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
2022 REAL Team History Program: January 12-Feb 2, 2022
The REAL History team will present 4 episodes of the series Amend from Netflix, on four Wednesdays from January 12 through February 2. Amend tells the story of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. From its origins in the heart and mind of Frederick Douglass to the political wrangling needed to get ratification to the attempts to nullify it over the years and the struggle to make this country live up to its stated ideals. This series tells unfinished story of this life-changing, controversial addition to the Constitution. The REAL team will show episodes 1, 2, 3, and 6 – – the ones that involve race and ethnicity.
Each Wednesday, we will watch an episode together on Teleparty at 7:00, then move to Zoom at 8:00 for our discussion. You can join for both, or join the Zoom for discussion at 8:00. Please register, so that you can be included in the Teleparty. We will send instructions on the Teleparty for those who register and on the first Wednesday, January 12, we will start at 6:30 on Zoom for those who want to walk through how to get on the Teleparty.
The struggle continues; this past year could provide another chapter to the evolution of the 14th Amendment.
REAL Team Meeting: December 15, 2021
REAL Team Meeting – Wednesday, December 15, 2021
at 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/my/ms.crawford
Do you understand the relationship between defensiveness and fear? When faced with new or challenging ideas, why do we become defensive? Defensiveness often comes from the fear of losing power, losing face, losing comfort and losing privilege. It is this defensive behavior that creates an oppressive culture. Judy Blair’s video focuses on this characteristic of white supremacy, on what we must learn about our own defensiveness and discusses ways in which defensiveness toward new ideas get in the way of our anti-racist work.
The video “How Can We Win” is a powerful look by Kim Jones at civil unrest. She talks about protestors, rioters and looters; and the need to focus on why people are creating civil unrest not what they’re doing. Jones points out the great disparity between what black people can get and the hopelessness many feel about what is unobtainable.
Join the Real Team this Wednesday, December 15 at 7 p.m. to discuss how we can acknowledge our defensiveness and change our behavior. In addition, we’ll get a glimpse of turmoil and pain faced by the black community when white supremacy interferes with liberty and justice. Last of all, we will briefly discuss the use of light and darkness imagery, especially at this time of year, and how to keep our language mindful and anti-racist.
We ask you so join us as we move forward to fulfil the UU 8th Principle.
“We, a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”
Becky Crawford, Martha Holman, Cheryl Mounts, Gail Smith