8th Principle Update: April 16, 2021
The final congregation wide meeting about the 8th Principle will be a Board chat. Please attend the Board Special Edition: Consider the 8th Principle on Friday, April 23, 2021 from 6:00 – 7:00 pm. The Board will create space to hear the pros and cons from church members before the congregational meeting regarding the idea of adopting the 8th Principle.
If you have not yet been part of a group conversation about the 8th Principle and would like to talk with someone from Team 8th one-on-one to understand more about the 8th Principle, please contact Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org.
Q&A from the Town Hall meetings: Does the 8th Principle solely address black/white race issues?
The 8th Principle was created to address racism in all the ways it appears in our society. And racism affects us all. Right now, our Asian and Asian-American siblings are facing heightened acts of violence due to racism. Settlor colonialism continues to affect our Indigenous siblings. Latinx immigrants and citizens continue to face micro- and macro-aggressions on a daily basis. Although our black and white siblings are often at the forefront of public conversations around race, we must remember that until all of us are liberated from the bonds of racism, none of us are liberated.Within Unitarian Universalism, the co-creators of the 8th Principle are Paula Cole Jones, a black woman, and Bruce Pollack-Johnson, a white man. And, we have a black positive UU organization, BLUU, that has endorsed the adoption of the 8th Principle. This is important given our Association’s history, which you can read more about in Widening the Circle of Concern or in one of the books I’ve listed below. Addressing racism in the form of anti-blackness is vital to the work encouraged by the 8th Principle, but also important is eliminating white colorblindness and white erasure of BIPOC identities. We must hold everyone in our community as we move forward in our anti-racism work.
The 8th Principle was also created as an explicit call to address other oppressions within our congregations, Association, and society, such as ableism, classism, sexism, cissexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. In doing this anti-oppression work, we must work to hold in our hearts and express in our actions this wide-ranging need for justice and equity.
One reason the 8th Principle is so important is because it is an explicit call to the work of building a diverse multicultural Beloved Community comprised of individuals with complex personal narratives and varied social locations that combine privileged and marginalized identities.
Each person has a story and history. Each person is beautiful and unique. Each person is valued.
Yours in building our multicultural Beloved Community,
Rev. Susan
Books about UU History:
- Darkening the Doorways: Black Trailblazers and Missed Opportunities in Unitarian Universalism by Mark Morrison-Reed. It’s available from the UCE lending library once we have reopened the building or by ordering it from the UUA bookstore.
- Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry, edited by Mitra Rahnema. A collection of essays by UU religious leaders of color centering their stories, analysis, and insight of Unitarian Universalism. Available at UUA bookstore.
- Unitarian Universalists of Color: Stories of Struggle, Courage, Love and Faith, edited by Yuri Yamamoto, Chandra Snell, and Tim Hanami. A collection of essays by UU congregants of color. Available at UU of Color Story Project.
- The Arc of the Universe is Long, by Leslie Takahashi, James (Chip) Roush, and Leon Spencer. A history of the UUA journey toward becoming an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, multicultural movement. Available at UUA bookstore.
