We invite White Unitarian Universalists to join the upcoming virtual regional caucus sessions on September 18th at 4 pm to 6:30 pm Eastern. This year’s caucuses will focus on discussions of the 8th Principle. The caucuses are intended to nourish anti-racist community; to inspire attendees with a sense of parallel connectedness to DRUUMM (Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries); and engage deeply in reflection and analysis for sustainable anti-racist work. Sign up for the ARE caucus at https://uuare.org/event-4475013.
DRUUMM is a Unitarian Universalist BIPOC ministry and anti-racist collective bringing lay and religious professionals together to overcome racism through resistance and transform Unitarian Universalism through our multicultural experiences. ARE’s Community Caucuses are being held concurrent with the Fall 2021 DRUUMM Regional BIPOC Caucuses (https://www.druumm.org/event/regional-caucuses/).
Allies for Racial Equity supports Unitarian Universalist faith communities by helping congregations take bold steps to undo white supremacy and plant seeds of justice. This ministry of faith leads participants to spiritual growth and wholeness while honoring our humanity and offering grace and accountability.
by Catherine Strickland
There are important parallels between the Antiracism Movement and the Climate Change Movement. Neither racism nor climate change are experience directly by everyone, which means many of us can live our lives without being aware of either except when we hear an occasional news story. For those who do experience them directly, their effects can be devastating or even deadly. Climate change is felt directly through melting icecaps and permafrost, changing migration patterns, devastating wildfires, drought and intense flooding. Racism is felt directly through microaggressions, systemic inequality, violence and intimidation.
Below is the full report for ARE’s engagement at General Assembly 2019 in Spokane. The audio recording and outline from our July 1, 2019 debrief includes some information and context not contained in this written version. This written report and the recording are intended to augment one another.
This was the largest post-GA debrief call we had ever hosted, due in part to concerns about a book that was distributed at GA and the many conversations that resulted. We made time toward the end of our call to process in small breakout groups.
It’s impossible to experience everything that GA has to offer, and many of us invariably miss one or more sessions. Video recordings of full community programming are available at the UUA website for folks who are still “catching up” or who want to review some of the amazing events over the summer.
Last year’s ARE 2018 GA Report and the Commission on Institutional Change General Assembly 2019 Report also can provide additional context.
We have so much gratitude to share! We wouldn’t have been able to do even half of what we did this year without all of our amazing volunteers. So much appreciation—and more than a few massive shout-outs—go to everyone who helped with planning, organizing, chaplaincy, logistics, booth staffing, offsite support, workshop facilitation, and all the incredible collaboration—especially the elephant wrangling, y’all ROCK!
We also want to thank all who contributed to our fundraisers to support our doubling down at GA again! Between direct donations and money given on facebook, we raised over $2,000 to cover much of the additional cost of expanding our outreach and helping UU Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) accountability partners to offset their GA expenses also. If you’d like to support our continuing efforts, please visit www.uuare.org/support.
Most importantly, this year, on the 50th anniversary of the Black Empowerment Controversy (aka the White Entitlement Fit), which came to a head when Black UUs and their supporters walked out of the General Assembly in Boston in 1969, Unitarian Universalists finally made good on a long broken promise (watch video). Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) received the remaining $4 million dollars of the $5.3 promised to them by the Board of Trustees in October 2016! Thanks so much to the individuals, organizations, and congregations (over 600) who contributed to the success of this campaign.
This was made possible by the overwhelmingly patient, persistent, and resilient efforts of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, contributions from many of you (ARE members, supporters, and other white allies), and ultimately, the power of the UU collective to come together and set things right. THANK YOU!
What a deeply meaningful way to demonstrate the incredible Power of We!
The primary way ARE engages in GA is at our booth in the exhibit hall, where we are available for conversation and support, provide print and online resources and work alongside DRUUMM, who holds the booth next door. This year, collaborating with numerous other organizations and people, we introduced an #ElephantInTheRoom scavenger hunt, where people solved clues to find elephants representing the characteristics of white supremacy culture located all over the convention center. We also provided White Supremacy and Countering Oppression Bingo cards for attendees to use throughout GA. The new activities were a huge hit, especially with families, and our booth was busier than ever. We’re already dreaming about what we’ll bring to Providence next year!
