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Truth and Reconciliation: Unitarian Universalist Reflections on Martin Luther King, Jr Day

January 10, 2007

Introduction by the Reverend William G. Sinkford

On the day that we honor the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I have no choice but to speak. However, like many persons of color in our faith, and far beyond our faith, I struggle to find a voice, to find the words that might move us forward. It feels to me that Unitarian Universalists have been stuck around the issue of race for far too long.

The South African Truth and Reconciliation process, now being used widely not only in Africa but in Latin America as well, ties the possibility of reconciliation to the honest confession of truth. Truth of past harms and oversights. Truth of past failures in the attempt to find and create justice. Anything short of real truth telling is a search for cheap reconciliation. We all have truths to discover and to tell. The claim of innocence cannot be an option for any of us, because ignorance of the truth does not alter its legacy. As the Reverend Al Sharpton says, people of color have a history, not a hallucination.

Getting the history right is important, because our memories can be selective. For example, Unitarian Universalists want to remember and hold up our support of Dr. King in Selma and to honor the deaths there of James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo. What we don't always want to remember is that King was witnessing in Memphis for economic justice for garbage collectors, of all races, when he was killed. He had recognized the truth that race and class in this country are inextricably intertwined. If our work for racial justice does not engage with the realities of class it is doomed to fail. Likewise, if we try to reconcile class inequities without acknowledging race, those efforts are equally doomed.

Though Martin Luther King, Jr. did not coin the term "beloved community," this vision for loving and just human relationships and the accompanying practice of reconciliation were central to his ministry. In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, several Unitarian Universalists have offered reflections on how Unitarian Universalists can engage in our own truth-telling process and begin the task of reconciliation. We asked these questions:

What truth needs to be told?
With whom do we need to be reconciled so that Unitarian Universalism can move toward the Beloved Community?

Throughout the spring I'll give persons of diverse racial and ethnic identities an opportunity to provide their answers as well.

King was an archetype and my hero. Ultimately, he lived out his principles - moral principles found in his Bible, and in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.Je was willing to live and die by these principles. That is the point! We must find principles we are willing to live and die by. I know seven very good ones that prick my conscience daily, asking me to be and do more. We need more conviction in our faith. We need more doers and fewer talkers; people who say, "Let's fix the problem," not folk who say, "Let's discuss the problem."
- Rev. John Crestwell, Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church, Camp Springs, Maryland

I believe that many Unitarian Universalists need to reconcile with the moment in their lives when they first felt inferior to someone or something and how that moment has shaped and influenced their lives. By reconnecting with that pivotal moment and reconciling within themselves to their thoughts and feelings of inferiority, perhaps they can stop projecting onto others what they reject in themselves and what has caused them discomfort or pain. In other words, the Beloved Community will be possible when Unitarian Universalists internalize that affirming and promoting the inherent worth and dignity of every person, begins within.
- Rev. Monica L. Cummings, First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles
Let us speak truth to power, the power within ourselves. That growth means pain. That true relationship can sustain conflict. That to create Beloved Community in the future, we must honestly assess our past. Unitarian Universalism must challenge its assumptions about race and other oppressions. Reconciliation is an on-going journey. Martin Luther King echoed Unitarian Theodore Parker, saying "the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice." He knew that small, hard-won steps extended some small piece of its curve. Kokoro, in Japanese, means heart and mind. Let us commit both to serve our larger hope.
- Rev. Leslie Takahashi Morris, Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church Unitarian Universalist, Charlottesville, Virginia
To create communities of love and justice, Unitarian Universalists must face the fact that our faith has not fully welcomed, affirmed and included the multiracial, multicultural diversity present in our ministry and membership today or in the past. We don't have to wait until we have the perfect curriculum or more diversity in our sanctuaries to commit to transforming congregations into communities that embrace, empower, and minister to people of all races and cultures whether they are children and youth, religious professionals, lay leaders or simply members worshipping in the pews. The sacred practice of reconciliation begins at home.
- Taquiena Boston, Director, Identity-Based Ministries staff group, Unitarian Universalist Association
I became a Unitarian Universalist in large part because of the Unitarians' support for the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's. By the 1960's Unitarian Universalism was in the forefront, and in 1968 our General Assembly pledged one million dollars for economic development in the black community. It was a bold commitment to reparations long before reparations were called for by African American leaders. The money was to be distributed through a UU organization called the Black Affairs Council. But the funding decision was controversial, and money was in short supply. Only half of that amount was ever given to the Council for distribution. The Unitarian Universalist moral balance sheet still carries that unpaid debt. Reconciliation, for us, might only be possible if that truth is named and our faith is challenged to imagine ways the debt can be paid.
- Rev. William G. Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist Association
What continues to challenge my personal faith is wondering whether I will ever see the day when our religious movement moves beyond its Eurocentric norms. We would probably all agree that a life of faith cannot be nurtured in the face of endemic evil. But it's more difficult to see that it is also impossible for many people from non-European heritage to be nurtured by an upper middle class Euro-centric norm blessed by self-satisfaction.
In most of our congregations that I have been a part of or worked with, structures that create and sustain whiteness are normative. There is presumption from some clergy and some laity that these cannons... rooted in the European experience, are normative. These presumptions make it extremely difficult for culturally oppressed groups to find a place in our congregations.
If I and other colleagues who are rooted in cultures outside Europe are to be nurtured in our movement, then I must keep the faith that things can be different. Being open to and supporting new possibilities in ministry, different cultural forms in worship, new ways of seeing - these too are important to keeping the faith, to nurturing the spirit. If you will stand with me in solidarity in an expanding circle of culture so that it includes all of us , you too will be keeping the faith.
- Rev. Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley (1949-2006), taken from "Not by Ourselves Alone," Birmingham Lecture, March 8, 2002

The UUA has established the Reverend Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley Fund to support Unitarian Universalist congregations and their lay and ordained leaders who are committed to the transformative work of creating inclusive multicultural communities of the spirit. Your contributions and generosity are appreciated.

For more information contact info @ uua.org.

Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.