Books are often at the center of the HUUmanists booth in the Exhibit Hall at General Assembly. A couple of dozen Humanist titles most years – part of offering to our fellow liberal religionists, a wide spectrum of thought on issues of import to us. Read more about GA Booth 2012 in Phoenix »
Those who put together Justice GA (in which HUUmanists participated effectively and enthusiastically) urged all UUs to "Bring it Home," that is, to take the emphasis on Social justice from our week in Phoenix, and convert it to both serious study AND targeted action in our local groups and congregations. Read more about Justice is love and reason, in action »
On the last day of the 2012 General Assembly meeting all of the banned books smUUggled into Phoenix were donated to Librotraficante, to be used to launch Librotraficante’s fifth underground library, located at the office of the community organization Puente in Phoenix. And cash donated to the HUUmanists for Librotraficante was given to the project to buy more books.
Packing up books at the exhibition hall
A grand opening of the underground library at Puente was held on Sunday evening. The books were made available for lending. Thirty-six were borrowed in the first hour. John Hooper and Roger Brewin represented HUUmanists at the celebration, which included readings from the banned books by young people, skits, music, food, and poetry. Roger addressed the attendees and voiced the continued support of the underground library movement by HUUmanists Asscociation. Read more about Phoenix underground library opening »
Arizona has banned books used in teaching in Arizona public schools that advocate the overthrow of the government, which has been applied to ethnic studies in a devastating way. Arizona House Bill 2281 was created to prohibit teaching courses in Mexican American Studies, although it can be applied to any ethnic group. The Tucson school system closed the entire K through 12 Mexican American Studies program in order to comply with this bill, and removed some 83 books from the curriculum.
Many of the books banned were on the reading lists of teachers in the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson, and include such radical books as Thoreau’s Walden, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and books by celebrated authors such as Isabel Allende and Howard Zinn. Read more about smUUggler's project at GA »
The 2012 Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) “Justice” General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix was a very special one for UU Humanists. Our keynote presentation, our booth presence, and our annual meeting/reception were all clearly focused on the GA theme of Economic Justice.
Bill Murry provided a keynote address entitled “Economic Justice: A Moral Imperative for UU Humanists.”
Our booth in the exhibition area was organized around the theme of economic justice and was shared with the American Humanist Association, The Institute for Humanist Studies and several local social justice groups including the Secular Coalition for Arizona. A special issue of our journal, Religious Humanism, dedicated to the GA theme was available at the booth, along with other publications and membership opportunities. Read more about UUA General Assembly 2012 »