ARE Leadership Collective members helped facilitate two workshops this year:
Consensus Decision-Making to Counter Oppression (watch video) and Body Practices for Unlearning White Supremacy.
We also collaborated with Shelly Tochluk, who spent lots of time at the ARE booth, graciously volunteered as an elephant handler, and also presented the workshop Expanding the “We” in Racial Justice: White People’s Work. All the sessions were well attended and some of the facilitators are working on providing more online content over the next year.
Thanks to our General Assembly Planning Committee (GAPC) liaison, Cecelia Hayes, we were fortunate to get a private room in the Convention Center this year, where we hosted an anti-racist In-Gathering and the ARE Membership Meeting. It was so good to meet and network with folks in-person who are engaged in this work around the country.
The room also served as an intentional white-ally organizing space before becoming an ad hoc meeting place for several other organizations, including DRUUMM, who used it for caucusing break-out sessions. We have recognized the need for such a space at GA over the last few years, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
Despite anticipated lower-than-usual GA attendance, we recruited twice as many dedicated ARE chaplains this year in order to provide extra support for white folks in the work of dismantling white supremacy. While chaplaincy was only minimally needed in Spokane—which we believe is a testament to how far we’ve come in these few years since our faith began to tackle this work collectively—we did field numerous calls afterward from people who were troubled by events there.
The resistance to the proposed UUMA Accountability Guidelines that began the week prior to the gathering in Spokane (see ARE’s statement), repeated micro-aggressions by the 25 Year Speaker during Ministry Days, the dissemination of a book which included language and “talking points” commonly used by the alt-right, and profoundly ugly online activity made our time in Spokane, and the weeks following it, unnecessarily painful for many, particularly those most marginalized by both our society and our faith.
A number of UUs have since spoken out about the events, both privately and publicly, and a collection of public responses, along with our own statement can be found on our GA Resources, pages 3 and 4.
ARE provides chaplaincy along with coaching, consulting, and other support for folks engaged in countering oppression and working to end white supremacy in themselves and in their communities. We heartily encourage people to contact us if locally available support services are insufficient.
Find out more about ARE’s services and programs.
For those experiencing trauma around violations of covenant, particularly from staff and clergy in positions of power and authority, we also recommend contacting UU Trauma Response Ministry: 888-760-3332.
During the last two GAs, we hosted nightly debriefs via Zoom to better connect offsite and onsite GA participants. Since we were in Pacific time this year, our intention was to host these at lunchtime while in Spokane. They didn’t happen this year. We apologize for this and plan to resume them again in Providence.
We encourage white UUs to keep deepening our understanding of how to effectively dismantle oppression and disrupt white supremacy. Along with our website and LEARN section, we just released a piece on Medium with a great list of recommended authors, educators, and thinkers who can help guide us through our personal and collective transformation.
In addition to already existing monthly networking sessions (open) and healing circles (for members), we are starting online small group learning circles for ARE members in the next few weeks to provide more opportunities for us to connect and grow our shared understanding. If you’re interested, sign up soon so we can create the most inclusive possible schedule. Sincere apologies to those who already signed up and expected to start in mid-July! We’ll be contacting you soon to arrange scheduling.
Save the Date! ARE’s Fall Gathering is October 3-7, 2019 in Phoenix, AZ, beginning with in-gathering on Thursday evening, followed by four full days of programming. Part training, part organizing session, part retreat, this Praxis-style event is designed for those wanting to move into the next level of their anti-oppressive practice. Details and signups will be available in early August.
Lastly, we have begun to recruit for 2020 Field Organizing and are planning for a robust ARE presence at District and Regional Assemblies again this year. We’ll be creating and facilitating workshops, hosting networking sessions, and collaborating with other justice-centric organizations. To get involved, please send us the proposal deadline and theme for the 2020 District or Regional Assembly in your area, and we’ll get the ball rolling.
