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
A Message From REAL (UCE’S Racial Equity Action and Leadership Team)
Hopes and Fears from the “Promise and Practice” Service
The Promise and the Practice of Our Faith Campaign is described on the UUA website as “our opportunity to take the lead as a faith denomination in addressing our history of upholding white supremacy. Together, we can collectively work to dismantle it and amend a long broken promise to the Black Lives within our Association.” The service at UCE on June 3 addressed this possibility, giving congregants a chance to commit to writing, during a ritual of lamentation, their hopes and fears about assuming a leadership role in righting the wrongs of the past in our denomination.
Hopes were expressed by some in terms of individual aspirations, such as for greater understanding, the wisdom to come up with the right words and actions when they are needed, the ability to overcome fear of mistakes in speaking up, better listening, letting go, being more fearless, having more insight. One person hoped to go beyond being open to the “other” and actually seeking out people of different backgrounds and experience. Others yearned for more peace, love, kindness, comfort, joy, and dignity and respect for all people.
Some writers hoped that UCE and UUA will lead the way in acknowledging past failures and in finally dismantling white supremacy. There was also hope that the community, the nation, and the world will work for greater love, honesty, and understanding and an end to policies that increase income inequality.
Fears also ranged from the personal to the general: “I fear being ridiculed by my neighbor, that I will not contribute all I can, that I’ll hurt someone, that I will close my heart to others.” More broadly, that we at UCE will not realize our white supremacy and the hurt it causes, that we as Americans are stalled by apathy and comfort with things as they are, that we will repeat the same mistakes, and that the current divisiveness and hate in the country will get worse before it gets better
There is much work to be done, but it seems clear that people were deeply moved by this service, and that many have been wrestling with these concerns and want to learn how to be part of the solution.
A Message from REAL (UCE’s Racial Equity Action and Leadership team):
Recently a shocking racist incident occurred at a Unitarian Universalist church – the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church (TJMC) in Charlottesville, Virginia. Read what happened, and how the recipient of the racism responded, and how the church itself responded. What does this mean for us at UCE? Might this kind of thing happen here? If it did how would we handle it? Do you think TJMC handled it well or would you have done something differently?