Janice Marie Johnson, DRUUMM's president, addresses workshop participants.

3076 Creating Community for People of Color within UUism

Prepared for UUA.org by: Kok Heong McNaughton, Reporter; Jone Johnson Lewis, Editor

This workshop, sponsored by Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM), is a program that engages participants in conversation about building community for UUs of Color, about conflict resolution, and about accountability to one another as our denomination works towards the goal of being welcoming and inclusive of all races and ethnicities.

Our work on racial justice traces back to the 1942 resolution on "Race Relation" passed by the American Unitarian Association during its 117 th Annual Meeting. More work has been done in the last 20 years with additional resolutions and Actions of Immediate Witness passed at our UUA General Assemblies. But how do UUs of Color feel today? DRUUMM president Janice Marie Johnson invited participants to answer the question, "What does community mean to you?"

Present at the workshop were an ethnically and racially-diverse group that comprised about two-thirds UUs of Color and one-third who self-identified as white allies. There were ministers, ministerial students, DREs, congregational presidents, membership chairs, lay-leaders, and volunteers in many different capacities at the congregational, district and national levels.

Words that define community include: belonging, equality, support, fellowship, interdependence, messy inter-connectedness, welcoming, intergeneration, safety, creative conflict, and a long haul.

Many UUs of color find themselves either the only person of color or one of a small handful within their congregations. It is important for them to be able to network with a larger group during General Assemblies, district and regional gatherings. DRUUMM provides the venue for them to do so. Within the umbrella of DRUUMM are several caucuses each with a specific focus: YaYA is the caucus for Youth and Young Adults of color; A/PIC is a caucus for those who self-identify as Asian and Pacific Islanders as well as their white allies. In the process of formation are several other caucuses: an African Descent caucus, a Bi-racial/Multiracial caucus, an Anti-Racist White Allies caucus, and La Familia Global. It is important that all the different groups work together towards the same goal of beloved community.

Participants shared stories of isolation and of cooperation, of learning and of transformation in their personal journeys as UUs of color. There were stories of success as well as disappointment, stories of persistence as well as failure. Some have left the faith and retuned. Others have stuck around for more than twenty years and have helped to bring about changes, however small. There have also been those who have left permanently. Those are the ones who should have been here at this workshop, whose voices we need to hear.

The presence of people of color in our denomination serves as a reminder that we will hold ourselves accountable for what we say we will do, as voted on by the delegates of the 1992 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association, in an Action of Immediate Witness which affirms and supports the vision of a racially diverse and multicultural Unitarian Universalism.

Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon St. | Boston, MA 02108 | 617-742-2100