Responsive Resolution on Racism and Classism
by Zoe EngbergOn June 25, 2006 at General Assembly a responsive resolution on racism and classism was passed. The resolution stated, "Resolved, that the Delegates to General Assembly are charged to work with their congregations to hold at least one program over the next year to address racism or classism, and to report on that program at next year's General Assembly." The resolution was not on the General Assembly (GA) agenda, but was written by a GA delegate, offered as a responsive resolution and supported by over six hundred congregations. It was passed in response to a report of the Special Review Commission appointed to review the events surrounding the 2005 GA in Fort Worth, as well as reports presented by officers at the 2006 GA. These reports concerned events at both General Assemblies that affected People, and especially Youth of Color within our Unitarian Universalist (UU) community.
During plenary on Sunday, June 25, Gini Courter, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Moderator, yielded her speaking time to two youth, saying "I rose to talk about some instances of privilege and power, and following that conversation our Youth and Young Adults of Color and their allies wanted to bring a list of what they would like me to tell you. I realized they needed to have their own voices, because they are delegates, and they are a part of our Assembly, part of our community." She then introduced UUA Trustee-At-Large Julian Sharp, who encouraged the delegates to listen to the youth speakers, who he then presented. Hannah Eller-Isaacs and Zarinah Ali spoke of how they felt that youth had been disrespected and labeled as troublemakers within the community. Youth felt that their voices were not heard and that their work with anti-racism was not taken seriously. They said that there was not support for anti-racism programming, and that GA volunteers had been patronizing and demeaning to Youth of Color. Courter then resumed the podium, and commented that there has never been a Study/Action Issue or Statement of Conscience that said that we needed to study racism in our congregations. She commented that this issue seems to be something that we find difficult.
The responsive resolution calls on congregations to address racism and classism within their communities. The UUA and Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUUs) have a variety of resources that congregations can use to follow through on this resolution. For a detailed list, you can go to the website that the UUA has set up specifically for this resolution.
One of these resources is an Anti-Racism Movie Guide, complete with movie titles and discussion questions.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Saturday, April 19, 2008.
