Volume 18, issue 4 THE CONNECTION ONGOING SUNDAY SCHEDULE INQUIRING MINDS 9:15 RE..K-5th 9:30 AM MIDDLERS 10:45 AM SUNDAY SERVICE 10:30 BEACON (TEENS) SUNDAY 12-2 PM FIND US/WRITE US: UNIVERSITY UUS 11648 MC CULLOCH RD ORLANDO, FL 32817 407 737-4018 VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.universityuus.org APRIL 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS April Programs 1 Alliance News 2 RE News 3 Flower Communion, Pledge Party 4 Women’s Circle 5 Adult’s Night Out 6 PP Event 7 Calendar of Events 8 Groups, Clubs, Meetings 9 Planned Parenthood 10 OWL Information 11 UUA updates 12-15 Directory (Back Cover) 16 April 2 nd Celebration Sunday – Support Your Second Home! Speaker: Rev. Rachel Christensen Plan to be here for the first talk that Rachel Christensen will give at UUUS since her recent ordination as a UU minister, followed by our Celebration Event to launch our 2017 pledge drive, with lunch, entertainment, games and more. Don’t miss it! April 9 th UUUS Community Members "Annual Flower Communion and New Member Welcome" It’s simple – bring a flower. Just one is enough. It can be your favorite flower, a flower from your own garden, a flower from your favorite place, a flower you pass on your way to Sunday Service or a flower from anywhere else. The beauty of this ritual is reflecting on the beautiful bouquets they make, together, and to see each flower as unique and as special as each person in our community. New members will be welcomed into our community during this service – adding to the beauty and richness of our congregation. Our membership team, led by Gina Busby, will lead the celebration. Plan to stay for Potluck after service to spend time with all the wonderful mem- bers of our community! POTLUCK AFTER SERVICE April 16 th "Are White Evangelicals a Lost Cause for Progressives?" Mark Pinsky Veteran religion writer Mark Pinsky challenges the conventional wisdom regarding this increasingly visible and vocal part of the religious demographic and offers some provocative, counter-intuitive-- and hopeful -- answers. Mark is the former religion writer for the Orlando Sentinel, and the author of six books, including A Jew Among the Evangelicals: A Guide for the Perplexed. April 23 rd “Jackie Robison: Pioneer in a Changing World” Dr. Rich- ard Crepeau April 15, 2017, marks the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier in professional baseball. Major League Baseball has honored the life of this great American hero every April 15 th since 2004 by designating it "Jackie Robinson Day.” Every player wears “42”, Jackie’s number, that day in tribute. Professor Emeritus of History at UCF, Richard Crepeau, Ph. D., will explore the pioneering life of Mr. Robinson, the difficulties he faced, and especially his contri- butions to the Civil Rights Movement. April 30 th Aesthetic Epiphanies: The Inexorable Tug of the Sacred in Art Randy Robertson Beginning with recently discovered prehistoric cave paintings at Chauvet continu- ing to the decorative Christian catacombs outside Rome culminating in fourteenth century renaissance frescoes by Giotto in Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel, there’s a thread that links history’s high water marks in spiritual art. GladdeningLight founder Randy Robertson will elucidate these mystical yearnings by artists driven to render the divine. PROGRAMS FOR APRIL
Transcript
Volume 18, issue 4
THE CONNECTION
ONGOING SUNDAY
SCHEDULE
INQUIRING MINDS 9:15
RE..K-5th 9:30 AM
MIDDLERS 10:45 AM
SUNDAY SERVICE 10:30
BEACON (TEENS)
SUNDAY 12-2 PM
FIND US/WRITE US:
UNIVERSITY UUS
11648 MC CULLOCH RD
ORLANDO, FL 32817
407 737-4018
VISIT OUR WEBSITE:
www.universityuus.org
APRIL 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
April Programs 1
Alliance News 2
RE News 3
Flower Communion, Pledge Party 4
Women’s Circle 5
Adult’s Night Out 6
PP Event 7
Calendar of Events 8
Groups, Clubs, Meetings 9
Planned Parenthood 10
OWL Information 11
UUA updates 12-15
Directory (Back Cover) 16
April 2nd Celebration Sunday – Support Your Second Home! Speaker: Rev. Rachel Christensen
Plan to be here for the first talk that Rachel Christensen will give at UUUS since her recent ordination as a UU minister, followed by our Celebration Event to launch our 2017 pledge drive, with lunch, entertainment, games and more. Don’t miss it!