Also, if you’re planning on attending GA next year and would like to be in on planning ARE’s activities (there will be even more elephants in Providence), let us know in the next month or two—we’ll need all the help we can get!
In the months leading up to GA, we in the ARE Leadership Collective grappled with confusion and uncertainty about what to expect at this year’s General Assembly. We knew it was going to be “different” and that it would be about doing collective reflection about where (and how) we, together, wanted Unitarian Universalism to go in continuing to dismantle white supremacy in our communities, systems, and structures. Some of us expressed frustration about the delays in information, odd deadlines, and what appeared to be a general lack of communication. More than once, we almost succumbed to the demoralizing effect of not having our very white need for clarity and certainty met. Thankfully, we were able to disrupt this in ourselves and each other. In doing so, we came to the realization: That’s not how it works in a collective committed to justice, equity, and inclusion; it’s not how it’s ever going to work. And if there was ever an experience that “proved” that, unequivocally—it was GA 2019 in Spokane.
What we learned at this GA . . .
Many years of hard work, relationship building, organizing, Praxis (education, action, reflection) over and over, visioning, revisioning (and refining), listening to (and taking leadership from) those most affected by systems of oppression, getting to know our social location and what that means, cultivating humility, being honest about our history and clear about our context, disrupting our culture of ownership, releasing our fear of scarcity, sharing power, and diligently focusing on developing more equitable systems actually works! Even with the pesky disruptions, breaches of covenant, and feelings of betrayal, the hard-won wisdom—cultivated and passed down to us by so many of our ancestors throughout our history—actually is transformative. It had already begun to transform us, the alchemy of Praxis worked on the ground in Spokane, continues to transform us today, and into the future. Those of us who have experienced more than a few General Assemblies agree; we have never felt more “together” as Unitarian Universalists, with shared common purpose, and with the fierce resolve to stay this course than we did in Spokane. For a mission that became amplified in the wider UU collective dialogue less than 10 years ago, that’s amazing! For an effort that’s been embraced (collectively) by UUA administration and elected leaders for less than 5 years, that’s phenomenal! For a cultural shift that gained momentum, even as widely available UU anti-racism education was being all but completely defunded by the previous administration—and many of us had to pursue avenues outside of Unitarian Universalism to educate ourselves—that’s practically miraculous!
Yes, for many of us true justice, equity, and compassion is hundreds of years overdue and will never come soon enough—and maybe not at all. Yes, we still have a very long journey ahead, and we may lose folks less committed to nurturing a fully anti-oppressive faith along the way. And yes, this work is many times overwhelming and disheartening . . .
. . . and yet . . . and yet . . . our time in Spokane was a triumph worth celebrating—“The Power of We” held incalculable joy!
In the words of the Rev. Dr. Bishop William Barber of Repairers of the Breach and the Poor People’s Campaign: Forward Together, not one step back! Let’s do it with JOY!
We look forward to connecting, collaborating, and celebrating with you soon!
In Solidarity,
On behalf of the ARE Leadership Collective,
Laura Bollettino and Carolina Krawarik-Graham 2019 ARE GA Co-coordinators
On Friday, June 21, the Allies for Racial Equity Leadership Collective, a group of white Unitarian Universalists, became aware of a book being distributed at General Assembly by a Unitarian Universalist minister. Our siblings most targeted by this text were those most marginalized amongst us—particularly Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), Trans, and Nonbinary Unitarian Universalists—whose identities are egregiously discounted and erased with the author’s criticism of “identity politics” and “political correctness”.
This book is not only a failed attempt at logical discourse rife with white fragility, it is a stark reminder that ideas aligned with alt-right ideology do exist within Unitarian Universalism. It is a clear premeditated and callous attempt to further strife within our beloved faith. It has caused and is causing pain to all too many within our UU community. It is a manifestation of white supremacy culture fighting back against the beautiful, transformative work that so many are doing to confront and dismantle systems of oppression. The call to end white supremacy—to close the gap between the faith we proclaim and the reality of the lived experience of marginalized beloveds—is more crucial and compelling now than ever before. May we be even more resolved to do the demanding and joyful work of justice and restoration as we journey together towards more wholeness.
