner - First United Methodist & Hinton Ave. United Methodist
Rev. Carol C. Sims - Trinity Episcopal Church
Rev. Don Lansky - Unity of Charlottesville
Rev. Dorothy Piatt-Esguerra - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville
Rev. Dr. Alvin Edwards - Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church
Rev. Dr. Elizabeth Emrey - New Beginnings Christian Community
Rev. Ellen Longmoore - Universalist Unitarian Association
Rev. Eugene T. Locke, D.Min. - Westminster Presbyterian Church
Rev. Hillary West - Episcopal Church
Rev. Liz Hulme Adam - Tabor Presbyterian Church
Rev. Sandra Wisco - Lutheran, ELCA
Rev. Seth Lovell - Olivet Presbyterian Church
Rev. Tim Temerson - Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Richard Lord - Activists’ Guide
Sharon Beckman-Brindley - Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Susan Kaufman - Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Susan Steinberg - Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Will Brown - Baptist
Adam Slate - Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Gayle Jessup White - Non-affiliated​

​To Emily Webb, Aimee Guidera, VA State Superintendent, and the VA Board of Education:
 
Please work to support the merged history standards for Virginia K - 12 classes that were developed and proposed by the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium. It is important that all children in Virginia receive balanced, updated and accurate information about all communities, including those who have historically been mischaracterized, marginalized or ignored.
 
Signed,
 
Apostle Sarah Kelley - Faith, Hope and Love Int’l Healing and Deliverance Center
Rev. Dr. Alvin Edwards - Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church
Rev. Michael Cheuk - Cooperative Baptist Fellowship
Rabbi Daniel S. Alexander - Congregation Beth Israel, Charlottesville
Gene Locke - Parish Associate, Westminster Presbyterian Church
Gail Hyder Wiley - Elder, Westminster Presbyterian Church
Rev. Alex Joyner - First United Methodist & Hinton Ave. United Methodist
Adam Slate - Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Nancy O'Brien - Westminster Presbyterian
Dr. David K. Garth - Presbyterian Clergy, Retired
Rev. Dr. Jim Bundy - United Church of Christ, retired
Conner Brew - MVMNT Church, Charlottesville
Rev. Sandra Wisco - Retired pastor in the ELCA, Charlottesville
Mildred Best - Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church
Karen Lewis Foley - Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Sharon Beckman-Brindley - Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Laura DeVault - Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Rev. Don Lansky - Unity Charlottesville
Elizabeth Shillue - Charlottesville Friends Meeting
Zanne Macdonald - Westminster Presbyterian Church of Charlottesville
Deborah Rabia Povich - Inayatiyya Sufi Community of Charlottesville
Ellen Longmoore - Universalist Unitarian Association
Rev. Brenda Brown-Grooms - New Beginnings Christian Community
Dr. Elizabeth Emrey - New Beginnings Christian Community
Rev. Liz Hulme Adam - Tabor Presbyterian Church
Rev. Fritz Hudson - Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville
Pam Marraccini - Cloud Floating Free Sangha
Sam Heath - Anglican Church in North America
Rev. Dorothy Piatt-Esguerra - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville
Susan Kaufman - Insight Meditation Community of Charlottesville
Rev. Carol Sims - Trinity Episcopal Church
Cynthia Power - Charlottesville Friends Meeting
William Stewart - Lutheran (ELCA)
Tom Lambelet - All Souls Charlottesville
Diana Brawley - Westminster Presbyterian Church
Hillary West - Episcopal
Gayle Jessup  
​Maren Hange - Charlottesville Mennonite Church 

Originally posted November 13, 2022

While the deaths of UVA football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry have captured national and international attention, others in our community who have died or have been seriously injured by gun violence have gone unnoticed.

Let's not forget that a spate of shootings has struck Charlottesville recently and many of those cases remain unsolved. (October 18, 2022 Daily Progress article.) The families of these victims are also grieving and face continuing violence every day.

May we not forget these forgotten victims and their families.
May we find ways to comfort and care for them.
May we not demonize the perpetrators.
May we see with compassion that the perpetrator's family are also grieving and mourning.
​May we see with justice that we are embedded in an inequitable system that robs many people of hope.
May we fight to reduce the number of guns that make killing so easy and prevalent. 
May we pray for those who risk their lives daily to apprehend those who harm others.
May we pray for those who work hard to reduce violence in our neighborhoods.
May we pray for the helpers and healers in our community.
May God have mercy on us all. 
​

Photo credit: Michael Cheuk