April 9th UUUS Community Members "Annual Flower Communion and New Member Welcome"
It’s simple – bring a flower. Just one is enough. It can be your favorite flower, a flower from your own garden, a flower from your favorite place, a flower you pass on your way to Sunday Service or a flower from anywhere else. The beauty of this ritual is reflecting on the beautiful bouquets they make, together, and to see each flower as unique and as special as each person in our community.
New members will be welcomed into our community during this service – adding to the beauty and richness of our congregation. Our membership team, led by Gina Busby, will lead the celebration.
Plan to stay for Potluck after service to spend time with all the wonderful mem-bers of our community! POTLUCK AFTER SERVICE
April 16th "Are White Evangelicals a Lost Cause for Progressives?" Mark Pinsky
Veteran religion writer Mark Pinsky challenges the conventional wisdom regarding this increasingly visible and vocal part of the religious demographic and offers some provocative, counter-intuitive-- and hopeful -- answers. Mark is the former religion writer for the Orlando Sentinel, and the author of six books, including A Jew Among the Evangelicals: A Guide for the Perplexed.
April 23rd “Jackie Robison: Pioneer in a Changing World” Dr. Rich-ard Crepeau
April 15, 2017, marks the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier in professional baseball. Major League Baseball has honored the life of this great American hero every April 15th since 2004 by designating it "Jackie Robinson Day.” Every player wears “42”, Jackie’s number, that day in tribute. Professor Emeritus of History at UCF, Richard Crepeau, Ph. D., will explore the pioneering life of Mr. Robinson, the difficulties he faced, and especially his contri-butions to the Civil Rights Movement.
April 30th Aesthetic Epiphanies: The Inexorable Tug of the Sacred in Art Randy Robertson
Beginning with recently discovered prehistoric cave paintings at Chauvet continu-ing to the decorative Christian catacombs outside Rome culminating in fourteenth century renaissance frescoes by Giotto in Padua’s Scrovegni Chapel, there’s a thread that links history’s high water marks in spiritual art. GladdeningLight founder Randy Robertson will elucidate these mystical yearnings by artists driven to render the divine.
PROGRAMS FOR APRIL
PAGE 2 THE CONNECTION VOLUME 18, ISSUE 4
Alliance News for April: The Alliance welcomes members from both Unitarian Churches in Orlando. We currently meet at 10:30 each Tuesday at First Unitarian Church, but this is open to change as need-ed. Weekly updates appear in the Notable News , or you may contact us at [email protected]. 1st Tuesday : Officers meet at 10:45, then all members meet at 12:15 for monthly business items. Bag lunch at noon. 2nd Tuesday: Pot Luck luncheon at Lynn Rigney’s home at 12:00. You may catch a carpool from 1U at 11:30. Because we do not publish personal info, please con-tact [email protected]. for directions. 3rd Tuesday: Help make sandwiches for the Coalition for the Homeless in Gore Hall kitch-en at 10:30. Bag lunch at noon. 4th Tuesday: Annual membership meeting in Gore Hall at 12:00 ( bag lunch). The fiscal year runs from May 1 through April 30. As required by our bylaws this is your 30 day notice of the agenda: Election of officers - Nominations currently are Shirley Jantzen for president, Charlotte Kendall for 1st vp, Sharon Durant for recording secretary, Alice Jordan for corre-sponding secretary, Jean Cawelti for treasurer. Members may make nominations from the floor with prior approval of the candidate. Note: the position of 2nd vp (program chairman) is also open. Officer and committee chair annual reports Approval of the budget for 2017 – 2018 Business items as needed.
Both the visitor UU 101 class (9:30 am) and Investment Club (after service) are cancelled for Sunday, August 2th, due to the Pledge Party preparation and event. Both will resume at their regular times in May on the first Sunday (7th).
7th Principle: The interconnected web of all existence of which we are a part.
Language is important. Often this principle is often simplified for children as “We believe in caring for our earth.” It is important that we demonstrate to our children that the principle as originally written is larger than a “green” principle in scope.
It is true that ecological experiences are the easiest to use as an example in our 7th principle proselytiz-ing. The if/then statements are easy. If you plant vegetables, then you have food. If you poison the wa-ter source then you likely kill your food supplies. Climate change and resource exploitation takes the discussion even further. However, while the ecological web of existence is not so small, the principle speaks to a much bigger idea. It anchors all the others. What we do matters.
Yes, that means how we care for the planet’s resources and ecological systems. Yes that means recy-cling and thoughtful harvesting of trees and plants. Productive and safe planting of crops. However, it also means how we interact one on one, how we interact with our government, what we individually put in our bodies. The seventh principle is the UU preaching of Karma. These are the lessons we will all encounter from the Religious Education program this month.
Classes/Workshops and RE Related Stuff Happening This Month
EVERY WEDNESDAY 8:30 AM to 9 AM: Lightly Guided Meditation in the UUUS Library
April 2nd and April 9th , 6:30 – 8:30 PM: Faith Like A River – UU History Workshop – you do not have to attend each week.
Sunday April 23rd 5 PM: OUR WHOLE LIVES SEXUALITY PROGRAM INFORMATION SESSION
THIS IS A MUST FOR ALL PARENTS AND GUARDIANS OF CHILDREN STARTING 6TH GRADE THROUGH 9TH GRADE IN THE FALL. If you have not already received information about it, please see the detailed in-formation about this program in this newsletter or contact me one of the facilitators or the office for more info.
Bring your Flowers and your Food and welcome in our
newest UUUS members!!
Sunday April 9th, is our annual Flower Communion service. For this spring ritual
we invite everyone to participate by bringing flowers to our communal vase
and then taking home a different flower from the collection. During the ser-
vice hour we will officially welcome the new members of our UUUS communi-
ty who have decided to join our fellowship and become a member of our
congregation.
After service join us for our “Bring in the Spring” Potluck! Let’s celebrate
Spring with fresh light food ideas. Bring salads, breads, finger sandwiches,
deviled eggs and other light foods to share. Cake will be served for dessert
as a part of our new member celebration.
PAGE 5 THE CONNECTION VOLUME 18, ISSUE 4
Last Friday of the month at 7pm at UUUS. We are women of the University Unitarian Universalist Society. Our group is one that you don't officially have to join. If you identify as a woman we invite you to join us for fun and fellowship. We hope you will find our activities a nice way to connect with the women of our community. Bring a snack or a drink to share or just bring yourself!
But all the fighting in the world will not help us if we do not also hope. What I’m trying to cultivate is not blind optimism but what the philoso-pher Jonathan Lear calls radical hope. “What makes this hope radical,” Lear writes, “is that it is directed toward a future goodness that trans-cends the current ability to understand what it is.” Radical hope is not so much something you have but something you practice; it demands flexi-bility, openness, and what Lear describes as “imaginative excellence.” Radical hope is our best weapon against despair, even when despair seems justifiable; it makes the survival of the end of your world possible. Only radical hope could have imagined people like us into existence. And I believe that it will help us create a better, more loving future. (Junot Diaz, b. 1968)
PAGE 6 THE CONNECTION VOLUME 18, ISSUE 4
Adults Night Out!!
Friday, April 7
This month we are off to the theatre!
Dangerous Theatre of Sanford presents Peter McGarry's
"A Time to Go Walking"
7:30 p.m. at the Dangerous Theatre in Sanford
A timeless Irish play about love, life and death.
Featuring UUUS members David A. McElroy and Marylin McGinnis
If you are able to meet earlier, join us down the street for dinner and drinks….
The Breezeway Restaurant and Bar
112 E. 1st St., Sanford, FL 32771
5:30 pm
Please click here to RSVP: YES! I will be there!
Let us know if you're coming for dinner, the performance, or both.
You can also text your RSVP to Gina Busby directly at 407-927-1173
Alliance: Join both Orlando UU communities as they work together in social justice work Tuesday mornings at 10:00 at 1U. Members from UUUS and 1st Church enjoy a variety of activities, share a lunch, hear speakers and make sandwiches for the homeless. Come and join this wonderful group! Questions? email Marilyn Stewart: [email protected] and see page 2 article.
Beacon: Beacon is our youth group, open to any interested 12-20 year old. We meet after ser-vice on Sundays from noon to 2 pm. We attend conferences (“cons”) hosted by other youth groups around the state on a monthly basis, talk, eat and share our lives with one another, enjoy social activities and a safe place to be ourselves. Contact Chris, Juan or Martha for more infor-mation!
Investment Group: The "Investors Club" continues to meet the first Sunday of the month. We will not meet in April, due to the Pledge Party...please join us in May! Each month we discuss the economy and investing. We welcome people who have skills concerning taxes and investments, but you don’t need to be knowledgeable to come and learn! You are invited to join us!
Novel Book Group: The Novel Book Club will meet on Saturday, April 8th with an important story. This non-fiction book is part history, part scholarly adventure story, and part journalistic journey. “THE BAD-ASS LIBRARIANS OF TIMBUKTU And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Pre-cious Documents” by journalist Joshua Hammer is a must read. Timbuktu, in the Maghreb region of Mali, had been a cultural center since the 15th C. It was marked for centuries by the confronta-tion of two Islamic Ideologies. Timbuktu also became home to great libraries where as many as 377,000 priceless manuscripts would be archived. The 21st C. brought Al Qaeda into this region with their intolerance and bent on destruction. This story centers mainly around a gentle scholarly man, Abdel Kader Haidara, who managed to instigate the saving of a staggering amount of these priceless documents. Further proof of man’s ability to save his priceless heritage under the most extreme conditions.12:00 Noon, Crisper’s Restaurant, 391. S. Semoran, Winter Park
(Located on the SE corner of Semoran and University. Crisper’s is south of Chili's in the row of
restaurants facing St. Rd. 436) Call Beth Keifer at 407-366-3478 for more info or email at [email protected]. Social Action Committee: See the article on page 10 for current information and activities.
The UUUS Men’s Group: All men are welcome! The Men’s Group is looking forward to gath-ering together to share food and conversation on Monday, April 17th, at 6:30 pm. Please contact David McElroy for the details for this month! [email protected]
The UUUS Women’s Circle: Mark your calendar for 7 pm on the last Friday of each month; women's group will meet regularly at UUU, unless otherwise noted.
Planned Parenthood has been a Share-the-Plate Partner of UUUS for many years. Planned Parenthood funding is under attack at the Federal and State level. Now, more than ever, our financial assistance and advocacy is essen-tial. Planned Parenthood is our Social Action – Social Justice Partner for April-June, 2017. Watch the weekly Notable News and check the Bulletin Boards for opportunities to participate! Here are some ways you can help: April Volunteer Orientation April 20th from 6:30pm-8:00pm. Location will be emailed to you one day before the orientation. Please RSVP by April 19th at 5pm. Please share with friends and family interested in volunteering with us! Use the link below to RSVP for this orientation: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdjLLbNi4dmBWa-ushlKbi2qaHGaxcHcoJcxvXq_D56Dpr0Lw/viewform Story of Self Training Join Planned Parenthood for a training on how to share your personal story for social change on May 13th from 1:00-2:30pm. Location will be emailed to you one day before the orientation. Use the link below to RSVP for the event: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQvXsPGem0JPNyZXG-OslCIG3bt0bLGGpfdli65Yb6Ynrf5Q/viewform Share your Patient Story There is nothing more powerful than a personal story and can train you on how to share your personal PP story too. If interested, you can share your story online here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScgi3w8eRPiUoJNH4rNgEaPDYafc8DSEhlG5msKVGeBh0mi0g/viewform Volunteer Escorting We will have abortion care services in Downtown on Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Friday’s so we would LOVE to have volunteers there to escort. **Thursday, April 6th, I will be training folks outside of our Downtown Health Center (726 S Tampa Ave) from 9-9:30am! Please RSVP with me if you would like to join us! [email protected] Health Center Advocacy Program (HCAP) HCAP is an amazing program that works to build our patients up to become leaders for and advocates of Planned Parenthood. Being at the core of our organization, patients are the ones at risk when legislators try to defund Planned Parenthood so it is essential that we lift up their voices and their stories. This is where HCAP comes in! We train volunteers to talk to our patients in our Health Center waiting rooms and collect stories and/or get them plugged in to volunteering. If you are interested in this program and would like to be trained, please email me and we can set that up! [email protected] Letters to the Editor LTE’s are a great way to connect with your community about an issue you care about. If you would like to share your passion for Planned Parenthood or the real problem people have accessing reproductive and/or sexual health care, please reach out to Ann V. Eskamani @ [email protected] for more information.
If you have trouble with any of the links, e-mail [email protected] and a member of our Social Action Committee will get you signed up! UUUS Social Action Committee is working with the local Planned Parenthood team to plan
educational opportunities for our congregation and the community on legislation and advo-
cacy. Please join us at our next SAC meeting, April 23, 2017, after service. Remember, any
weekly offerings not marked “PLEDGE” are shared 60/40 with our Share the Plate partner.
You may also make your check out directly to Planned Parenthood and we will send in with
our monthly donation.
ALSO: Check out www.uua.org for lots of information regarding the Unitarian Universalist
position and understanding of reproductive justice!
OUR WHOLE LIVES - Making Healthy choices for life!
OWL, or Our Whole Lives, is a course on human sexuality. It is a
secular program developed by the Unitarian Universalist Associa-
tion in partnership with the United Church of Christ. It provides
honest and accurate information in an age appropriate fashion. By
putting sexuality in the context of values and personal responsibility, this course helps youth strengthen their positive decision making skills. These skills and values prepare youth to make healthy choices for life.
The class is presented in a series of engaging and interactive work-
shops covering a range of topic including relationships, gender
identity, sexual orientation, sexual health, and cultural influences
on sexuality. You can read more at the UUA website http://
www.uua.org/re/owl.
CLASSES BEGIN IN THE FALL
We are gearing up to offer an Our Whole Lives class to middle and high schoolers beginning
Sept 10 and continuing on Sunday evenings from 5-7:30pm. Ideally the course would last 13-
15 weeks with at least one Lock-in on a Saturday night. Because of the cohesiveness of the
class it is important to attend every week regularly.
We are interested in knowing if your child would be participating in the next class offered at
UUUS.
INFORMATION SESSION SUNDAY 4/23 AT 5PM
We have scheduled a parent information meeting on April 23 at 5-6:30. Participating in a
parent information session is required before your child can enroll in the class.
This course is open to the community. The class material secular and as presented includes
no religious references or doctrine While it is held at UUUS, we also invite friends and those
outside the Fellowship to participate as well. If your family has friends with children of the
ages grade 6-10 that are interested in the course, they would be welcome at our information
meeting on Sunday night. Please invite them and share the OWL info card (available at
UUUS) or the link http://www.uua.org/re/owl from the UUA website with them. Also please en-
courage them to give any one of us a call with any questions they may have about the pro-
gram.