With deep appreciation, we honor the tremendous effort of BIPOC Unitarian Universalists who have been in, and who are currently leading this struggle for the heart and soul of our faith, often at great personal and professional risk. Particularly, we lift up past and current members of the Commission on Institutional Change, as well as many religious educators of Color, who have time and again invited us into deeper dialogue and challenged us to do better. The opportunities they have provided us, particularly white UUs, to learn about our complicity in oppressive systems that bind all of us, and harm those holding marginalized identities the most, continue to open up new possibilities for ensuring our faith’s promise. This has been an immeasurable gift.
Allies for Racial Equity explicitly invites white Unitarian Universalists, especially those grappling with these complexities, to join us in deep conversation. May we cultivate a spirit of welcome and joy when confronted with discomfort. We must resolutely lean into this vital work of uprooting white supremacy to create a faith worthy of us all.
Together in Faith,
Allies for Racial Equity Leadership Collectivetheteam@uuare.org
Regardless of intent, the impact was harm and that must be addressed.
Dear Friends,
After much hard work and thorough study, The Guidelines committee of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association presented a groundbreaking new process for working through guidelines violations, including conflict and misconduct amongst colleagues, staff and lay leadership. It was presented for a vote at the upcoming Ministry Days in Spokane, WA. The vote is to engage in a year of study over the proposed new process. Conversation began quickly amongst colleagues that became intense. A response letter was drafted by a small group of colleagues and was signed by several others. Many Unitarian Universalists have responded to the response letter, the UUMA released an FAQ, and difficult conversations continue across social media and offline.
The Leadership Collective of Allies for Racial Equity (ARE) feels it crucial to note that a significant number of folks who hold historically marginalized identities have expressed deep pain in reading the response letter. Particularly people of color, LGBTQ folks, non-binary people, women, and religious professionals have expressed profound hurt in reading this letter. That, in and of itself, is enough to give us pause. Significantly, the public response of signatories and authors of the response letter to folks sharing this pain has been defensiveness and argument. There is a clear lack of awareness around and ownership of the impact that the words in the response letter have caused. Regardless of intent, the impact was harm and that needs to be addressed. We urge the writers and signatories to sit with this reality: people who are marginalized feel less safe in our faith because of the words you wrote and/or signed. Please seek to understand the pain of those who are hurt so that we can all learn to do better. Please consider an apology for the harm.
The new proposed guidelines and process aim to address the ways in which power differentials make dealing with conflict and misconduct more difficult, particularly for those with less power. It is troubling to us that the response letter and subsequent defenses seem to minimize the impact that power plays in such instances. The petitioners seek to address what has been revealed to be a major flaw in our system by patching the system rather than reworking it significantly, as people who hold marginalized identities have been asking of us for some time.
Among the leadership collective of ARE, we have experienced countless times in which the current process fell short for us. In many of those situations the sexual orientation, gender, age, fellowship status or professional role was part of what made the situation difficult, and the process did not adequately hold the complexities of power differentials. As is common among institutions built in white supremacy, our process protected those in power. If we truly wish to uproot the white supremacy in our beloved Association and congregations, we have to take time to study and change or discard the systems that currently do not serve this goal. We have to take the time to change the systems through the lens of uprooting the white supremacy embedded within them. This year of study is meant to give UUMA members the time to do this work and to allow us to continue to improve upon the hard, diligent, faithful work done already by the Guidelines Committee of the UUMA.
In addition, the response letter states that the onus of handling ministerial misconduct should rest in the congregations. Not only is it clear that many, if not most, congregations are unable or unwilling to do this work, this is also a gross misunderstanding of our congregational polity. The Cambridge Platform is clear that our congregations should not only work to support one another, but should also work to hold one another accountable. The network by which we are able to do this is our association of congregations and the professional organizations that hold our religious professionals to agreed-upon standards. It is undeniably clear to us that most congregations are not able to hold the complexities of power differentials. As our association is just beginning to truly reckon with the ways in which white supremacy lives within our faith, most congregations are somewhat behind the association in this work, and our association must help to mitigate the harm done to those among us who hold marginalized identities.
We hope that the outcome of this process helps move us all towards deeper understanding of the ways in which white supremacy has harmed us all in our association and in our congregations by its role in protecting those who have fallen out of covenant. We hope that we are able to find a new system in this year of study that truly works against power hoarding and moves us towards restorative justice.
In faith,
Allies for Racial Equity Leadership Collective
Wow! Those two weeks went fast! Here are just a few last-minute updates before we start packing our bags.
So many of you contributed to and shared fundraisers over the last few weeks to support our doubling down at GA! Between direct donations to our weARE@GA fund and money given on facebook, we raised #MoreThanEnough to cover the costs of our expanded outreach, help several UU Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) accountability partners to offset their GA expenses, and assist ARE team members who needed it with getting to Spokane. Expressing our gratitude via email isn’t anywhere near enough—so stop by our BOOTH (#341) so we can thank you in-person, shower you with snazzy ribbons, and get a cute pic of us talkin’ about “the elephant in the room” together!
For those who couldn’t join us, here’s our GA prep video covering both “the basics” and some things that are specific to this General Assembly. You’ll find the latest updates and information during GA on our events page and our facebook page.
Be sure to check out our ARE booth resources online for suggested programs at GA, ARE workshop resources, bonus video and print content—and possibly to save yourself the overweight baggage fee on your trip home! We doubled down this year.
Don’t miss the weARE@GA In-gathering on Wednesday and our Membership meeting on Sunday in room 302AB, where we’ll spend some much-needed time together—share tools, tips, tricks and tactics to disrupt white supremacy—and talk about what’s coming up for ARE in the next year.
Room 302AB will be serving as our “intentional white ally space” for much of GA and will host programming offered by the CoIC on Friday, 1:30-4:00 PM and Saturday from 9:00 AM - Noon.
The DRUUMM space is nearby—and is explicitly for Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, so please be mindful when in the area.
Feel free to reach out to ARE’s chaplains (we doubled down on them too!) if white supremacy gets to you—and you feel you need more than a pep-talk to get through the day. You can visit our booth (#341) and we’ll also have a link up at uuare.org
Off-site participants: Connect with us in our short zoom debriefs https://zoom.us/j/532628682
Wed-Sat 1:00-1:30 PM PDT, and Sun 3:00-3:30 PM to share your online experience and to stay updated about what’s happening on the ground.
On-site attendees are welcome to join these. Decentralized action rocks!
Please do sign up to volunteer with advocacy, solidarity work, staffing our booth (#341), and talkin’ about #TheElephantInTheRoom—we’ll need all the help we can get to be in all the places all the time! You can schedule your time and rsvp for off-grid events here, and catch ARE’s GA coordinators Laura Bollettino and Carolina Krawarik-Graham anytime at theTeam@uuare.org. Don’t forget to add the weARE@GA volunteer dinner and debrief to your calendar if you volunteered for ARE this week!
SIGN-UP TO VOLUNTEER
The Commission on Institutional Change still has some Focus Group spots available at GA. Many of us have participated in them and they’re so important to our work together. Sign up here! Keep a lookout for an AIW on values-driven investing that ARE is collaborating on! We were hoping it would be ready for review, but it looks like we might have to wait until we’re all in Spokane. Details when we have them!
One thing that the GA Planning Committee is committed to this year is creating more opportunities for caucusing, where people who share an identity (People of Color, white people, youth, young adults, etc.) gather for a time by themselves. If you or a friend has questions about caucusing, we’re always at the ready for that conversation. Particularly for People of Color, GA is an opportunity to be in wider community in their various identity groups. Also, it can be so much easier for white people to work through our own racialized conditioning in a space dedicated to white-ally work.
This GA will be really different for me because I’m co-coordinator for ARE’s presence at GA and also our primary booth coordinator for the first time. I will probably have to be extra mindful to practice self-care: Sleep every night. Eat at least one good meal every day. Be in the moment. And when there are two things happening at the same time, I’ll decide which to attend based on how I feel when the time comes.
