For more information, see: United American Indians of New England
An annual tradition since 1970, the Day of Mourning is a solemn, spiritual and political day organized here in Massachusetts by the United American Indians of New England. The Indigenous organizers report that “many of us fast from sundown the day before through the afternoon of that day. We are mourning our ancestors and the genocide of our peoples and the theft of our lands. NDOM is a day when we mourn, but we also feel our strength in action.”
Unitarian Universalist Mass Action strives to be in solidarity with Indigenous leaders. We acknowledge that we are on the traditional and unceded lands of the Massachusett, Mohican, Nauset, Nipmuc, Pawtucket, Pocumtuc, Wabanaki Confederacy and Wampanoag peoples. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. And, we honor and respect the many Indigenous people still living on these lands. In making this acknowledgment, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and we commit to dismantling the systems of oppression that have displaced Indigenous peoples.
We believe that we are called to name the crimes committed by colonial settlers against Indigenous people and work to dismantle the systems of oppression that continue to harm BIPOC people today.
UU Mass Action is working in coalition with our partners at:
United American Indians of New England
North American Indian Center of Boston
NOTE TO UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY OF AMHERST (UUSA) members and friends….. while it’s not the policy nor the “voice” of our congregation…. several of our members wonder why we continue to celebrate and raise up the name of an 18th century European supremacist, Lord Amherst, in our congregational name. For more, see this story that appeared in the Amherst Indy in November 2022.