Contact me or any one of the teachers with your questions - But please RSVP so we know how
many to plan for at our Parent meeting on April 23. Thanks!
UUA president resigns amid controversy over hiring practices
The Rev. Peter Morales steps down three months before end of term amid charges that a senior hire reflects white supremacy and failures to promote staff diversity.
CHRISTOPHER L. WALTON | 3/30/2017
UUA President Peter Morales informs staff of the Unitarian Universalist Association via teleconfer-
ence that he is resigning effective April 1. (Screen capture by Kenneth Sutton/UUA)
The Rev. Peter Morales announced his resignation from the presidency of the Unitarian Universalist Associa-tion this afternoon during a brief all-staff meeting. Morales stepped down in the midst of an escalating contro-versy over the UUA’s hiring practices and statements he made in response to charges that those policies reflect and perpetuate “white supremacy” in the liberal but predominately white religious movement. (Read our earli-er coverage.)
Morales, whose eight-year tenure as president was to end with the election of a new UUA president at the General Assembly in New Orleans June 24, is leaving his position effective Saturday, April 1, 2017. The Rev. Harlan Limpert, the UUA’s chief operating officer, will continue in his role as head of the staff.
The UUA Board of Trustees is authorized to appoint an acting president, who would serve until the presiden-tial election in June.
In a letter to the Board of Trustees, Morales acknowledged the “ongoing controversy regarding the UUA’s hir-ing practices and lack of diversity in our senior leadership.” He added: “Unfortunately, a note I sent to UUA staff a few days ago made matters worse. In my hasty effort I created more hurt for those already hurting. I failed to lead appropriately. I reacted when I should have listened. I am deeply sorry.
I have clearly lost the trust of many people and my comments have become a focal point in the ongoing dis-cussion. It is clear to me that I am not the right person to lead our Association as we work together to create the processes and structures that will address our shortcomings and build the diverse staff we all want. We need space for healing and listening.”
Morales told the staff that the decision to resign was entirely his own. “No one forced me to resign, or even mentioned my resignation,” he said. He thanked the staff for their “excellent work,” adding, “On a very per-sonal level I will miss you.”
Limpert read a letter to the staff from the remaining ten members of the Leadership Council, who said they honored Morales “for his service to our Unitarian Universalist movement” while vowing to put together a plan for an “immediate internal review of how our institution advantages white leaders, and Unitarian Universal-ists.” The Leadership Council also said: “We want to apologize for the way our leadership at the UUA has fallen far short in building the diverse Associational office that the core values of our faith demand. In addi-tion, we understand that our responses and silence in response to recent public statements have layered harm upon harm.
We take very seriously the question of how our policies, practices, leadership and culture systematically center and advantage white people within Unitarian Universalism. We acknowledge that it is past time for us to ex-amine more deeply than we ever have the patterns of institutional racism that are embedded in our practices of leadership, including hiring.
It has been humbling, devastatingly sad, and inspiring to read so many courageous calls to a deeper justice, to more courage, more faithfulness from us, especially from Unitarian Universalists of Color who have helped us hold a mirror to our own institution. We recommit ourselves and our service to this call.”
During Morales’s presidency, the UUA embraced immigration reform and immigrant rights as key public wit-ness priorities and promoted Black Lives Matter. (The UUA board committed $5.3 million to support the new organization Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism last year, a decision that took Morales by surprise.) Mo-rales launched a comprehensive review of UU ministry early in his presidency as part of a push to make Uni-tarian Universalism “a multicultural faith,” and pointed with pride to the growing number of ministers and seminarians preparing for UU ministry who are people of color.
