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 letter from Debra Clements-Simmons on the Black Lives Matter sign (April 2018)
Dear UCE Family,
I am writing in regards to the Black Lives Matter sign that we will be voting on in May. Let me begin by just saying how much this sign has meant to my wife and I. Since its installation, it has been a constant reminder to me of why I chose to become a member of this community. There are a myriad of reasons why the sign is so important but l will mention just a couple.
First, it makes me proud because it tells all who pass by that UCE understands. It lets passersby know that this church gets that there are still very real issues in this country (world?) for people of color regarding the justice system, stereotypes, equal pay, law enforcement relations, civil rights, employment (and on and on). This understanding is a big deal. I feel as if I spend a lot of time trying to explain to people simply how these issues still present themselves to us in our day to day lives. My wife and I have more than once been mistaken for maids when lodging at a very nice hotel. Not sure what maids wear flip flops and a swimsuit cover up but I have stopped trying to figure it out. I just assume that my brown face seems out of place in a five star hotel – unless of course I am the maid. However, I do not have to explain these issues or problems to my church community. UCE understands -so much so that they put up a sign announcing it to the world. The sign does not just say Black Lives Matter; it says so much more.
My wife and I once joined the gathering to stand by the sign on a Sunday after church. An African American couple initially drove by with the wife enthusiastically hanging out of the window and her husband honking in support. The next thing we knew – they had parked and come to join us. They said they could not just drive by and that they wanted to stand with us. They seemed amazed that this group of (truth be told) mostly Caucasian People thought that Black Lives Matter. They even asked “What church is this”? It was just wonderful and I will never forget it. This is the message that the Black Lives Matter sign is sending, even when no one is gathered near it after church on Sunday.
The sign also makes me proud because it took courage to put it up in the first place. When so many cannot even begin to understand the slogan and get stuck asking “Doesn’t my life matter too?”. It is refreshing to me to know that I belong to a community that knew that when the sign went up some in the community may not only be unhappy but could very well vandalize the sign or church for that matter. Only pure love and courage could put the sign up anyway.
Thirdly, the sign is so important because like any sign it announces loud and clear what is happening inside of the building that it is in front of. Any good sign has one job and that is to inform in a short and concise manner what’s inside (a school, hamburgers for sale, open or closed for business, a church, etc.). Our Black Lives Matter Sign shouts that significant work is taking place inside of our church’s four walls. Why else would one put up a sign like that – unless it was to announce to the world that this is what we are about? In its simplicity, the sign tells the world about the wonderful and essential work that UCE has been doing and I am certain will continue to do. I personally NEVER get tired of telling people that MY CHURCH had Dr. King speak at it. People literally run from me when I start bragging. Never mind that I was not even born when he visited UCE.
Thank you for allowing me to tell you my feelings about the Black Lives Matter Sign. To me, it is a thing of great pride and beauty. I smile a big, fat, stupid grin every single time I drive by it. It was relevant when we put it up almost three years ago and it is still relevant. It is my sincere hope that the members of UCE will vote that it remain.
My best,
Debra Clements-Simmons
Letter from Shannon Lang on the Black Lives Matter sign
Race Matters:
an occasional blog from your Racial Equity Action and Leadership (REAL) team
Member Shannon Lang shared these words at the town-hall meeting about the Black Lives Matter Sign on 2/18/18:
I have been a member of UCE for almost 2 years. As you may have noticed, I am one of the few Black and Brown lives that attend the Unitarian Church of Evanston. What made me walk through those doors in the in the first place? It was because of the Black Lives Matter sign out front. One of the reasons I stay is because of the Black Lives Matter sign out front.
That sign is a daily reminder to me, a Black Life who is a member of this church, my family and to our Black and Brown Brothers and Sisters in Evanston, that you do care, that you are empathic to the struggle of being Black or Brown in Evanston, even if you don’t fully understand that struggle.
What about the statement “well, all lives matter, not just black lives.” This is true. Of course all lives matter, but there is serious and painful flaw in that statement. A New York Times article from July 2016 put it this way: “Those in the Black Lives Matter movement say black people are in immediate danger and need immediate attention, like the broken bone or a house on fire. Saying “All Lives Matter” in response would suggest to them that all people are in equal danger, invalidating the specific concerns of black people.”
If you attended church on January 28th, you heard Reverend Lynnda White speak about the history of the Unitarian Church and its treatment of Black Lives. We learned that in the past, The Unitarian Church, as an organization, has failed its Black & Brown Members. By keeping the sign up, the Unitarian Church of Evanston can, in a small way, atone for past mistakes of the organization as a whole.
I asked my daughters what they thought about UCE having the discussion about whether to keep the Black Lives Matter sign up or take it down. Marlowe, age 12 said: “We should keep the sign up. If we take it down it would show a sign of weakness. If we leave it up, it shows we are brave and that we support Black Lives Matter and it shows that we are not afraid to say what we think.” Francesca, age 8 said: “They need to leave it up because many people don’t believe that Black Lives Matter and maybe the sign will help people learn that Black Lives Do Matter.”
I would love for each of us to ask ourselves the following questions: 1) Do Black Lives not matter anymore? 2) Has the systemic injustice to black and brown lives suddenly resolved itself? 3) And most importantly, what statement would it make the community to take the sign down? If the congregation votes to take the sign down, I don’t know if I would be able to walk through the doors again.
Shannon Lang UCE Member