From all I’ve heard, this year I’ll probably need to be even more in the moment than usual. And It’ll be an opportunity for me to practice extreme flexibility, which I’m actually looking forward to. Let’s remember that a sense of urgency is one of the characteristics of white supremacy culture. I invite you to join me in disrupting it by pacing yourself well while you’re at GA learning, teaching, caucusing, and doing our vital anti-racism anti-oppression work.
Lastly, let’s all make time for friends old and new, even in the chaos that is GA, because this work really is grounded in relationship.
Spokane, here we come!
Laura Bollettino Events and Actions Team
P.S. Don’t forget to join us via Zoom for ARE’s full GA debrief on July 1, 6:00 - 7:30 PM PDT!
Are you ready to be transformed in the service of our shared faith?
There is no doubt that this year’s General Assembly in Spokane will be pivotal for Unitarian Universalism. Are you ready?
Here at ARE, we’ve been planning for months for the deeper work we are being called to do together this June. To respond to the urgency of our time, we’ll be doubling down on our presence at GA this year and have 14 people from the ARE Leadership Collective committed to support our collective efforts to transform our faith.
The ARE booth (#341—right alongside DRUUMM) will be “Collaboration^3” and we’ll be partnering with more groups than ever before in advocacy, outreach, and movement-building! ARE members who commit to volunteering might be called to do various solidarity actions during their scheduled time-slot, along with staffing the booth to connect with GA attendees.
We’ve got a couple of new activities planned to engage folks more deeply in disrupting white supremacy throughout the week, cool ribbons and swag ordered . . . and you might just find Dr. Shelly Tochluk there! We’re doubling down on GA coordinators this year too—and are excited to have Laura Bolletino joining Carolina Krawarik-Graham to help keep the chaos at bay. To get involved, you can sign up to volunteer here, or reach out to them directly at theTeam@uuare.org SUPPORT ARE's OUTREACH AT GA
As usual—to prepare ourselves well—we’ll be hosting two online conversations via Zoom to connect with ARE members and white allies. Want the “real inside scoop” of what ARE is planning? Join via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/532628682 Wednesday, 6/5, 8pm EDT Monday, 6/10, 9pm EDT
If this is your first GA and/or your first time volunteering with ARE, these calls, as well as reviewing last year’s GA report are a great way to get oriented before the wild rush begins in Spokane.
Be sure to stop by the ARE Booth (#341) in the Exhibit Hall. You can pick up resources and swag as well as get recommendations on which workshops to attend.
While weARE@GA, join us for our off-grid events, too! We'll be livestreaming whatever we can from our facebook page so you can check in there if you miss out.
We’ve scheduled 30-minute daily Zoom debriefs Wed. 6/19–Sat. 6/22 at 1:00 PM PDT primarily for off-site ARE participants to keep them connected to what’s happening on the ground. Onsite attendees are also welcome to attend—the more, the merrier! Sunday’s debrief will be at 3pm PDT, shortly after the exhibit hall closes.
Monday, July 1, 6:00–7:30 PM PDT, we’ll be hosting a full GA debrief via Zoom so we can build collective understanding and include more participant feedback in our 2019 GA report.
We hope to see you in Spokane!
Events and Actions Team ARE Leadership Collective
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P.S. Don’t miss chances to participate with the UUA Commission on Institutional Change while at GA! We’ll have more information during our online prep conversations and in our next email, but you can find details and signups for the CoIC here. For those who missed the online focus groups in the last few months, it looks like there will be more opportunities in Spokane. BECOME an ARE MEMBER
Hey friends!
This month, Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) is calling on UUs and UU-adjacent folks to get involved in the fight to end money bail. To that end, BLUU is hosting a live panel discussion on their Facebook page on April 28. They have asked ARE to help folks who are white to organize in-person watch parties in your congregations and communities to raise awareness about the harm endured by black women, children, and caregivers at the hands of the money bail system in our country.
Live Panel Watch Parties will be followed up by an in-person moderated discussion period with a local moderator from your community (a discussion guide will be sent to you). Participants are also being asked to donate to the bail fund that will be used to bail out black women across the country.
Organizing a solidarity action in your congregation is an excellent way to
With the weather lately, it’s really hard to imagine that Spring is only a month away, yet there it is on the calendar—along with all the conferences and assemblies we look forward to all year.
Almost three years ago, ARE leaders began imagining what it would be like if “we” (folks from ARE) could be at all of them—to connect, collaborate, conspire—to keep building movement among white UUs.
And this year, due to a generous grant from the UU Funding Panel (Fund for Unitarian Universalism), the ARE Leadership Collective will have more opportunities than ever to do just that: deepen engagement, support UUs in disrupting white supremacy, and work towards transforming our faith at more events than ever before.
If you haven’t already registered for one or more of these events, there’s still time! If you’d like to connect at any of them, drop us at note at theTeam@uuare.org!
Hope to see you soon,
Lori Stone Sirtosky Events and Action Team ARE Leadership Collective
White Privilege Conference Cedar Rapids, IA Wed 3/20 - Sat 3/23 https://www.whiteprivilegeconference.com/
One of the largest anti-racism conferences of the year, WPC serves as a great opportunity for deepening our anti-racism understanding and getting out of our “box” in a multi-racial setting. Several ARE Leadership Collective members are attending and organizing an off-grid networking event for white UUs to connect and deepen relationship.
MidAmerica Regional Assembly St Louis, MO Fri 4/5 - Sun 4/7 https://www.uua.org/midamerica/ra
Often referred to as a “mini GA”, the MidAmerica Regional Assembly is not to be missed. In collaboration with DRUUMM, folks from ARE will offer the workshop, “It’s All About Power: Using an Intersectional Framework to Dismantle White Supremacy,” and provide informal connection opportunities for ARE members as well.
Revolutionary Love: The Politics of Faith New York, NY Fri 4/5 - Sun 4/7 http://revolutionaryloveconference.com/
Offering a fantastic lineup of speakers and presenters in an intimate setting, Middle Collegiate Church creates a truly rich interfaith event. Participating ARE members will gather (off-grid) to share meals and build community.
If you haven’t yet been to #RevLove, we have just one word for you: Go!
Weekend Workshop: Countering Oppression from the Inside Out Palomar UU Fellowship in Vista, CA Sat 4/13 - Sun 4/14
ARE and DRUUMM facilitators will present a 2-day intensive, multi-racial workshop. Space is limited, but if you’re in the San Diego area and interested in attending, let us know and we’ll send you the registration form!
Pacific Southwest District Assembly Long Beach, CA Sat 4/26 - Sun 4/28 https://pswduua.org/events/district-assembly/
With this year’s theme "From the Ground Up: The Power of Our PSWD Communities," this district assembly is a wonderful chance for collaboration! Leaders from Palomar UU Fellowship, DRUUMM, and ARE will present the workshop “Dismantling White Supremacy in Our Congregations: A Model for Transformation,” as well as create opportunities for connection throughout the weekend.
Participate in a Commission on Institutional Change Focus Group Wherever You Are, via Zoom February & March view dates & times and sign up here
Join other ARE members for a Focus Group (3-7 people) via Zoom for about 60-90 minutes. This is your chance to share your experiences and ideas about what changes the UUA could make to dismantle white supremacy culture.
We’re looking for more great folks to help develop resources, build shared understanding, facilitate workshops, staff events, and strengthen support for our work together. If you haven't already, please read through our accountability agreements, check out our organizational model, then join/renew with ARE, and join the Leadership Collective! We’ve got a lot of work to do!
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… aaand… Registration opens March 1!
UUA General Assembly Spokane, WA Wed 6/19 - Sun 6/23 https://www.uua.org/ga
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We are building an anti-racist movement of white Unitarian Universalists to dismantle white supremacy in ourselves, our congregations, and communities.
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ARE ℅ Sarah Berel-Harrop3047 Eric LaneFarmers Branch, Texas 75234
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