Critics bristled, however, at changes in antiracism programs offered by the UUA during Morales’s tenure, at the scarcity of senior positions held by people of color, and at preferences for ordained clergy in senior staff roles. The Black Lives of UU organizing collective said on March 27, “Specific, drastic, and swift changes are needed.” A letter from UU ministers of color—including Morales’s predecessor, the Rev. William G. Sink-ford—asked, “Why is it that we are comfortable with senior-level volunteer service from our people of color and not paid senior leadership? We are either rampantly tokenizing, rampantly discriminating, or unabashedly doing both.” #################
In the fifty-six year history of the Unitarian Universalist Association, only one other president has not complet-ed their term. The Rev. Paul N. Carnes, who was elected in 1977, died from cancer after less than two years in office. The board appointed the Rev. O. Eugene Pickett to complete Carnes’s term, and Pickett was reelected by the General Assembly to a four-year term in 1981. Every other UUA president elected since 1961 has served two four-year terms.
Because of bylaw changes adopted by the General Assembly in 2010, each president elected after Morales’s term ends will be eligible to serve only one six-year term.
Three women are on the ballot for the election at this summer’s General Assembly: the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, lead minister of the UU Congregation of Phoenix, Arizona; the Rev. Alison Miller, minister of the Mor-ristown, New Jersey, Unitarian Fellowship; and the Rev. Jeanne Pupke, senior minister of the First UU Church of Richmond, Virginia. The three candidates will be speaking together at forums at five regional assem-blies over the next six weeks, with the first this Saturday morning, April 1, at the Central East Regional Lead-ership Day at Cedar Lane UU Church in Bethesda, Maryland. The April 1 forum will be livestreamed. When Morales was elected in 2009, he became the first Latino and the second person of color to serve as presi-dent of the UUA. His election was also the fourth contested election in a row in which a male candidate defeat-ed a female candidate. This summer’s election will be the first to feature only female candidates—and it will be the first since 1977 with more than two candidates.
From your editor: In wrestling with all of the events of the past couple of days, I have been reach-ing out to voices of our faith for information, for understanding, for solace and guidance. I have been fortunate to be part of the Beloved Conversations group at UUUS for the past 7 weeks and our discussions about race, bias, privilege and our denomination have been inspiring, troubling and moving us to be voices of support and change. I am sharing a few postings from other UU’s, hop-ing they will help you better understand the situation and offering more places for you to do your own research and dialog.
Randy Becker (retired UU Minister)
·
The spiritual tradition in which my spirit resided for seven decades and in which I served as a professional for 47 years is now at a crossroads. I am talking about the Unitarian Universalist Association. Long-established patterns best summed up by the phrase "old-boys-club" have failed to change despite the expressed will of the member congregations to be radically more inclusive in our national and regional staff.
Pleas on position postings solicit applications frompersons from traditionally marginalized groups have result-ed in about 85% of support staff representing such applicants, but only 15% of professional staff, and none of our regional staff lead positions!
It is time for a change. It seems that the light in our chalice flame has gone out -- we are more worried about what "others" are doing in society than what our own Association is perpetuating.
(Should you wonder why I am posting this now, here's the situation: -- a top-level position in regional leadership recently opened; -- among the applicants was a woman of color who was resident to the area to be served and a caucasian man who made it clear he would not move to be in the region he would serve; -- both were personally assurred by UUA officials that they were duly qualified for the position; -- the white man got the job.)
If you think this larger issue is important, of how we become more diverse and inclusive at all levels of our Association to remain relevant to a world that is becoming more diverse and inclusive, please copy and paste this as a posting on your Facebook page, or wherever, or simply hit share. Tweet. Use Instagram.
I believe we can do better. I believe we must do better.
Amy Carol Webb (Minister at UU River of Grass Congregation)
·
No one raised white in America is immune from racism. No one. Neither are the institutions through which we move and work and serve. None. I am not immune. Nor is the institution in which I serve. However much or little progress made, resting on “but we’ve made progress” remains a shield for our privileged sense of our-selves as "good guys", and a diversion away from the radical actions we must undertake, as individuals and as institutions, to get at the insidious bigotry woven through our very roots. My very roots. In this spirit, I join with those rising up to call upon the Unitarian Universalist Association to recognize the need for leaders of color in high-level positions, to take the necessary actions to achieve 25% leadership of color by 2019, to strengthen our continued work for racial justice internally and externally, that we might dare to walk the talk we claim and proclaim. To my UU friends and family, join us in the work for racial justice within our own or-ganizations even as we fight for it in the public square. To my non-UU friends and family, know that we are, I am, still waking. #BuildingNewWay #25percentIncreaseBy2019 #UUA#wokenotwoke
On Friday, I celebrated my one-year anniversary of leaving my position at the UUA's national office. What I didn't say a year ago was that I left because I was afraid that if I didn't, I would lose my faith.
I had witnessed six years of my department, the department tasked with anti-racism programming, replacing every single staff person who left with a white person. In six years only one person of color was hired into this department, and that person was subsequently fired only a few months later. The department went from being 56% POC, when it was first formed, to 70% white six years later.
I had also witnessed six years of senior white colleagues disrespecting the authority of senior colleagues of color, in the most blatant and subtle ways.
Do the hiring trends need to change at the UUA? YES. It is unconscionable that the department in charge of anti-racism hired 16 white staff and interns in the same space of time that they hired 1 intern of color and hired and fired 1 staff of color.
AND. It is not enough to simply hire more marginalized people. One of the reasons so few people of color have been hired by this particular department is that quite a few POC have applied for jobs, been offered jobs, and (understandably) turned those jobs down. (Would you want to work in an environment that has this sort of track record?) So this particular trend is not the fault of individuals in charge of hiring within this department, it is the fault of the larger culture of the national office as a whole.
The UUA has a long history of hiring young lifelong UUs who are people of color, queer, and/or trans into entry-level jobs, giving us no opportunities to advance, subjecting us to a working environment that is often subtly oppressive, and ultimately leading us to leave after becoming burnt out and disillusioned.
So we need to talk about hiring trends. But we also need to talk about retention. We need to talk about culture shift. We need to talk about the sort of leadership that is required for this religion, and those who are raised within it, to survive and thrive.
I'm grateful to be in the struggle with so many people who are committed to this shift -- including colleagues at the UUA.
#BuildingNewWay #25percentIncreaseby2019 #UUA
Michael Tino (Minister of UU Fellowship of Northern Westchester)
As a former UUA Headquarters staff person, I have my own perspective on the current controversy around hiring, diversity, and, yes, white supremacy culture. You see, I was once the white guy who was seen as the right "fit" for management at UUA headquarters.
This was 2001, so two UUA Presidents ago, which is to say that I think there are systemic issues at work that go beyond individuals making decisions currently. And the people who hired me were wonderful leaders committed to anti-racism and anti-oppression in our movement.
And yet one of the other finalists for the job was a person of color, with qualifications in the field, who was not deemed to "fit." Sound familiar? I wasn't a minister yet (though I had started seminary), and neither was he. And I became his boss. And there was no outcry on social media (though there could have been, if social media had ex-isted then). And I didn't think anything of it (though I should have).
They hired me because they "liked my vision," and I took the job, and I did that job for six years, and I tried my best not to perpetuate systems that had racism at their core. I failed sometimes at that, and I see it only in the hindsight of a number of years.
One of the things I realize now is that every time Joseph Santos-Lyons, my colleague and former co-worker, came to me with a proposal that made me uncomfortable, he was pushing me to de-center the whiteness of our Associa-tion. And sometimes, I said yes, thank goodness. I should have said yes more.
Of course, my gatekeeping wouldn't have been necessary if he'd been hired in 2001.
And this is one more reason why racial diversity in our management-level staff matters.
