Congregations Joining Anti-Racism Partnerships

When the national Race Initiative Advisory Board met in Denver a year ago Native Americans held a protest because the board ignored their issues. First Unitarian Church, Denver (250 members), was drawn into the protest—and a Native American coalition which later developed—by a church member who is Lakota. Church members helped send petitions to 500 Indian nations on behalf of the coalition and brought an Action of Immediate Witness to General Assembly.

The congregation's Anti-Racism Working Group had previously completed the UUA's Journey Toward Wholeness anti-racism training and that had given it a new perspective on social justice work as it addressed the Native American issue, said Jenni Dyman, cochair of the working group.

"In the old days," she said, "we would do social action projects and we would define what we were doing for the other group. This time we asked to form a partnership and assist with their goals." More recently, the church entered into another partnership—sponsoring a dialogue on race relations with a racially-diverse United Methodist church.

At the First UU Church of Detroit, MI (186), more than a dozen small social and cultural groups that serve inner-city constituencies have taken up residence in the urban church. It's part of the church's mission to support these groups, figures the Rev. Larry Hutchison. "To me, they're part of the congregation and our mission. We're building a church within a church."

A new denominational model for anti-racism partnerships is also emerging at Detroit. The urban church has begun a partnership with suburban Birmingham Unitarian Church, Bloomfield Hills, MI (601), exploring cooperation in racial justice work. They will hold joint workshops to develop a strong working relationship.

Such partnerships are also a goal of the UUA's Journey Toward Wholeness initiative from the Faith in Action Department. The initiative encourages congregations to take the UUA's anti-racism training and join community groups to change a culture that perpetuates white privilege and oppresses people of color.

Many UU congregations' social justice work is service-oriented, and can be, at times, paternalistic, said Susan Leslie, associate director of Faith in Action. The JTW initiative seeks to restructure congregational social and racial justice efforts to be more collaborative with and accountable to anti-racist allies in the community.

It often takes more than one try to form such a partnership. The Rev. Ellen Johnson-Fay, of All Souls Church UU, New London, CT (151), observes, "People of color are so weary of white folks wanting to do good, but not changing the power structure." She is a member of the Multicultural Coalition of Southeast Connecticut and her congregation is active in the coalition's Institute for Healing Racism.

To those congregations seeking partnerships, she urges, "Never give up. Never use the resistance of people of color, the fact they don't want to immediately work with us, to quit trying. White people have their own resistance—and denial—but we're so quick to use the resistance of others to let ourselves off the hook, to say why bother? We need to keep figuring out how to build bridges."

First Parish UU, Medfield, MA (103), is in partnership with a predominately black Bible-based church. The congregations exchange ministers, attend each others' church services, Kwanza celebrations, even basketball award dinners. "It's been a really strong educational project for us," said First Parish's Rev. Judith Deutsch, but when a member of the other church preached about "healing the sick homosexuals" it caused a rift that had to be talked out. "The theology is extremely different," said Deutsch. "What we do agree on is working together to make things better here on earth."

InterConnections and the Faith in Action Department would like to hear about your anti-racism partnership stories. Please write to us.

Resources

Healing Racism in America, Nathan Rutstein, 1993, Whitcomb Pub.  $12.95

For information on anti-racism training from the UUA's Faith in Action Department, contact Susan Gershwin at (617) 742-2100, ext. 642; or write to her at 25 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02108. Information is also on the Faith in Action web page. For information on groups around the nation that are engaged in anti-racism work and that your congregation might join with, contact Susan Leslie at (617) 742-2100, ext. 607.