Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire

Each year the Unitarian Universalist Office at the United Nations (UU@UN) hosts an Intergenerational Spring Seminar. The 2023 theme was Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire. The 2023 seminar was hosted both online and in-person in Minneapolis, MN at the First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis.

Logo of UU@UN 2023 Intergenerational Spring Seminar "Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire" Minneapolis and online, April 1-3

Keynote: Andrea Ritchie, Co-author of No More Police

We were honored to have Andrea Ritchie offer the keynote presentation at our 2023 Intergenerational Spring Seminar.

Andrea Ritchie is a Black lesbian immigrant survivor who has been documenting, organizing, advocating, litigating, and agitating around policing and criminalization of Black women, girls, trans, and gender nonconforming people for the past three decades. She is the author of Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color and co-author of Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States, and No More Police: A Case for Abolition .

She co-founded the Interrupting Criminalization initiative with Mariame Kaba, as well as the In Our Names Network, a network of over 20 organizations working to end police violence against Black women, girls, trans and gender nonconforming people. She currently hosts the Invest/Divest Learning Communities at the Community Resource Hub, and supports dozens of organizations across the US working to divest from policing and invest in community safety. She has authored numerous research reports, articles, and opinion pieces on policing, criminalization, mass incarceration and immigration enforcement.

Read more about Andrea Ritchie!

Seminar Programs

  • "ARTE & Abolition" hosted by Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario of Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE)
  • "Mass Incarceration" hosted by Josue Saldivar and Rebecca Richeimer of BorderLinks
  • George Floyd Square Pilgrimage led by George Floyd Global Memorial
  • "Abolition in a Rural Context" hosted by Rev. Kelli Clement of First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis
  • Global Solidarity Framing offered by Aimee Santos-Lyons
  • Theme Panel
    • Rachel Freed, UUSC VP and Lead Program Officer
    • Myra Dahgaypaw, UUSC Sr. Partnership Officer for International Justice & Accountability
    • Tony Lashden, a queer feminist activist resourcing and strengthening the feminist and LGBTQI+ movement in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus
    • Moderated by Rev. Alicia R. Forde, UUA International Office Director
  • "Abolition: What It Means & Where It Comes From" hosted by Rev. Jason Lydon of Second Unitarian Church of Chicago
  • "Healing Through Stories" hosted by Jim Bear Jacobs of Healing Minnesota Stories, Minnesota Council of Churches
  • "'Zines for Liberation" hosted by Abby Crum of UUCSJ and Rev. Stevie Carmody of UUA
  • "What Do We Do When Our Conscience Goes to Jail: UUs Showing Up for UUs Who Show Up" hosted by Rev. Karen VanFossan of Authentic Ministry and Karen Wills of Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA)
  • Solidarity Framework hosted by Josue Saldivar and Rebecca Richeimer of BorderLinks
  • Sacred Sites Tour led by Jim Bear Jacobs of Healing Minnesota Stories, Minnesota Council of Churches
  • Virtual Delegation hosted by hosted by Josue Saldivar and Rebecca Richeimer of BorderLinks