The Board of Trustees at the Unitarian Church of Evanston has been having conversations and has been listening closely to conversations in our communities about race, anti-racism, and white supremacy. In response, the Board has created this statement:

We hear the clarion call to address issues of oppression both within our walls and within the larger community. We hear this call from our Evanston Interfaith leaders who say, “We call on our congregants, especially those who have white skin privilege, to engage in the struggle to dismantle white supremacy as it collectively exists.”1 We hear this call from our national organization, the UUA, who through the Commission on Institutional Change, states, “Our internal work as people of faith is to become more inclusive, equitable, and diverse while our external work is to be accountable to those most affected by injustice.”2 Black Lives of UU calls on all Unitarian Universalists “to advocate for the formal adoption of an 8th principle, articulating a commitment to the dismantling of white supremacy, within the stated principles of our faith.”3 Perhaps, most importantly, we hear this call in our congregation, on our doorsteps, and in our streets. We, as Dr. King said, feel “the fierce urgency of Now. […] Now is the time to make justice a reality.”4 It is time to answer this call and continue this work.

Consequently, the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Church of Evanston has commissioned the Anti-Oppression Task Force. The purpose of this task force is to determine the ways in which this congregation might answer this call, making justice a reality both in our congregation and beyond. Paying special attention to including diverse voices from within our congregation, we will be inviting representatives from the Board of Trustees, the REAL team, the Lifespan Learning Council, the Young Adult Group, the High School Youth Age Group, the Social Justice Council, Membership Engagement Council, Ministers and key staff, the Search Committee, Nominating and Recruiting, Endowment Trustees, as well as inviting interested members at large.

As part of this work, the Interim Team in conjunction with the Task Force will pose a series of Powerful Questions to the congregation beginning in August and resuming in November after the Search Committee survey and cottage meetings have occurred. Task Force and Interim Team members will listen carefully to how the congregation answers these questions, document the answers, and attempt to sort the information into ways these answers influence us and move us forward as a congregation. This work will be ongoing and multi-faceted. Although it will begin as interim work, it will continue beyond the interim and carry forth into every aspect of our congregational life. We are excited and pleased to begin this journey. Further details for ways to be involved will appear in the newsletter in the weeks ahead.

1. https://ucevanston.org/evanston-interfaith-juneteenth-letter/
2. https://www.uua.org/uuagovernance/committees/cic/widening
3. https://medium.com/outfront/black-lives-of-uu-organizing-collective-urges-adoption-of-8th-principle-in-unitarian-universalism-377480e615ef
4. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm