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Table of Contents CUFlinks June 2017 |1

June 2017

CUFlinks

monthly newsletter of the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship

— a welcoming congregation —

Carbondale Unitarian

Fellowship

Reverend Sarah Richards,

Minister

Connie Payne, Religious

Education Coordinator

Sunday services and religious

education at 10:30 AM

105 N. Parrish Ln.

Carbondale, IL 62901

(618) 529-2439

On the web at http://carbondaleuf.org/

In this Issue Sunday Topics 1

Minister’s Column 2

President’s Report 3

Meet a Member 4

Music Musings 5

Denominational Connections 6

Interfaith Council News 8

Reflections on the White

Supremacy Culture Teach-In 9

Racial Justice Educational

Resources 21

CUF Covenant 24

SUNDAY TOPICS | JUNE THEME What Does it Mean to be

a Community of Joy?

June 4 – "Looking for Joy" Bring a Friend Sunday!

Given the Unitarian Universalist commitment to make the world a

more just, equitable and compassionate one, it’s sometimes

difficult to look for its joys. Bring a friend—or two—to celebrate

both the struggle and the joys of life. The choir will sing their last

anthem until September—you won’t want to miss it.

June 11 - “Meadow of Delight”

Our annual intergenerational Flower Communion Service honors our

individual gifts that we share in community, creating a vibrant, and

powerful whole, continuing a service created by Norbert Capek in

1923 as a symbolic ritual to bind the community more closely

together. Don’t forget to bring a flower or flowering branch to share.

Come early to place the flowers in vases at the front. The children will

distribute them during the service and everyone will receive one to

take home. Contact Mary Campbell (618) 521-0851 with questions if

any about the service.

June 18 – “The Dependables"

On this Fathers’ Day, CUF members will join Rev. Sarah in

reflecting on the joys of depending on our fathers and father

figures, and in being dependable ourselves.

June 25 – “TBA”

Check with Rhonda Kosmicki for description.

http://carbondaleuf.org/


THE MINISTER’S COLUMN Dear CUF Folks,

June is here! What

does it hold in

store for us at the

Fellowship? May

was such a full

month, packed to

overflowing with

milestone moments in the life of our faith

community:

we celebrated the life and mourned the

death of Ken Starbuck, one of our

beloved long-time members

we answered the call to learn, reflect, and

move to action at the White Supremacy

Culture Teach-In

we contemplated our own experiences of

being nurtured and providing nurture—

and thanked those who mother us on

Mothers’ Day

we listened to parents speak of their

children as they come of age, and we

heard from high school graduates Esther

Hughes and Tommy Sronkoski about

their experiences in the RE program and

their plans for the future (which is also

our future!)

we honored Amy Weber for her more

than two decades of devotion and

leadership of the RE program

And there are the things we do weekly, or even

daily, that give our lives meaning: we sang

together, held space for those with sorrows and

joys, shared deep discussions, argued with each

other, apologized and forgave, listened to guest

speakers, learned new things, forgot things,

cleaned up the kitchen, drew pictures…so May

was an “easy” month for engaging with our

theme of what it means to be a community of

embodiment.

June’s theme, “what does it mean to be a

community of joy?” is much more difficult, in

my opinion. I think it would be more accurate to

ask, “what does it mean to be a community of

joy in the struggle?” because that’s why we exist

as a congregation. Our vision statement says that

we “seek to celebrate life, support each other in

our inward and outward search for spiritual

meaning, provide a liberal religious presence,

and strive for compassion and justice in our

community and our world.”

June means the end of school, maybe vacation,

the days feel looser as they warm up. But there is

no summer break from these economic and

political times in which we live. Many of us are

engaged in active resistance to cuts in health

care, services for vulnerable populations, and

threats to immigrants’ rights, fair wages, natural

resources, public education…the list is a long

one. And there are the actions we take to

strengthen relationships in our community and

region through interfaith activities, civic

engagement in various forms, and all of the

things we do at the Fellowship I mentioned

above. There is a lot of work being done, there is

a lot of work to do. In fact, it is never ending, so

we can’t put off looking for joy until our aims

are achieved. Similarly, if we never look up from

our daily routine—or more accurately, look into

our daily routine—for blessings, however

fleeting or small, we are as deluded and

disconnected as those in denial of violence,

systemic oppression and inequity.


As individuals and especially as a

congregation, where do we find joy in our life’s

work? This month, I invite you to share your

answers to that question in the form of a photo,

poem, or brief reflection. Send them to me via

email at [email protected], and I’ll

post them to the CUF Facebook page, the

Commons bulletin board, and/or during a

Sunday Service, as you prefer.

Joyful Dance, by Shakadoodoo

I look forward to seeing and reading your

experiences of finding joy in the struggle. We

have many opportunities for doing that together

at the Fellowship, I know, and we have two of

them very early in the month: Reflection on

White Supremacy Teach In on Saturday, June 3,

9:30 – 11am, and the “Looking for Joy” Sunday

Service on Sunday, June 4. The former is a

chance to note the joy, as well as the discomfort

in growth as we share experiences and

viewpoints around our UU racial culture and

history. The latter is Bring a Friend Sunday –

friendships are definitely sources of joy in our

lives, and in our community. Who are you

bringing? I can’t wait to meet them!

Peace,

P.S. I’m very excited to be attending this year’s

General Assembly with CUF folks Amy Weber,

Esther Hughes, and Elena Sasso. We’ll be

presenting our experiences during the July 2

Sunday Service—but you can also be there

virtually with us. Some of the major events and

discussions will be livestreamed and then posted

afterward. Check it out at

http://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2017

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – JUNE 2017 by Janet E. Harris

This has been a busy month for our members

and the Board of Trustees!

I hope you have been able to keep up with some

of the news and activities either through the

Weekly Bulletin (online at our website

carbondaleuf.org or printed copies available on

the visitor’s table in the foyer). I am going to

include several of the ongoing activities carried

on by our membership and Committees as well

as Board information as it shows our forward

movement in fulfilling our Strategic Plan and

working towards a better CUF reflection of our 7

principles.

We are participating in the UUA White

Supremacy discussions during the

Sunday Services and as listed in the

Weekly Bulletin.

Members have been participating in

Southern Illinois Immigrant Rights

Project which is very involved with

mailto:[email protected]://shakadoodoo.deviantart.com/art/Joyful-Dance-160384970http://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2017


organizing the Know Your Rights

workshops. We also have members

working with members of the Jackson

County Board to develop a Welcoming

County resolution. There have been

meetings with the Sheriff’s office as well

as with the County Board’s Legislative

Committee.

The Center for Empowerment and Justice

continues to host Open House events,

where people nearing the end of their

incarceration can meet one another and

community members as part of a

program at Centerstone in Marion. There

is usually music and an activity which

both children and adults can enjoy and

always, there is food and good company.

Looking forward to seeing you at 215

West Washington. The next event is

Friday, June 9th and every two following

weeks.

Rev. Sarah, members of the Congregation

and faith leaders across the region

including Murphysboro, Carbondale,

Carterville, and Royalton have begun a

process of regional community

organizing. More information on this

effort to come.

MEET TASHA YOUNGBLOOD by Kathy O'Laughlin

Tasha Youngblood is a nurse practitioner

providing primary care at a REA clinic in

Johnston City. She is interested in Women's

Health

issues,

and

recently

became a

certified

instructor

to provide

REFIT

fitness

classes. REFIT is a holistic fitness practice which

combines dance to inspirational and upbeat

music with a community building component.

Tasha is looking for a venue in Carbondale and

is hoping to offer classes soon.

Another long standing interest is in all things

Star Trek. Tasha is originally from Otto,

Missouri, a small town near Arnold, Missouri in

the south suburbs of St. Louis. She attended

Washington University, and was introduced by

a mutual friend to her husband, Evan

Youngblood, a Trekkie born and raised in

Herrin, Illinois. Their shared passion led to

marriage, and eventually, to two daughters, Kira

and Naomi (ages 2 and 6). Star Trek fans will

recognize their names from characters on the

show. Evan owns a computer business in Herrin

and is very active in civic affairs, including

Herrin Festa Italiana and Veterans Memorial

Honor Flight.

Tasha grew up visiting a wide range of Christian

churches. She came to Carbondale Unitarian

Fellowship seeking a liberal religious education

experience for her daughters. Tasha has joined

the Welcoming Congregation Committee and is


open to other opportunities for involvement as

they present themselves. Look for a future

Sunday Service exploring themes from Star Trek!

Please welcome Tasha as one of our newer

members!

CUF MUSIC MUSINGS – GETTING TO KNOW JOANN NELSON - JUNE MUSICIAN OF THE MONTH by Candy Davis

With all the talented musicians we have at CUF,

I thought it would be fun for the congregation to

get to know them a little better. I decided to

start with JoAnn Nelson, retired professor of

early childhood education and one of the

founding members of the Unitarian Folk

Orchestra (UFO). I thought up some questions

to ask her, and we had a nice chat this afternoon.

Here is what I learned:

JoAnn Nelson's grandfather, Andrew Carlson,

grew up as a peasant boy in Sweden. He was

fascinated with music and how notes were

written on a page, but because of his peasant

status, was snubbed by a teacher who could

have helped him. When he emigrated from

Sweden and came to this country, he was

determined to study the piano and made certain

that all his children learned about music.

JoAnn (who grew up in rural Minnesota)

recalled that her mother, aunts, and uncles all

learned to play musical instruments. She first

learned to play "piano" by picking out tunes by

ear on the family's little portable pump organ.

Later, she was taught to read music by Grandpa

Carlson, who was a stern, exacting taskmaster.

Another musical influence in her life was her

fourth-grade teacher. She taught the class music

using the "do-re-mi" system. JoAnn thought

"do" was the same as the note "C" and

mistakenly thought all songs had to be

transposed into that key--till she started taking

"real" piano lessons from a piano teacher who

taught her musical scales and learned this wasn't

true! She and I chuckled over that revelation

together.

In her teen years, JoAnn and her friends enjoyed

gathering round the family piano--a nice oak one

that her dad had procured for $39 in 1939. They

would sing songs out of the Golden Book of

Familiar Songs with JoAnn accompanying.

JoAnn also learned to play the clarinet in high

school and performed in her high school band.

She says she was not a "great" clarinet player,

but an "adequate" one.

After World War II, she told me, international

folk songs began to show up in America, and her

family and friends had fun learning these new

songs. A great pleasure for her was to go to

Minneapolis and buy sheet music. As a young

adult, influenced by ethnic folk songs, she led a

group of 4H kids and taught them folk dances

from around the world, accompanying them on

the piano.

JoAnn sang with her children, and both grew up

to be accomplished musicians as well. Her son


David became a good bass player, and her

daughter Nan gravitated toward Eastern

European instruments when she went off to

college at the University of Illinois at

Champaign-Urbana.

While living in Champaign and working on a

graduate degree, JoAnn was influenced by Dr.

Bob Smith, who taught a class in teaching music

to kids with special needs, and by Dr. John

Garvey, a violist who collected ethnic folk songs

from Persia and Russia. During this time,

JoAnn, her son David, and her daughter Nan all

played in the Russian Orchestra founded by Dr.

Garvey. All three learned to play balalaikas,

which come in different sizes. She told me that

one of the most interesting gigs they played was

at Yale--they all hopped on a bus and travelled

across the country to play Russian music at a

dinner there, then drove back to Champaign!

Later, when JoAnn came to teach early

childhood education at SIU and worked at the

Child Development Lab, she taught music to

some of the little ones there. When the piano at

the CDL disappeared, she discovered the

autoharp and taught herself to play this much

more portable instrument. It is an instrument

she has continued to play regularly to this day.

When JoAnn was offered a teaching job at SIU,

she found the Unitarian Fellowship and joined it.

When Rev. Bill Sasso became pastor at CUF, he

wanted to start up a music group. Bill played

the hammered dulcimer and eventually got

several people (including JoAnn) to join. Thus,

the Unitarian Folk Orchestra was born. JoAnn

has remained a member ever since and brings

her positive energy and prolific knowledge of

folk music to share with us each week. Thank

you, JoAnn!

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 2017: AN OVERVIEW by Bill Sasso,

Denominational Connections Coordinator Please note that this article draws heavily on

Elaine McArdle’s “New Orleans will infuse this

year’s General Assembly: UUA’s annual

convention will embrace city’s culture and learn

from its challenges” on the UUA website. You

can see her entire article at

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/ga2017preview

General Assembly (GA) is the annual national

meeting of Unitarian Universalists. Held at the

end of June, it moves from location to location.

This year’s GA, entitled “Resist and Rejoice,”

will take place between June 21st and 25th in New

Orleans. While every GA is unique, this GA will

include many firsts! For example, when

congregational delegates elect the next president

of the UUA, they will elect the UUA’s first

woman to serve as our President (all three

candidates are women). Not only that, but this

GA will be the first time delegates will cast their

votes electronically. This is also the first time that

GA will take

place in New

Orleans, “a

culturally

unique city

where African,

Caribbean, and

European

influences are

alive and pulsing, and where many of the

country’s most pressing problems, including

racial and environmental injustice, are readily

apparent” (McArdle).

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/ga2017preview


One very compelling element of General

Assembly is the Saturday evening Ware Lecture,

an endowed presentation that has, in earlier

years, featured such luminaries as Martin Luther

King, Jr., Kurt Vonnegut, Krista Tippett, Cornel

West, Mary Oliver, and Sister Simone Campbell

(among others). This year’s Ware Lecture will be

presented by Bryan Stevenson, executive

director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a

nonprofit institution that works to end criminal

justice system discrimination based on poverty

and race. Stevenson’s book Just Mercy: A Story of

Justice and Redemption, was selected as the UU

Common Read in 2015-2016. Here in

Carbondale, this work was read and discussed

by our CUF Racial Justice Discussion Group.

[As noted on the UUA website, “this year's Ware

Lecture will be available via live streaming video

only; it will not be recorded or available for on-

demand viewing later. Please join us at

UUA.org/ga/2017 on Saturday, June 24, 2017,

from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. CDT to watch live from

your home computer, or consider gathering as a

congregation to watch it together!” – CUFlinks

editor]

The three candidates for UUA president —the

Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, the Rev. Alison

Miller, and the Rev. Jeanne Pupke—will share

their insights, intentions, and priorities at a

Presidential Forum to be held on Friday evening,

June 23rd. The voting process concludes the next

day, June 24th, and our new president will be

announced at the end of the Ware Lecture that

same evening.

General Assembly often includes an action of

public witness, an opportunity for GA attendees

to go outside the convention center in

affirmation of our shared UU values in the GA

host community. This year's public witness

event will explore the idea of sanctuary in

support of immigrants and refugees, with New

Orleans' art community participating. Carey

McDonald, UUA outreach director and one of

the lead coordinators of the event, has

commented “The notion of creating a safe space

for people under threat has deep religious roots

and is something that UUs—and Unitarians, and

Universalists—have done for a long time,” he

said, partially in reference to the sanctuary

movement of the 1980s. “We want this public

witness to be a part of the arc of work that’s

happening, to try and elevate and proclaim UU

values and how we’re putting them into action

in a New Orleans-specific context.”(McArdle)

Before closing, let me mention one more “first.”

This year, the UUA has worked with the UU

College of Social Justice and the New Orleans

Center for Ethical Living and Social Justice

Renewal, in order to prepare a “Get Ready”

curriculum to assist those attending to get ready

for their GA experience. The curriculum includes

“a selection of readings, videos, and activities

about the history of the city that emphasize the

intersections of race, class, and economics and

that center on the experiences of people of

color.” (McArdle) Whether you plan to attend

GA or not, you can access the curriculum at

http://www.uua.org/ga/ga-prep-resources

Do you feel disappointed that you can’t be

there? If so, don’t despair! You can be part of this

year’s GA from the comfort of any internet

access point. Several of the events described

above will be streamed live on the UUA website

at http://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2017 and

anyone with internet access can view them. A

schedule of the events to be livestreamed is

posted on that webpage.

For more information about GA 2017, visit

http://www.uua.org/ga/ or contact CUF

Denominational Connections Coordinator, Bill

http://susanfrederickgray.com/http://www.alisonforuuapresident.org/http://www.alisonforuuapresident.org/http://www.jeannepupke.com/http://www.uua.org/ga/ga-prep-resourceshttp://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2017http://www.uua.org/ga/


Sasso at [email protected]! And don’t forget –

next year’s General Assembly will be held in

Kansas City – only a four-hour drive from

Carbondale!

INTERFAITH COUNCIL NEWS by Rev. Sarah Richards

Rev. Sarah and Vivian Feuerborn, (new CUF

liaison to CIC) attended the last Interfaith

Council meeting on May 23rd, along with about

twenty-five other members and guests. Gateway

Foundation, an alcohol and drug treatment

center, hosted this end-of-year potluck meeting.

Representatives of some of the most active CIC

affiliated organizations gave updated reports.

Race Unity Group meets

every Tuesday, 7-9pm at the Newman

Center; find them on Facebook: "Race

Unity Group of Carbondale." The group

has met weekly for more than a year, in

addition to these regular conversations,

they have had "movie field trips" and

discussions. They are currently pursuing

advocacy opportunities for the Cairo

HUD residents facing displacement, and

planning activities in support of the

Eurma Hayes Center in Carbondale. Race

Unity Group has open membership - all

are welcome.

Two representatives of the Sparrow

Coalition gave updates on the homeless

advocacy group's continuing projects:

there will be a Social Work grad student

at Carbondale Public Library again in the

fall; the latest Resource Guides are being

distributed and can be downloaded from

their website:

https://sparrowcoalition.files.wordpress.c

om/2015/07/2017-cdale-resources-

brochure.pdf; they are also looking for a

staff person, perhaps a Vista Volunteer.

Other activities are working with the city

to remove the city tow fee, and develop

an Assistance Data Base to track and

respond to requests for assistance.

The new subgroup of CIC, Carbondale

Area Interfaith Refugee Support was

represented by Fr. Bob Flannery. He

reported on the March trip made by

several members to the Institute for

International Education in St. Louis, a

multi-service refugee resettlement

organization. Currently, they are helping

St. Francis Xavier provide temporary

financial support to a Kurdish refugee

and his family in Carbondale.

Maurine Pyle, Board Member of Good

Samaritan Ministries (founded and

supported by the CIC) gave a brief

update, emphasizing that we need to

enlarge our view of how we take care

of/support people who are homeless

beyond the current small facility on

Marion

St. http://goodsamcarbondale.org/

After these reports, we enjoyed the potluck

dinner, and then toured the extensive Gateway

Foundation facilities. Gateway provides

residential and out-patient services for adults

and adolescents, women and men. We learned

that they have the only residential treatment

program for adolescent females in Southern

Illinois. We also learned that there are no detox

programs at all in our region, and agreed that

this is an important area for CIC advocacy.

The next CIC meeting will be Aug. 22nd. The

location has not yet been decided.

mailto:[email protected]://sparrowcoalition.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/2017-cdale-resources-brochure.pdfhttps://sparrowcoalition.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/2017-cdale-resources-brochure.pdfhttps://sparrowcoalition.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/2017-cdale-resources-brochure.pdfhttp://goodsamcarbondale.org/


REFLECTIONS FROM AND IN RESPONSE TO THE

WHITE SUPREMACY TEACH-IN

Background & Looking Ahead

On May 7, 2017, CUF joined more than 600 UU

congregations answering the call from Black Lives

UU http://www.blacklivesuu.com/ to explore

issues of systemic racism. In doing so, those of us

involved in organizing and presenting the special

service at CUF hoped to encourage engagement,

and dialog around these issues. The following

reflections are part of that, beginning with those

shared at the service by Nolan Wright, and Kathy

O'Laughlin, two of the local Teach-In Service

organizers, to provide some context for readers

who were not able to attend, followed by

reflections from Jane Adams, Bob De Filippis, and

Curt Wilson, three of those who did (use these

links to jump directly to each). There will be

additional opportunities to share thoughts and

feelings about the Teach-In service and the

journey to racial justice, beginning with a session

on Saturday, June 3, from 9:30-11:00 am. All are

welcome—whether you attended the May 7

service or not. Contact Rev. Sarah

([email protected]), Kathy O’Laughlin

([email protected]), or Nolan Wright

([email protected]) for more information.

For those looking to dig deeper and hear and read

other voices, a list of racial justice educational

resources is also included below, excerpts from a

new social justice resource page being added to

the CUF website.

Introduction – CUF White Supremacy Teach-In, as presented May 7, 2017 by Nolan Wright

Thank you for coming to participate in this special

service about white supremacy culture. We are

one of more than six hundred UU congregations

and fellowships that committed to do this

nationally, most convening on this journey today.

Racism and white supremacy may seem like odd

topics for UUs to be talking about, in the sense of

potentially contributing to that culture or

otherwise being part of the problem, not just its

solution. So I am going to take a few minutes to

introduce what we mean by these concepts, as we

are going to be talking about them today, and

hopefully further in the months to come, why we

are doing so now, and how I relate to this

discussion personally.

Let’s be clear at the onset: This is not about blame,

shame, guilt, or whether we or any of us are nice

or good people. It is about observing, realizing,

thinking critically, both systematically and

personally, and taking action to effectuate change.

When we UUs think about racism and white

supremacy I suspect the things that come to mind

are entirely external to our congregations, and we

see ourselves and our congregations as part of the

solution, not part of the problem. It is easy to see

racism when it takes the form of individual acts of

meanness by members of one group against

members of another because of their otherness.

And to see white supremacy in similar overt

terms, as conscious bias and belief in the

superiority of the white race. When we hear or

think about those terms, racism and white

supremacy, these are the kinds of faces and acts

that probably come to mind: The KKK, Aryan

Nation adherents, and the alt-right. But that is not

what we are here to talk about today.

When we talk today and ask you to think about

white supremacy, we are talking about a set of

institutionalized assumptions and practices, often

operating unconsciously, that tend to benefit

white people and exclude people of color,

systematically providing unearned power to white

http://www.blacklivesuu.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


people at the expense of persons of color. It shows

up in many ways, every day. In the aisles of

grocery stores and drug stores where persons of

color often have a difficult time finding band aids

and cosmetics that match their skin color, and

those labeled “flesh tone” or “nude” certainly do

not. This is not just a matter of convenience. It is a

reminder that in our society, the default is white.

Persons of color are seen as “other,” either exotic,

to be feared, or both, and expected in any case to

learn how to meet the dominant i.e. white

culture’s expectations. Many of us who have

listened have heard the stories from persons of

color about white people who want to touch their

hair, of being followed by suspicious store

employees whenever they go to a department

store, of being passed over for jobs, of the

insinuations when they got jobs or school

placements that it was only because of affirmative

action, of the surprised comments from whites

about how well-spoken they are, and of the

harassment by law enforcement officers pulling

them over or otherwise detaining them—or

worse—because of the color of their skin.

This is an awkward thing for me personally. I did

not grow up thinking of myself as part of the

dominant society. I realize that many, probably

most people see me as a white man. But I am a

Jew, and grew up knowing the Nazis murdered

millions of people like me, viewing us as a

different and inferior race, and even now, in our

nation and others, there are white people, some of

them leaders with many followers, that question

whether Jews are human beings. For many years,

when I have been asked to fill out a form where I

have to check off a box to identify my race, I do

not find myself listed there. None of the categories

feel like they really fit. I choose Caucasian, because

it is the least incorrect option. I also know,

intellectually, that I have benefitted in my life

because of having been seen by most others as

being a white man (even though I have also been

literally stopped on the street and asked if I was a

Jew).

A couple of experiences in the past year have

caused me to recognize the privilege I have

enjoyed much more clearly. After observing a

situation where I was convinced that a Carbondale

Police officer had pulled over a driver of color and

was falsely accusing him of failing to stop at a stop

sign, I approached the officer on foot as he was

sitting in his car and told him I did not think it

was justified. I also told him I was providing my

contact information as a witness to the driver he

had pulled over, if the officer wrote him up for it.

Later, talking about the incident with my female

African American coworker, she told me if she

had done that where she grew up or the places she

had lived, the officer would have shot her down.

We are friends, have worked together for years,

and have had many conversations about race, but

I was shocked, and I realized that for all of my

perceived outsider status, I was profoundly

privileged. Another conversation underscored the

importance of that, and the responsibility that

goes with it. I was talking with an African

American law student after the election,

discussing incidents of racist harassment that had

been reported in the aftermath, ways that a

bystander could intervene and related risks, and

he pointed out that a difference between us is that


if the police were called to the scene, I would

instantly have credibility with them that he as a

Black man would not. My parents taught me to do

the right thing, including talking truth to power,

never suggested I should be afraid to do so, nor

that my freedom to do so was dependent on my

skin color. The reality is that is not true, and there

is a responsibility that springs from that reality in

my opinion.

If we are really going to live our principles; if we

are going to live an embodied life, integrating

what we think, what we say, and what we do, we

need to be willing to do this work. It is not about

helping the underprivileged, it is about using our

privileged status to dismantle privilege and

ultimately to give up that privileged status. As

noted by Dr. Robin Di Angelo in Deconstructing

White Privilege, “[w]e did not choose it. It is not

our fault. But it is not an accident, and we are

responsible for changing it, because the default in

our society is the reproduction of racism. It is built

into every system and institution. If we just carry

on and live our lives in the way that is comfortable

for us, we will necessarily reproduce it.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIx3KQer54

That’s why I’m here, participating in this service.

But why now? And what does this have to do

with our fellowship and the larger UU

community? This has been described as a pivotal

moment for the nation, and many UUs here and

elsewhere are actively engaged in social action as

a result. It has also been described as pivotal

moment for the UUA, for internal reasons, as well

as those external ones. As you may be aware, the

UUA President and two other members of the

leadership team recently stepped down following

a controversy after a white man was hired to fill

an important vacancy in the organization, over a

female Latina applicant—reportedly the third time

in the past two years that such a position has been

filled by a white person, ostensibly because he was

a “better fit” for the team—despite language in the

UUA bylaws recognizing past systems of power,

privilege, and oppression and the barriers that has

created within the organization. Twenty-five years

ago, in 1992, the Resolution of Immediate Witness

affirmed the “vision of a racially diverse and

multicultural Unitarian Universalism.” Five years

later, Delegates at the General Assembly voted

that the UUA commit to intentionally becoming a

multicultural and anti-racist institution. Yet, here

and now in 2017, people of color reportedly make

up no more than 11 percent of any rank of UUA

employees except service workers, where they are

84 percent of employees.

The question is what are we going to do about it?

As we move ahead locally, working to expand our

membership, are we willing to do the work to

truly be a welcoming congregation to people of

color, even if that means giving up some of our

comfort in the process that we enjoy, if only

unconsciously, in being in a white space? Are we

willing to explore what that even means? Are we

willing to get comfortable with being

uncomfortable?”

We (UUs) Must Change – CUF White Supremacy Teach-In, as presented May 7, 2017 by Kathy O’Laughlin

As we prepared for this service, I was inspired

by an essay written by Rosemary Bray McNatt ,

an African American UU Minister, in the UU

World in 2010. In fact, I was tempted to read

large portions of her essay to you, because I felt

she clearly spoke to some of the issues we face as

UUs when we attempt to address the very

difficult issues around white supremacy. But

then, I realized to do so would not be authentic,

because though I share some of her views, her

story is not my story. Hers is not the story of a

4th generation Euro-American, catholic by birth

and Buddhist/UU by choice, white, heterosexual

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIx3KQer54


female. And even as I write those labels which

are accurate as far as they go, I resist the

limitations imposed by them. Yes, I am all of

those things, but I'm also someone who delights

in watching her daughter dance and I am

someone who believes there is a way we humans

are connected to one another that is

transcendent. I believe we are all so much more

that our labels. And, if we can maintain a spirit

of openness and inquiry, we will overcome the

limitations that white supremacist culture

thrusts on all of us.

In her essay, Reverend McNatt acknowledges

the difficulty of changing UU culture, which has

long spoken about becoming more diverse while

changing very little over the decades. She

describes some aspects of UU culture which I

will share directly from her essay:

“"Consider who many of us are, and who we are

pretty proud about being, no matter what our

race or ethnicity. Many of us are the people who

brag about not owning televisions because there

is nothing worth watching, unless it is PBS.

Many of us are the people who refuse to listen to

popular music because it is misogynistic and

violent, and more than a few of us regard rap

music as nothing more than noise and confusion.

Many of us change the channel, and listen to

NPR and love Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home

Companion, and laugh when Keillor makes fun

of us. Many of us are unapologetic nature lovers,

and the only thing we might love more than

hiking in the woods is building our

congregations in the woods, complete with tiny

elegant signs that blend in well with the natural

environment but cannot possibly be seen by a

seeker on the highway. Many of us eat locally,

we shop at farmer’s markets, and we would

never be caught in Wal-Mart, unless it was a dire

emergency. Many of us do look ahead in our

hymnal to see whether we agree with the words,

and forget that the person sitting next to us may

need exactly the words we are refusing to sing.

Most of all, many of us love our UU

congregations because they represent for us

places of respite and peace and sanctuary."

That description resonates pretty closely with

me, except for the Walmart thing, since in this

rural community I have a hard time not

shopping there occasionally. For me the place I

don't shop is Hobby Lobby, and if you don't

know why, you can talk to me after the service!

I know after the election, I wanted nothing more

than to be here at the Fellowship, surrounded by

my people, the people who share my values and

see the world the way I do. It brought me great

comfort to be here, and it still does. I know that

no matter what is going on out there, I've got a

community here that gets me and my views of

the world, and will work with me to try to make

the world a better place. In here, I don't have to

explain why I don't support the current

president or why I do support marriage equality.

For me, this is a place of respite and peace and

sanctuary. And I don't want that to change.

The idea that this Fellowship could become

something totally different makes me a little

anxious. I like this place the way it is. It is

comfortable. I can be authentically UU and

Buddhist, and for the most part, I feel like I can

express what I believe without being judged.

And yet, I worry that we as a congregation are a

little too comfortable in our ways. Yes, we want

to be welcoming to people of different racial,

ethnic and sexual gender or orientation groups.

But what if those other folk want this fellowship

to change? What if they want to hear different

music, or different messages? How would we

respond to that? Are we ready to embrace that?


A number of years ago, Bill repeated a phrase he

had heard: "Always certain, sometimes right".

That phrase really stuck with me, because it

speaks to how we humans (and certainly I) often

see things. We are so sure of our point of view.

And yet...sometimes things are nowhere near as

black and white as we believe them to be. In

Buddhism, one of the practices we engage in is

called "don't know mind". We try to practice

avoiding the human tendency to see things in a

dualistic way, to grab onto our own point of

view. On many issues, the "right" way of looking

at an issue simply jumps into my mind, without

being invited or examined critically. It is a

practice to step back from that and say, "wait a

minute--where did that come from, and why do I

think that is true? Are there other ways of

looking at it?"

What does this have to do with white supremacy

culture? I believe this human tendency to see the

world from our own point of view leads us to

reject the competing viewpoints of others. If I see

police officers as helpers and "good guys", it is

challenging for me to hold the view that others

experience them as a threat, and sometimes feel

the need to run away or escape from encounters

with them. Is it possible we are both right? If my

African-American brothers and sisters express a

viewpoint that is different from mine, can I

accept its validity?

Are we UUs white supremacists? I'm not sure

there is a yes or no answer. Maybe there are

more than 50 shades of gray on the continuum of

white supremacy. Certainly I do not hear overt

racism from our members. In fact, I think we are

mostly very good hearted and trying hard to be

anti-racist. And yet, after spending the last

couple of years studying with the racial justice

reading group, I have gotten a lot more in touch

with my own biases and what I would call

inadvertent white supremacy, which is a large

part of what white supremacy culture is. We

simply assume the white viewpoint is the

default, the norm, and any other perception

abnormal or wrong, rather than acknowledging

that ours is simply one among many viewpoints.

When I was in my 20s, I was in a relationship

with an African American man for about 9 years.

During that time, I became very immersed in

black culture in Chicago. And I learned how

much black folks talk about white folks. I

remember saying to him at one point "you are

obsessed with race!" and assured him that my

family "never even thinks about it". I cringe now

to recall those words, tinged with white

supremacism, yet reflecting my honest and

unknowing view of the world at that time. Yes,

black folks are obsessed with race. They forget it

at their peril. They have to prepare their children

to function and be safe in a racist world. And in

my white privileged world, we didn't have to

think about it, though of course it was always

there. For us white folks, we choose whether and

when to think about racism, whether to "stay

woke" or go back to sleep. When it is

overwhelming or discouraging, we can retreat

into our white world and "not think about it".

Black folks have no choice; it is part of every

breath they take.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwjjzuXc6r3TAhUL74MKHYfnAWwQjRwIBw&url=https://br.pinterest.com/explore/white-privilege-definition/&psig=AFQjCNEiAZt9TDSslL3qeL8mbImOgng8CA&ust=1493148689746854


I believe the antidote to white supremacy culture

is to cultivate open heartedness in ourselves and

in our community. Thich Nhat Hanh, one of my

Buddhist teachers, talks about watering seeds of

compassion in ourselves, in order to be more

compassionate with others. It starts with

mindfulness. Note your reactions. For example,

how does this service make you feel? Where is

your point of resistance or discomfort? Notice

what that is about. Does that feeling remind you

of anything you've experienced in the past? Be

kind to yourself as you engage in this

exploration. Don't expect yourself or anyone else

to be perfect, but be open to our shared

humanity and imperfection. Be tender and

merciful to yourself, and to others in the

community. We need each other, we need this

community, and we need to change if this

community is to survive.

It is hard to take on these issues. It is hard to

commit to dismantling white supremacy, in

ourselves, in our community, and in the wider

world. It will take our courage and commitment

to do this work. Reverend McKnatt says: "These

things are the work of the spirit. These things

call us to be faithful to James Luther Adams’s

observation that church is where we practice

what it means to be human." Our challenge is to

reach outside ourselves, and open our hearts to

each other and to those outside our community.

Let's learn from them and be willing to change in

response to them. Let's learn to love each other

more and better. Let's forgive each other, more

and better. If we practice what it means to be

human, our congregations may become faithful

communities of change. Through this work, may

we achieve the beloved community we all seek!

May it be so!

Thoughts about America’s “Race Problem” aka white supremacy by Jane Adams

My life has been saturated with concerns about

and action relating to white supremacy and

other ways we human beings deny the essential

humanity of others. Many of you know my

family was active in the civil rights movement

from before I was born. When I was in high

school we – and CUF – helped desegregate


Carbondale’s restaurants; my brother Jim went

to jail with many others in the Cairo Movement

and my parents put up our farm to bail them

out.

In 1964 Jim and I went to Mississippi for

Freedom Summer. I spent a year and a half on

the black side of the color line in some of the

meanest, most violent counties in Mississippi.

Because of my complexion, I frequently passed

for black.

I also grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust.

My mother’s parents’ families who stayed in

Poland were incinerated in Belzek, the first,

experimental gas chambers on Poland’s

southeastern border, or maybe nearby Majdanek

or Sobibor or Poniatowa. I know of no survivors.

As a professor of anthropology and of history at

SIU I taught about millenarian and nationalist

movements, and then about the raging conflicts

in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, and less bloody

but nonetheless brutal conflicts in Latin America.

I shared my parents’ deep antipathy to

nationalism, and I have developed a profound

appreciation of the ways that nationalist

grievance can tear communities and nations

apart.

In 2000 I went back to Mississippi with my

husband, a native white Mississippian who had

been kicked out of Ole Miss for joining SNCC.

We interviewed people who had stood in many

relations to the civil rights movement –

movement heroes, leaders of the white

resistance, people who fit uneasily on one side or

the other of the color line – Chinese, Italians,

Jews, Lebanese.

I came to understand more deeply the concept of

“caste and class” through which 1930s

anthropologists viewed the U.S. South – the idea

that white and black societies were organized in

roughly parallel classes, with whites holding the

top positions.

The vision of a racially divided “separate but

equal” polity has deep roots, among African

Americans as well as Euro-Americans. Marcus

Garvey, Elijah Muhammad’s and Louis

Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, the Communist

Party between 1928 and 1935, and many others

promoted Black Nationalism and separatism.

I am acutely aware that African Americans

continue to face racial insults – and huge areas of

ambiguity regarding white peoples’ intentions.

I’m a woman, and, even at my advanced age, I

experience sexist insults and difficulty

interpreting many men’s intentions. I’ve also

experienced the undercurrents of anti-Semitism

and anti-Catholicism, as well as hostility to

LGBTQ people and others who are visibly

“different.” “Identities” are important.

But the problems that bedevil African Americans

as a group – unlike other “identity” groups – are

more class issues than racial issues. A far higher

proportion of black people are poor than are

whites (26% black, 11.6% white)– though many

more whites are poor than blacks (23 million

white, 10 million black). And lots of people of all

races and ethnicities live on the fringes of

statistically recognized poverty, leading

economically precarious lives.

Additionally, far more African American

children grow up in homes that are persistently

poor – according to one study, 24.8% of African

American children born between 1970 and 1990

lived all or most of their childhoods in poverty,

compared to 3% of white children. That’s double

the number of African American children

compared to white children – 2.65 million black

children to 1.32 million white children.


That’s the crisis and tragedy facing African

Americans – and whites, and American Indians,

and Latinos, and Hawaiians, and Asians. Poor

people in each group face specific racial/ethnic

barriers to success, but all face an economy that

creates winners and an increasingly large

number of losers.

I have been deeply disappointed by liberal

leadership, black and white, that treats nearly all

American injustice as racially based – even as

large numbers of African Americans have

attained college educations and moved into the

middle and upper classes. It’s been a

tremendous success story. The specifically racist

barriers to achievement, while not erased, have

increasingly less weight.

But the economic barriers to achievement are

becoming increasingly powerful.

Yet we continue to focus on race as the most

important problem of American culture, and

many upwardly mobile African Americans,

along with affluent whites, beat the drums of

white supremacy and seek racially-specific

remedies – even as more and more people of all

races, religions, and genders slide down the

economic ladder.

I am particularly concerned that well-intention

but privileged whites, like most UUs, while

seeking to promote social and civil racial

equality may, in fact, spur deeper inequalities

within the African American community, as well

as in the community at large. And, instead of

healing the racial divide, inflame it.

The challenge we face – especially as robots and

digital technologies replace human labor – is

developing real economic opportunities for

everyone. This isn’t primarily about extending

the social safety net – though that’s important;

it’s about finding ways that everyone possible

can be a contributing member of our society.

This is an enormous challenge – but one I believe

must be engaged if we are truly to make our

UUA principles truly live in our world.

Reflections on Institutionalized Racism and Diversity from a CUF Perspective by Robert De Filippis

As I think about the issue of institutionalized

racism in the UU body, I need to divide it into at

least two branches. One is the congregation that

either welcomes or discourages potential

members of color. The other is the congregation

that welcomes or discourages potential

employees of color.

I wouldn’t agree that our hiring practices at CUF

are infected with racism. So that leaves the

question of members of color.

I am convinced that the CUF does not

discourage potential members of color either

consciously or unconsciously. I agree that we

don’t see the faces of different hues that would

make a person of color feel more welcome. But

that situation seems to be the result of our

inability to appeal to them for cultural and

theological reasons. We don’t seem to be going

where they want to go anymore that we’re going

where many other people with deep cultural,

traditional and theological commitments to

Christian, Jewish or Islamic faith traditions want

to go.

I liken this to a ship. Our CUF ship is full of

warm, welcoming, accepting people, but the

potential traveller needs to want to sail with us

to our intended destination. Other than a

psychological intervention that changes that part

of their personalities, how can we attract anyone


of any color, unless they come to an awareness

of that need on their own?

As an example, Unitarianism didn’t attract me

when I was a devout Catholic until I came to the

conclusion that I didn’t believe the church’s

teachings any longer. It was my own crisis of

faith that launched my search culminating in

UU’ism.

To me that leaves the question of how do we

affect change in the public sphere. This is a very

large target. Many of us have worked in this

domain for years. But the issue is one of

enormous proportions. I don’t offer that as an

excuse, only that we need to focus where the

work needs to be done and for us, it’s outside

our walls.

It pains me that there are many religiously

disenchanted people of good will who could

find a welcoming home here and I don’t know

how to find and convince them to check us out.

But knowing several black people of deep

religious faith, I shudder to think I could

convince them we have answers they need.

I’m going to risk a guess here. A form of

Christianity is as deeply embedded in African

American culture as stories of the Middle

Passage. In particular, the concept of salvation

had a very real effect in keeping slaves alive

during their ordeals. The slave spirituals are full

of the promise of release from these worldly

chains into paradise and Jesus was the one who

would bring them home.

We know culture’s effects have a way of being

brought forward for at least 200 years. There is a

certain peace in surrender to a faith tradition that

offers the answers instead of questions. And we

have the opposite. We not only offer but

welcome questions.

I’d like nothing more than to see a rainbow

congregation. I just don’t have a clue how to

bring that about. I’m all ears.

Reflections on White Supremacy, Racial Justice, White Privilege, and Personal Responsibility by Curt Wilson

Growing up in a culture infused with a sense of

normalized whiteness and unquestioned

institutionalized and subconscious white

supremacy, it wasn't until my late teens and

especially my college years that I began to

question the dominant narratives at hand across

many fronts. One of these fronts was racial and

the idea that I had to fear African Americans in

order to protect myself.

Early college years brought exposure to cultures

other than the white culture I had been mostly

surrounded with by my well-meaning parents

who likely saw and experienced non-whiteness

as threatening, something to move away and

stay away from in the name of personal and

economic safety and security.

When I moved away to attend college at SIUC,

exposure to other cultures occurred in a much

more robust fashion and I began to truly see the

humanity beneath the social programming. I am

thankful for college experiences and engagement

with activist groups. As an example, I became

the Vice President of the Mid America Peace

Project (MAPP), a member of the Student

Environmental Center (SEC), an organizer with

the Student Peace Alliance (SPA) and grew from

the relationships formed with other groups such

as Friends for Native Americans and the local

Palestinian activists who were attempting to

raise awareness about their plight. I learned a bit

more history than what was taught in my

middle class white upbringing. I educated


myself about groups such as the Black Panthers,

and individuals such as Martin Luther King and

Malcolm X. I felt a resonance with what they

were saying and realized the whitewashing went

deeper than I had expected.

Still, I was soaked in my own white male

privilege and didn't really do anything to break

down the privilege I was operating with as I

attempted to agitate and raise awareness to help

social and environmental causes. Other than the

few groups that I engaged with tangentially,

most of the activist groups were composed of

reasonably well-off white college students, many

unaware of the systems of privilege and white

supremacy they were born into and benefiting

from (myself included). It should go without

saying here that I am not blaming the

individuals here, and they are not "bad people"

due to this dynamic. Yet, I do believe we have a

responsibility to break down these systems once

we learn of them, and see them operating. I

realize this isn't easy, and that what I'm calling

for here is giving up white privilege, while using

white privilege to bring a critical light onto itself.

This is not easy, and will be uncomfortable, but I

believe it is necessary.

Back to the timeline - awareness of this

phenomenon of white privilege made me

curious to engage more deeply, so I signed up

for an "Unlearning Racism" workshop held on

campus. I entered Quigley hall to see an African

American woman named Keisha preparing to

teach the workshop. She had an aura of strength

and clarity about her. The audience was mixed

race, men and women, which was good to see. I

suspect some where there to fulfill course

obligations, while others were more sincere.

During the workshop, Keisha engaged in a

variety of strategies to help break open the fears

and bubbles of racism in a very direct manner.

She called volunteers to the front, and

dismantled their narratives (with their

permission). One African American woman

went up front and began speaking and as she

did, she put her hand on her hip and struck a

pose of defiance. Keisha pushed her hand away

from her hip. The woman put her hand back on

her hip, and Keisha pushed it away again. The

woman then realized what Keisha was doing -

helping her to dismantle her character armor,

likely placed there as a protection against a

culture of white supremacy and the pain that it

had caused her or her loved ones. This was a

powerful thing to witness, and it opened my

heart and mind. It was not book learning. This

was a moment of realization, that helped start

the walls crumbling. Alas, crumbling of personal

walls is a start, but in the face of such a problem

it's not enough to just have the walls come

down.

Keisha put us into dyads, groups of two, to more

directly break down racial fears. Each dyad

basically consisted of one African American and

one white person engaged in a discussion about

their perceptions of each other and any racial

overtones that might be getting in the way of

experiencing that person as an authentic human

being. In my case, I realized a fear of groups of

black men. Since my brother was assaulted on

the street late one night by a group of angry

black men, and I myself was punched in the face

by a group of black teens on the Carbondale

"strip", there was some fear at play. The man in

our dyad was gentle as I expressed my fear, and

I listened gently to his own concerns and his

experiences being looked upon as suspicious by

most whites. He was an open person, and

appreciated the experience as much as I did.

Turns out, he also felt some fear at being judged

by me. Since neither of us judged each other, the


experience -although brief- stuck with me and is

still a crisp, vivid memory.

This workshop was profound, and helped to

bring concepts home and land them in an

embodied experience in a way that was not

possible with a mere intellectual or conceptual

learning approach, safely tucked away from the

impact of systemic white supremacy.

As life moved on, I engaged in a variety of

activist work as time allowed although my spirit

for making change in the world took a big hit

around the time of the first gulf war, which we

were organizing against and trying to stop. With

the unrealistic expectations of a person in their

early 20's, I was crestfallen when an African

American man with heavy eyes walked into the

computer lab in Faner hall one night. I looked

up, and noticed his eyes. He looked straight at

me and said, "they just bombed Baghdad". I felt

a heavy weight in my chest as if all our work

was for naught. I had to leave the computer lab

and weep at the sense of tragedy and loss.

Another earlier experience of watching a

national forest area be harvested by a regional

logging company despite much protest and legal

action was also a demoralizing force. Because of

these and other experience combined with an

increasing sense of frustration with trying to

accomplish things in the outside world, I turned

my energies more inward, and began to more

deeply explore various aspects of spirituality

and put "external activism" on the back burner.

Over the years, I would attend a vigil here or

there and try to spend money consciously, to

engage with local businesses and boycott

organizations and businesses that engaged in

harmful practices as much as I could within the

limitations of our industrialized capitalist sphere

of operations.

Fast forward many years. When Trump was

elected, the old fire returned. First, in the form of

a mild depression and sense of hopelessness.

This soon, within days, gave way to a clearer

sense of purpose - that external action was again

required in a larger way. The conceptual navel-

gazing work (mindfulness meditation, for

example) is important as a foundation for a clear

mind, however this is not enough - one must

embody their realizations and bring them to life.

It was time to take a risk and put myself out

there again, somehow, even if it was a small

step. I had long ago given up on the naive idea

of some sort of revolution coming along and

resolving everything as some new utopian world

would emerge.

As a middle-aged man now with a loving

partner and two children, I realize that true

revolution (in the typical sense) would bring

death and great instability. Some have staked

their lives on the idea that some revolution is

coming. Others just care about themselves, or

themselves plus some small bubble of people

they love. Others work towards a revolution of

consciousness. I believe it takes both a revolution

and evolution of consciousness plus work in the

world to bring progress and give fuel to the fight

at hand to break down systems of oppression.

The sense of frustration at watching business as

usual (the mechanizations of capitalism and the

greed and corruption that helps fuel that system,

along with racism, white supremacy,

environmental injustice, and other social ills

proceeding at a rapid pace while the rich get

richer) must not become paralysis. It must

instead become a catalyst to stimulate some type

of action.

