Displaying 1 - 44 of 44
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There’s never been a time in the United States history when black rebellions did not spark existential fear among white people.Reading | By Michelle Alexander, Leslie Alexander | May 12, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Freedom, History, Juneteenth, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship -
Slavery is made to sound as if it happened in a prehistoric age instead of only a few generations ago.Reading | By Clint Smith | January 27, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, History, Oppression, Race/Ethnicity, Violence
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White supremacy illuminates the exceptional instead of blaming the system.Reading | By Clint Smith | January 27, 2022 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Anti-Oppression, Generations, History, Race/Ethnicity, Violence, WorshipWeb, Worship
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The 8th Principle is about actively dismantling racism.Reading | By Shannon Lang | August 23, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #8thPrinciple, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, WorshipWeb, Worship -
To see how we fight still after entire lifetimes of struggle—and then to tell us to be more polite is just plain cruel.Reading | By Ijeoma Oluo | June 30, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-Oppression, Humanism, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, WorshipWeb, Worship -
We in the developed world are like homeowners who inherited a house on a piece of land that is beautiful on the outside, but whose soil is unstable loam and rock, heaving and contracting over generations, cracks patched but the deeper ruptures waved away for decades, centuries even....Reading | By Isabel Wilkerson | February 22, 2021 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Anti-Oppression, History, Race/Ethnicity, WorshipWeb, Worship -
At the core of American racism is the belief that the things we the Blacks desire, the fact that we the Blacks desire, are perversions.Reading | By Imani Perry | October 27, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Anti-Oppression, Challenge, Character, Imagination, Race/Ethnicity -
I was born nine years after four little girls were killed in Birmingham, Alabama, and two other boys later the same day.Reading | By Imani Perry | October 27, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, History, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, WorshipWeb, Worship -
Black men are not a species. They, you, belong to humanity.Reading | By Imani Perry | October 19, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Character, History, Race/Ethnicity, WorshipWeb, Worship -
I learned the hard way that there is a deep difference between the Jesus that Black folks worship and the Jesus that white Christians worship.Reading | By Austin Channing Brown | June 27, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Christianity, Direct Experience, History, Power, Race/Ethnicity, Religion -
Ironically, Americans who self-identify as not racist—whether they're conservatives, moderates, liberals, radicals, progressives—they don't realize… that we are connecting ourselves to a history of slave traders who self-identified as not racist (although they didn't use that term). We're...Reading | By Ibram X Kendi | January 16, 2020 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, History, Identity, Juneteenth, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Oppression, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity -
A common "issue" in anti-racism work is the use of the term culture of white supremacy or white supremacy culture, which many people view as charged, controversial, or even deeply offensive. Sometimes there are even challenges/dismissals from people in positions of power/authority about it....Reading | By Carolina Krawarik-Graham | August 15, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humanism, Identity, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Secular -
Non-Indigenous people who seek to reconnect with the earth must be wary of the dangerous problem of spiritual theft. On the one hand, we have much to learn from Native peoples about this land and about what it means to honor our relationship to the land. We must take our lead from those who have...Reading | By Myke Johnson | July 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Earth, Earth-Centered, Indigenous American, Race/Ethnicity, Responsibility, Seven Principles, Spiritual Practice -
It is time to throw out our exceptional identity and humble ourselves... We have always done good in the world—it is in our DNA. The question is, are we ready to do better for our own people? Because the world includes every person in our faith—many of whom have been micro-aggressioned right out...Reading | By Marta I. Valentín | June 25, 2019 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Humility, Identity, Inclusion, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism -
In 1617, a few years before English settlers landed, an epidemic began to spread through the area that became southern New England. It likely came from British fishermen, who had been fishing off the coast for decades. By 1620, ninety to ninety-six percent of the population had died. It decimated...Reading | By Myke Johnson | November 4, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: America, Anti-Oppression, History, Indigenous American, Race/Ethnicity, Thanksgiving -
Every October and November in the United States, we find ourselves in a season of false and misleading stories about European settlers and Native Americans. First there’s the story that Columbus discovered America in 1492. Then there’s the story about the Pilgrims and the Indians at the first...Reading | By Myke Johnson | November 4, 2018 | From WorshipWebTagged as: America, Anti-Oppression, History, Indigenous American, Race/Ethnicity, Thanksgiving -
Diverse. Multicultural. Inclusive. Welcoming. If I made a list of every single Unitarian Universalist congregation I have served, visited or worshipped at, they would have a few things in common—including the use of these words. Perhaps on the front of the Order of Service?...Reading | By Carol Thomas Cissel | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Health, Listening, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism -
Joy Unspeakable is not silent, it moans, hums, and bends to the rhythm of a dancing universe…. For our free African ancestors, joy unspeakable is drum talk… For enslaved Africans during the Middle Passage, joy unspeakable is the surprise of living one more day… For Africans in bondage in the...Reading | By Kimberly Quinn Johnson | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Arts & Music, Community, Direct Experience, Joy, Living Our Faith, Multiculturalism, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Spiritual Practice, Unitarian Universalism -
When I started attending a UU church, I was excited by the promise of worship that would draw from the arts, science, nature, literature and a multitude of voices. Indeed, some of the voices that Unitarian Universalists hear in worship each week belong to Thoreau, Emerson, Ballou, and others....Reading | By Connie Simon | October 15, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Community, Direct Experience, Identity, Inclusion, Listening, Multiculturalism, Pain, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Reconciliation, Unitarian Universalism
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Yesterday, a new employee—a white guy—walked into the bakery where I work. “Hi,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve met you yet.” He told me his name. “I’m Jabari,” I replied. “Are you American?,” he asked. I hesitated. “Yeaaaaaaaaaah.” “Well, it’s just that your name is...Reading | By Jabari S. Jones | July 31, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), America, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Humanism, Identity, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Secular -
Whiteness has been used throughout the histories of America and Europe to praise desirable groups of people and exclude undesirable groups. But “whiteness” is not a ethnic group, a cultural group, or a nationality. In the United States, the Supreme Court legally defined what it meant to be...Reading | By Sarah C Stewart | March 14, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: America, Anti-Oppression, History, Oppression, Race/Ethnicity, Secular
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No matter what tactics and methods racial justice activists use, the general response of society will be a collective head-shaking and tsk-tsk-ing — because what people are actually complaining about are not the specific tactics that are being used in the struggle for racial justice, but that the...Reading | By Aisha Ansano | February 27, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, Anger, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Equity, Humanism, Justice, Multiculturalism, Oppression, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Solidarity -
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a radical. He was called “the most dangerous man in America” by the FBI and had a 17,000 page FBI file at the time of his death. It wasn’t just KKK members or those in positions of power who disagreed with him or hated him. As Cornel West explains in...Reading | By Aisha Ansano | February 27, 2017 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Activism, America, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, History, Humanism, Justice, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Multiculturalism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity -
We gather at Thanksgiving, in some sense, to retell the creation myth of our country. In this myth is our very best and our very worst: a boldness; a care for the common good; a wish to say we before I. Yet from even before the first Thanksgiving feast, it’s a story of theft and violence, and a...Reading | By David Schwartz | November 15, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Anti-Oppression, Freedom, Generations, History, Humanism, Indigenous American, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Thanksgiving -
Don’t speak to me of “healing” racism, or “wounded souls” or the “painful hurt” until you are willing to feel the scars on my great-great-grandmother Laury’s back. Don’t speak to me of “values” or “justice” or “righting wrongs” until you are able to feel the heartache...Reading | By Adam Lawrence Dyer | May 17, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Direct Experience, Healing, Identity, Justice, Personal Stories, Race/Ethnicity, Responsibility, Secular, Shame -
You’ve seen it. Two black men pass each other on the street. They nod. Subtle, sometimes imperceptible, but there is acknowledgement. “Do you know him?” “No . . . (yes) . . . no.” I learned this from my father and my grandfather and my other grandfather and my uncles and my great uncle and...Reading | By Adam Lawrence Dyer | May 17, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), America, Anti-Oppression, Connections, Direct Experience, Identity, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Solidarity, Unity
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To become an anti-racist faith community, the key question for a white/white majority community is not “How do we get people of color to join our faith community?” It is, instead, “How can we make a prolonged, spiritually-rooted, engaged commitment to uprooting white supremacy within our...Reading | By Chris Crass | May 9, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Freedom, Justice, Living Our Faith, Purpose, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Seven Principles, Solidarity, Unity -
Dear Liberal Allies, You and I learned very different things in very different ways. If you didn’t live an experience, then step aside. We students of color, gay students, trans* students, children of immigrants and refugees knew this stuff before our professors told us what to call it....Reading | By Trungles | March 30, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Growth, Identity, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Multiculturalism, Personal Stories, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity, Suffering
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Bruises are a part of roller derby — a celebrated part. It’s not uncommon for players to take pictures of their biggest, most colorful shaped bruises: bruises that go deep into your tissue, and come out in amazing blues, purples, and blacks that eventually fade to greens, browns and yellows. A...Reading | By Dawn Skjei Cooley | February 23, 2016 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Body, Commitment, Direct Experience, Healing, Justice, Multiculturalism, Privilege, Race/Ethnicity, Secular -
