Convenor: Christine Murphy, UUA Dept. for Faith in Action

While participating in the Journey Toward Wholeness Path to Anti-Racism, overwhelmingly white Unitarian Universalists ask the question, "So just how do I become anti-racist?" This workshop offered the stories of white people engaged in anti-racist activities in their daily lives, as well as provide suggestions for action.

PERSONAL STORIES:

Josh Pawalek, Norwich, Conn.
I work part-time in the UU church of Norwich Connecticut and part-time with the Faith in Action Department as anti-racism program associate.

A local African-American church in Norwich recently relocated into a white section of Norwich. There was protest from local neighbors, who went to the zoning board to try to have them stopped. They wanted to run meals for the homeless. I was preaching in church that day, and my parishioners said we had to do something. They asked us to come support them at their hearing at the zoning commission. Twelve people did. But the commission agreed with the neighbors and revoked the permission.

Our church agreed to let the Tabernacle church worship in our space. On the first Sunday of the month, we had a joint service, and it lasted two hours! Nobody left, it was so wonderful.

There's even more. We're planning a year of fellowship activities and a year of training activities, including an anti-racism workshop, an economic justice workshop, and an anti-homophobic workshop. We're hoping by May or June we'll have enough training under belts so that the next time the city tries to take some action that has racist consequences, we'll be prepared and will take action.

Jyaphia Christos Rogers, New Orleans, La.
I work with Jubilee World training team. I've been doing anti-racist training work for the last ten years. I started in the '70s working with students in my church; we worked with United Farm Workers. I was a UU kid, and developed passion for justice early. I got into community organizing but was always sensitive to outsiders coming in to help and not really knowing the culture. Coming from a white middle-class background, I was often clueless as to what was really needed in communities of color.

One of the most important lessons I've learned is that when working with persons in other cultures, relationships require a great amount of humility. Especially when you come from a position of (perceived) white privilege and power. Our tendency is to want to be perceived as the "good" white people; even now.

To me, anti-racism is a life-style that's based on humble and generous listening and humble and generous reaching out. It's always about organizing; but about organizing in a way that touches each person's humanity. We're working for institutional change but it's not about becoming institutionalizing ourselves; it's about re-humanizing ourselves, because that's what racism has done to all of us.

Gail Forsyth-Vail, Religious Educator, North Andover, Mass.
I'm also on the Mass Bay's Anti-racism Transformation Team. I'm about the business of religious education. What I say to parishioners and colleagues is "Once you can see, then you can't 'not see' any more."

In my son's local school, they were using the DARE program, where the police worked together with the students. As part of the program, they took the students to the local House of Corrections, as part of a modified "Scared Straight" program. My town is predominantly white, as I was concerned that when students went to the local jail, they would gain a stereotypical view of minorities, because they would seem many imprisoned.

We want to be sure that we have the language we can use to enable anti-racist thinking and action.

Rev. Kurt A. Kuhwald, Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, Colorado
I'm on the Jubilee Working Group. Part of being a white anti-racist is learning how to be confronted; I got my introduction when I went to an integrated training program to be a psychotherapist with Carl Rogers, and I was confronted over and over again. I learned that my essential self is not being threatened, even though it's very easy to feel that way.

Four gifts that we have that allow us to do this kind of work:

1. Consciousness and awareness — Be aware that people of color always have to have a dual consciousness, that they must be aware of their surroundings, that somebody's negative actions toward them may be because of racism, or it may be because of heartburn.
2. Trust-making — You have to make a choice to do this work, and stay committed for the rest of your life; this is not a fad.
3. Change and transformation — We as human animals are capable of change. We are called to change, personally and internally. And we're also called to change our institutions.
4. Compassion — This is one of the sacred keys to freedom. We're not free unless we can fully accept others at the level of the heart.

One requirement is accountability to people of color. We don't really know what it means to be a person of color in this society.

Christine Murphy
I have been organizing in the UUA for quite a few years, starting in the early 90s. What I've learned in my organizing is that diversity is not the answer. It's really about power. As Beau Jones once told me, "Christine, the plantation was a diverse place."

I always use that because it illustrates that you can have diversity but the power relationships have not been changed.

It no longer became a question for me of not "How can get people of color in the door here?" but "How can I change the system of power that makes them not want to be here?" "How will I work with my white brothers and sisters around the subject of white privilege?"

My life has been deeply changed by dealing with these questions; I've learned humility, how to listen, how to be gently confrontational, how to have more authentic relationships.

A question I always ask myself is, "How do I make myself accountable to people of color?"

As a staff person working as administrative person for Jubilee Working Group, I always check with them. I am always cognizant of the power relationship, and of how I model that in my life. I know I can't get rid of my institutional privilege, but I can use that power to be accountable.

Reported by Allan Stern; formatted for the web by Kasey Melski.