The idea of simply finding a good job as some

endgame was not satisfactory. Over time, I

began to believe that in a "developed" world

where people who are fortunate enough to have


employment, so much time is spent preparing

for that employment, engaging in that

employment, and recovering from that

employment that the time required to truly build

a world based on mutual aid and sustainability

seemed more and more remote, and was merely

a utopian pipe dream from earlier, more

idealistic days. It also seemed to me that if one

became too effective in their activism and if that

same activism disrupted business as usual too

much, then the activist would be seen as a threat

and punished with loss of employment,

harassment, or other penalties to include death

(see the FBI's COINTELPRO, that smeared and

did great damage to many activists in an attempt

to neutralize social change movements). In a

Lilly-white world with health benefits, 401K

plans and other vested capitalist interests closely

enmeshed in individual and family concepts of

well-being, anything that might put the family or

self at risk was to be avoided, according to

conventional wisdom that asks that we play it

safe, avoid rocking the boat, and just look the

other way as the injustices pile up around us.

One cannot carry the world upon one's

shoulders, but turning away from pain and

difficulty keeps us disconnected from our hearts

and from the core humanity at hand. It is for this

reason that I’m submitting this article with my

name attached to it, instead of requesting that it

be published anonymously. I have no illusions

that any semblance of activism I engage in is

anywhere near effective enough to warrant

surveillance and harassment, however in a

country moving further and further towards the

far right and away from human rights, I will

admit to having some concerns. So be it.

Back to the present. Having attended the

Unitarian Universalist congregation at the

Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship for a few

years, I was appreciative of the atmosphere of

like-minded progressive people, but could not

help but notice just how *white* the whole

fellowship was. Some research led to the insights

that a split occurred in Unitarian history at some

point. This is mentioned at

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/the-uua-meets-

black-power which states:

"Two shocks jolted the Unitarian Universalist

Association soon after its formation. Both were

related to the struggle for racial justice, but while

one unified the denomination, sustaining its self-

image of being on the right side of the struggle,

the other shattered this easy assumption and

inflicted wounds that still have not healed.

First, in 1965, came the murder of the Rev. James

Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist minister, while he

was in Selma, Alabama, demonstrating for black

civil rights. Second, only four years later, many

black delegates and their white supporters

walked out of the General Assembly in Boston to

protest what they considered a racist vote."

There is a lot written on this history, and I have

more reading to do on the matter. I suggest those

that are interested also dig in to this history and

learn from it.

In private discussions with our pastor, I

mentioned that I appreciated our CUF, but that I

had noticed that our group was "very white".

This was received appropriately by Reverend

Sarah, who acknowledged the situation and said

she wanted to work further on it. Some months

passed, and I learned about a Black Lives UU

group engaging in over 600 coordinated

workshops taking the place of the normal

Sunday service, dedicated to helping to realize

our role in benefiting from the systems and

culture of white supremacy and putting forth the

intention to take definitive action to break down

this privilege.

http://www.uuworld.org/articles/the-uua-meets-black-powerhttp://www.uuworld.org/articles/the-uua-meets-black-power


I wept several times during the workshop, which

was led by all-white UU members working to

come to terms with this weighty subject. While

an expression of compassion for our group

process was called for, calling out the systems of

white supremacy was done very clearly, with no

attempt to wiggle off the hook. Personal

accounts of how we benefited from systematized

white supremacy were called out. The

difficulties of loosening the golden noose of

white privilege were spoken to, and the

realization that progressive whites and African

Americans must together take upon the difficult

work to break down these systems of white

supremacy was expressed. Despite my sense of

gratitude at everyone involved in this workshop

who put themselves out there and made

themselves vulnerable in the face of the problem

at hand, I still cannot help but feel that the whole

workshop itself still took place within the comfy

environment of white supremacy. This sense of

meta-analysis should not become paralysis

however, and perfect should not be the enemy of

good.

This institutionalized system of white

supremacy is not a system that will be

dismantled overnight, but it is work that must be

done. I am pleased to hear of the 8th principle of

Unitarianism, but was troubled to hear that it

was never implemented. I hope that it can be

implemented soon, so that the UU can move

forward to the work of helping to break down

systems of white supremacy and bringing about

a better world over time, in solidarity with

people of color and all others who wish to take

definitive action, and not just engage in talk.

There is a lot that can be said. This reflection just

scratches the surface at best. The task at hand

won't be easy work and I doubt we'll be able to

break these systems any time soon as they are so

enmeshed. Yet, we must make an effort, and we

must be willing to disengage from our

unquestioned and institutionalized privilege as

whites. I have no illusions that we'll see

immediate change, but there are things we can

do in our personal lives to educate ourselves and

unlearn white supremacist culture, and we can

take a stand when the time comes, with a clear

conscience and open hearts to the challenge

ahead.

RACIAL JUSTICE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Compiled by Nolan Wright Materials from CUF May 7, 2017 White

Supremacy Culture Teach-In (Understanding

and Deconstructing Institutionalized White

Supremacy in the United States):

White Privilege II, by Macklemore & Ryan

Lewis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rl

4ZGdy34

Deconstructing White Privilege, by Dr.

Robin Di Angelo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwI

x3KQer54

Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness

Visible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KYJ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rl4ZGdy34https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_rl4ZGdy34https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIx3KQer54https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwIx3KQer54https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KYJl0PECv8&list=PL9jzhJhqkkJJPRQkekAU_9RG7urpAdLWF


l0PECv8&list=PL9jzhJhqkkJJPRQkekAU_

9RG7urpAdLWF

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible

Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh

https://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjuli

e/White%20Priviledge%20Unpacking%20

the%20Invisible%20Knapsack.pdf

Proposed 8th UU Principle

o https://medium.com/@BlackLivesUU/

black-lives-of-uu-organizing-

collective-urges-adoption-of-8th-

principle-in-unitarian-universalism-

377480e615ef

o http://all-souls.org/8th-principle

o http://www.uuannapolis.org/uu/the-

8th-principle-c

Additional materials & resources for digging

deeper, dialog, and action:

Videos

o Black Privilege, by Crystal Valentine

(CUPSI 2015 Finals)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7

rYL83kHQ8Y

o Colorblind Denial and White Privilege,

by Tim Wise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

V13nqzefyoE&feature=youtu.be

o Everyday Racism: What Should We Do?

by Akala I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u

ZUvjAJGFkM&feature=youtu.be

o Getting to the Root (Allies for Racial

Equality Webinar Series - Spring

2016)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis

t=PLXSqfWmM95Kvgj8QuAgE8Uo2

m-W3zTrcr

o The Promise: A Lesson in White

Privilege, by Phyllis Unterschuetz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=

A89xhMV63rQ&list=PLGs_85JIBHv_

d_2Ie8ep7xzyLcnVJmsdj

o The Urgency of Intersectionality, by

Kimberle’ Crenshaw

https://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_

crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectio

nality

o We Need to Talk About Injustice, by

Bryan Stevenson

https://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_ste

venson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_i

njustice

Articles

o New York Times – Race Related

https://www.nytimes.com/newsletter

s/race-related

o Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait, by

Kimberle’ Crenshaw

https://www.washingtonpost.com/ne

ws/in-theory/wp/2015/09/24/why-

intersectionality-cant-

wait/?utm_term=.db5137218a4a

o Examples of Every-Day

Microaggressions

http://www.microaggressions.com/,

http://lismicroaggressions.tumblr.co

m/

o Martin Luther King’s ‘Letter from

Birmingham Jail’