Most of us Unitarian Universalists are here because we felt welcome here — at last. Some of us were too agnostic somewhere else. Some of us weren’t vindictive enough somewhere else. We were too working-class somewhere else. We were too lesbian somewhere else. We were too nerdy somewhere else,...Reading | By Kenny Wiley | September 1, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Activism, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Identity, Inclusion, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
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Today we light our candle of remembrance. On April 19, 1943 the Jewish community in the Warsaw ghetto rose up against their captors in a valiant effort to regain their freedom and return a common humanity to those intent on destroying their very existence....Reading | By Karen Mooney | April 27, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Direct Experience, History, Holocaust Remembrance / Yom Ha'Shoah, Human Rights, Humanism, Identity, Judaism, Prayer Practices, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity -
Identity is one of those concepts I have tried desperately to push to the sidelines for most of mi vida. It was always too complicated, too painful, or too divisive....Reading | By Saul Ulloa | April 26, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, Identity, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity -
For those of us who follow the Christian tradition, now is the season of advent, a time of waiting. And whether or not we are Christian I believe that Unitarian Universalists and progressives of any or no faith have something to learn from this Christian season of advent this year. Because we are...Reading | By Annie Gonzalez Milliken | February 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Activism, Advent, Anti-Oppression, Change, Christianity, Direct Experience, Empathy, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism
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As a Unitarian Universalist minister, it is sometimes my role to answer correspondence that comes to our congregation from members of the community. Last night, I received this brief note in my inbox: Good Evening: I am very upset at the signage that is outside of your church stating that “Black...Reading | By Daniel S. Schatz | February 19, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Anti-Oppression, Healing, Race/Ethnicity, Seven Principles, Unitarian Universalism, Violence
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Do not think we are finished— oh no we will never be finished never just done until the light of justice is lit behind every eye. Do not think we will be silent— no there will not be silence until the world has sung the names of the dead with full throats and still we will sing on. Do not think...Reading | By Audette Fulbright Fulson | February 2, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Activism, Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Courage, Direct Experience, Justice, Oppression, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity
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This is adapted from a litany by Gail Forsyth-Vail, who suggests the following to maximize the reading's power: Identify seventeen people who will come forward to represent the generations of African Americans in the British colonies and in the United States. As you name the first generation,...Reading | By James (Jay) C Leach | January 29, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, History, Humanism, Juneteenth, Justice, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity
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This reading requires seventeen people who are able to come forward and represent the generations of African Americans in the British colonies and in the United States. As you name the first generation, indicate to a person that they should stand. Each time you call a new generation, you indicate...Reading | By Gail Forsyth-Vail | January 29, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, History, Humanism, Juneteenth, Justice, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity
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Somos una gente del arco iris. We are a rainbow people. The rainbow is an arc of light brilliantly displaying all the colors of the visible spectrum, all the colors that combine to make the astounding beauty of our world, all the colors that combine to reflect the astounding diversity of human...Reading | By Naomi King | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Diversity, Inclusion, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity -
About The Author: The author self-identifies as Afircan American and psychology professional. Frequently I am asked, ‘Why should the UUA [Unitarian Universalist Association] spend money, time, and resources on racial and cultural diversity?’ I sometimes feel burdened with the expectation that I...Reading | By Anonymous | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), All Saints Day, Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Identity, Justice Sunday, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Responsibility, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness, Multiculturalism
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The human race is a vast rainbow bursting into view of white and black, red, yellow and brown. Yet for all blood is red, the sky is blue, the earth brown, the night dark. In size and shape we are a varied pattern of tall and short, slim and stout, elegant and plain....Reading | By Richard S. Gilbert | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Body, Diversity, Inclusion, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness
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Why should we intentionally work for diversity? The responses to this question vary widely. Of course, hard demographic realities suggest much. But for me, beyond any demographic or sociological justification, there is a theological imperative....Reading | By Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Diversity, Growth, Hospitality, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Wholeness, Multiculturalism
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Frances, an African American woman: To be African-American in this country is to face racism throughout life, however subtle. The love of one’s family is paramount in reducing the damage of racism on one’s wholeness. