Anti-Racism Task Force
"The beauty of anti-racism is that you don’t have to pretend to be free of racism to be an anti-racist. Anti-racism is the commitment to fight racism wherever you find it, including in yourself. And it’s the only way forward.” -Ijeoma Oluo
Purpose
To confront the impact of systemic racism in ourselves and our institutions and help our UU congregation live into our faith.
Goals
To share events and resources with the congregation in order to provide opportunities to live into our faith through action.
To assist our congregation in understanding the depth of the white supremacist culture in which we live and unwittingly participate.
To better understand what it means to live into the ideal of being anti-racists and develop as accomplices and co-conspirators in our work for racial equality and justice.
To engage in conversations and actions to build partnerships with community groups addressing systemic racism.
Meetings
We meet the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 5:00 pm and welcome new participants who are aligned with our seven UU Principles and wish to engage in the hard work of change. If you would like to learn more about this group, please send an email to uuccoffice@gmail.com so that we can contact with you.
In July 2022, we had the opportunity to Zoom with two Black racial justice experts who were willing to answer questions about race and racism from people most of whom were of white European descent. Some of our take-aways: To create a multicultural Beloved Community, we must be in relationship with those who may be different from ourselves. To be in relationship with people requires that we first be in conversation with them. To be in conversation with people who are not already in our circles requires that we take risks by putting ourselves in spaces we are not accustomed to being in. To take risks requires that we are willing to be uncomfortable and make mistakes. To become comfortable in new spaces requires that we lead with our hearts and not our heads. If we focus on what, fundamentally, it means to human and lead with our Unitarian Universalist hearts, we can engage in the work of transforming our world. We plan to engage in more such conversations throughout the year.
Resources for Learning from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA.org):
Dismantling White Supremacy in Your Everyday Life https://www.uua.org/midamerica/news/blog/dismantling-white-supremacy-your-everyday-life
Books (and Author Talks):
Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility
Ibram X Kendi: How to be an Antiracist
Ijeoma Olou: So You Want to Talk About Race?
Richard Rothstein: The Color of Law
Isabel Wilkerson: Caste
Frederick Joseph: The Black Friend
Newsletter: CNN’s Race Deconstructed
Podcasts: Code Switch on NPR Speaking of Race
YouTube and TedTalks by:
Loretta J Ross: Don’t Call People Out, Call Them In
Mark Charles: The Truth behind “We the People”
Documentaries:
Attica
I’m Not Your Negro
13th
Resources for Engagement