Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL) Team
“Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identies and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.” – bell hooks
The REAL Team members support and engage in anti-racist and anti-oppression work. All UCE folks are welcome to join us at the REAL Team monthly meetings to share ideas and collaborate on education and action programming. REAL Team meetings are 7 – 8:30 pm on the fourth Tuesday of the month except during holiday months. See the newsletter for more details. Your voice is needed!
The REAL Planning Group is small and meets monthly or more often and we encourage you to contact us if you have questions or an initiative to propose : Becky Crawford, Alison Issen and Cheryl Mounts. Contact REAL via any of its Planning Group members at email addresses in REALM.
Click on the button below for ideas on how to fight racism.
Contact REAL at ucerealteam@gmail.com or contact any of its Planning Group members listed above.
What has been your experience of oppression and equity at UCE? The Anti-Oppression Task Force would like to know. We have worked with the YWCA Equity Institute to create a survey. We hope that the survey results can be used to help make UCE a place of radical welcome. Click here to participate in this 20 min survey. Members of the Anti-Oppression Task Force will be available during kinship hour to answer questions and provide paper copies of the survey for those who prefer the paper and pen format. Feel free to send a message to uceantioppressionsurvey@gmail.com with questions or if you would like a paper survey mailed to you. If you have already completed the survey, stop by the table Sunday to get an “I Completed the Equity Survey!” sticker to wear.
Bettina Love explains what a co-conspirator is in this video. We think it better describes what we are trying to be than the term “allies.”
Our congregation is reading Widening the Circle…
Our Unitarian Universalist Association, through the Commission on Institutional Change has issued a powerful report which names the way white supremacy culture lives within our systems, just as it does throughout our larger society. The good news is that it also provides tools for dismantling systemic racism within, among, and beyond us. We can use these tools to build a more loving, anti-racist, anti-oppressive world. We can use these resources to practice building the Beloved Community. You may choose to buy a copy of the Widening the Circle book ($16) here.
Actions with REAL
Join the REAL Team History Group for continuing discussions about the Netflix series “AMEND: The Fight for America.” Meetings starts at 8:00pm. Contact Dana Deanne for more information.
- January 26: We will discuss Episode 3, WAIT: Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement.
- February 2: We will discuss Episode 6, PROMISE: Immigration to the United States, hope, xenophobia and systemic discrimination faced
Black Lives Matter signs and buttons are available – text Martha Holman (number in the directory and Realm). Signs are $10 each and come with a stand. Buttons are $1 each.
Important Links:
REAL Lending Library Annotated Book List
The UCE Racial Equity Action and Leadership (REAL) team has often been asked to give suggestions for books to read to further our understanding of race in America. Many books about race in America, both fiction and non-fiction, are published every day. The UCE REAL Lending Library volunteers try to continually update our collection of current and time-honored books that have been recommended by members of our congregation, but as you can imagine, it is not feasible to have all books on oppression and racism available in our library. If we don’t have a particular book, we may be able to provide information about other that may interest you and that may be available at local libraries.
The attached annotated listing is an almost up-to-date compilation of some wonderful books you might explore. Some are on the UCE Racial Justice book cart (at the back of the sanctuary) and are noted as such. The listing categorizes books by author, title, genre, date of publication, and numbers of pages. It also provides a short description to further help you choose what to read.
Because so many in our congregation are voracious readers and participate in book clubs, the Lending Library volunteers ask that you send us your recommendations for books that can be annotated and placed on our book list. If you would send us the title, author, and date of publication, we will complete the remainder of the annotation.
You may contact Joan Retzloff, Jackie Seaman, or Cheryl Mounts through Realm or via admin@ucevanston.org.
Thanks to Sarah Vanderwicken, Joan Retzloff, Jackie Seaman and Carolyn Laughlin for putting together this resource. Thanks in advance to future volunteers who will help keep the listing and the cart up-to-date.
News & Updates from the REAL Team
REAL Meal – Friday March 1, 2019
February has turned out to be too short and too busy to schedule a REAL Meal, so we have pushed into the first evening of March for our next event. We’ll meet at Good to Go, the Jamaican restaurant that moved last year across the street to their snazzy new digs on the Evanston side, 711 Howard. It’s a large establishment, with an extensive menu and space for a much larger group than we’ve been able to accommodate in the past. But we’ll still need to give the management a week’s notice on the numbers we expect, so make your reservation early with Betty Walker, blw35@comcast.net. And go to their website to check out the menu and read the story of the owner, Tony Levy, who learned the recipes for his signature offerings in his mother’s kitchen in his native Jamaica.
Selves to Defend? Domestic Violence Survivors Who Are Criminalized
Selves to Defend? Domestic Violence Survivors Who Are Criminalized
Saturday, October 27
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Unitarian Church of Evanston, 1330 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, in the Sanctuary
Co-sponsored by Dr. Melissa Blount, Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration, and REAL
What happens to survivors of domestic violence who act to protect themselves and their children? Too often, they are punished and “disappeared” in prison for decades, especially if they are Black or Brown. Evanston artist, psychologist, and poet Melissa Blount will present the “Say Her Name” quilt, which honors the lives of women killed by domestic violence, and its genesis in the work of Love & Protect, the Chicago chapter of the national group Survived & Punished. A survivor and the women who used participatory defense to free her from prison will discuss her case, and invite us to think about how we can support similar efforts for criminalized survivors. Last of all, we will have an opportunity to take part in a sewing circle and letter writing for women charged with crimes when they acted in response to life-shattering violence. Featured speakers include Debbie Buntyn, Monica Cosby, Paris Knox, and Holly Krig of Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration.
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