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/

archive/2013/04/martin-luther-kings-

letter-from-birmingham-jail/274668/

o Teaching Tolerance - On Racism and

White Privilege

http://www.tolerance.org/article/racis

m-and-white-privilege

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KYJl0PECv8&list=PL9jzhJhqkkJJPRQkekAU_9RG7urpAdLWFhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KYJl0PECv8&list=PL9jzhJhqkkJJPRQkekAU_9RG7urpAdLWFhttps://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White%20Priviledge%20Unpacking%20the%20Invisible%20Knapsack.pdfhttps://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White%20Priviledge%20Unpacking%20the%20Invisible%20Knapsack.pdfhttps://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White%20Priviledge%20Unpacking%20the%20Invisible%20Knapsack.pdfhttps://medium.com/@BlackLivesUU/black-lives-of-uu-organizing-collective-urges-adoption-of-8th-principle-in-unitarian-universalism-377480e615efhttps://medium.com/@BlackLivesUU/black-lives-of-uu-organizing-collective-urges-adoption-of-8th-principle-in-unitarian-universalism-377480e615efhttps://medium.com/@BlackLivesUU/black-lives-of-uu-organizing-collective-urges-adoption-of-8th-principle-in-unitarian-universalism-377480e615efhttps://medium.com/@BlackLivesUU/black-lives-of-uu-organizing-collective-urges-adoption-of-8th-principle-in-unitarian-universalism-377480e615efhttps://medium.com/@BlackLivesUU/black-lives-of-uu-organizing-collective-urges-adoption-of-8th-principle-in-unitarian-universalism-377480e615efhttp://all-souls.org/8th-principlehttp://www.uuannapolis.org/uu/the-8th-principle-chttp://www.uuannapolis.org/uu/the-8th-principle-chttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rYL83kHQ8Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rYL83kHQ8Yhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13nqzefyoE&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13nqzefyoE&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZUvjAJGFkM&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZUvjAJGFkM&feature=youtu.behttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXSqfWmM95Kvgj8QuAgE8Uo2m-W3zTrcrhttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXSqfWmM95Kvgj8QuAgE8Uo2m-W3zTrcrhttps://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXSqfWmM95Kvgj8QuAgE8Uo2m-W3zTrcrhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A89xhMV63rQ&list=PLGs_85JIBHv_d_2Ie8ep7xzyLcnVJmsdjhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A89xhMV63rQ&list=PLGs_85JIBHv_d_2Ie8ep7xzyLcnVJmsdjhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A89xhMV63rQ&list=PLGs_85JIBHv_d_2Ie8ep7xzyLcnVJmsdjhttps://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionalityhttps://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionalityhttps://www.ted.com/talks/kimberle_crenshaw_the_urgency_of_intersectionalityhttps://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injusticehttps://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injusticehttps://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injusticehttp://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=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&campaign_id=16868&instance_id=97644&segment_id=108357&user_id=a867774f43f69b63adda11d2ad670013&regi_id=75307689http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=hdaNaYedr2/IomeWRKt0nffrak8aSGLbQgZx2X6d46SADMaNlQvvNsE0+I++j8Y8zvwo0GtAPG1xswWiUBoUppWQRmG1T+S3l0oDFF0Un8MjzQW5xliA1RoYcOl4aEtYS7WFZDCz8WlsBxzfpYv1RI40N6MB7sTJ4mtTYyfHfseIjFGbkSn+RUxEIf+titetogW0JPuhxj0tO2dt2tG8KBKeHms4DDO+9uaR0NnjDtyieaLDl++YJoX7GusBH10W7oHlBPxz6E9uNXeMQKYem/hxegivM0GwP2kZvyAU3SnCBtexcTahkrHsWrZLiLxhVA8LZP1QF8avrc3cNfoThJQiAemaLrUsYprrJm2afHPAdGrrEqlwNKjiJYlZtXFpqx8V95tfVHGVlJhVBScQw3JKMpIMKBfUJX6Cnko3yWAlSjyboCgGqyX7QqwQG24xeAgRC3HJCf/dyNpcsDLzwZOpRwJkzzgPvR1b+FJtZxD2RYwrLZL/tGiXbozq56iIrG0C1xGoUidjsiuNjyprpo/uUsxRd0hCkYBaQvGuerIFVh/z/jcOHfQochhg9toRxaiZmOgn7kX5G5uaylz7QdRKi8Xt3EKwGo8+xV1tODBUp7ZWKN3Rs56mkGUr0YbwCzjCamylza73Mp2OkkOM2iV2Q6RvOxu0Ui6OtNUf+PZzhDR8lokViCctAKVq4G/gSumVboc+CpH1/yrKwibv02HHMkDB8RTnVNWZZVhWi0qcqUowhb6rdY0/bc+vcuD1sW5Ht/DDjQfmGBkg9qzvuWHsir56CvHEvBcNdgdF/cf2AyYCx6P4ttN2eRKoFntOO1Hx3rJZpqrNK+HwtXKNGA==&campaign_id=16868&instance_id=97644&segment_id=108357&user_id=a867774f43f69b63adda11d2ad670013&regi_id=75307689https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2015/09/24/why-intersectionality-cant-wait/?utm_term=.db5137218a4ahttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2015/09/24/why-intersectionality-cant-wait/?utm_term=.db5137218a4ahttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2015/09/24/why-intersectionality-cant-wait/?utm_term=.db5137218a4ahttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-theory/wp/2015/09/24/why-intersectionality-cant-wait/?utm_term=.db5137218a4ahttp://www.microaggressions.com/http://lismicroaggressions.tumblr.com/http://lismicroaggressions.tumblr.com/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail/274668/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail/274668/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/04/martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail/274668/http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilegehttp://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege


o Why Aren’t More People Talking

about Latinos Killed by Police?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundo

wn/black-men-werent-unarmed-

people-killed-police-last-week/

Books

o Between the World and Me, by Ta-

Nehisi Coates (2015)

o Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good

People, by Mahzarin R. Banaji and

Anthony G. Greenwald (2013)

o It’s the Little Things: Everyday

Interactions That Anger, Annoy, and

Divide the Races, by Lena Williams

(2000)

o Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson

(2014)

o The New Jim Crow, by Michelle

Alexander (2012)

o The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic

Story of America's Great Migration, by

Isabel Wilkerson (2011)

Groups and Organizations

o CUF Racial Justice Reading Group (

for more information contact Linda

Linsin, [email protected])

o Carbondale Racial Justice Coalition

https://www.facebook.com/Carbonda

leRacialJusticeCoalition/

o Race Unity Group of Carbondale

https://www.facebook.com/groups/11

9550118426654/

o Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism

http://www.blacklivesuu.com/

o UUA Racial Justice & Multicultural

Ministries,

https://www.uua.org/multiculturalis

m

o UUANI – Unitarian Universalist

Advocacy Network of Illinois

http://uu-advocacy-illinois.org/

(Facebook at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/14

21369798079834/)

o Allies for Racial Equality

http://alliesforracialequity.wildaprico

t.org/

o Standing on the Side of Love: Racial

Justice,

https://www.standingonthesideoflove

.org/racial-justice/

o Project Implicit

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/

o Meadville Lombard Theological

School, Beloved Conversations:

Meditations on Race and Ethnicity,

http://www.meadville.edu/beloved

o United Church of Christ, White

Privilege: Let’s Talk—A Resource for

Transformational Dialogue,

http://privilege.uccpages.org/

For additional resources on immigration, the

environment, and other issues, go to Social

Action under the “Get Involved” menu on the

CUF website, http://carbondaleuf.org/, for the

new Social Justice Educational Resources page.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/black-men-werent-unarmed-people-killed-police-last-week/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/black-men-werent-unarmed-people-killed-police-last-week/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/black-men-werent-unarmed-people-killed-police-last-week/mailto:[email protected]://www.facebook.com/CarbondaleRacialJusticeCoalition/https://www.facebook.com/CarbondaleRacialJusticeCoalition/https://www.facebook.com/groups/119550118426654/https://www.facebook.com/groups/119550118426654/http://www.blacklivesuu.com/https://www.uua.org/multiculturalismhttps://www.uua.org/multiculturalismhttp://uu-advocacy-illinois.org/https://www.facebook.com/groups/1421369798079834/https://www.facebook.com/groups/1421369798079834/http://alliesforracialequity.wildapricot.org/http://alliesforracialequity.wildapricot.org/https://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/racial-justice/https://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/racial-justice/https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/http://www

Documents

CUFlinks - Carbondale Unitarian Fellowshipcarbondaleuf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/CUFlinks... · 2017. 6. 1. · "real" piano lessons from a piano teacher who taught her musical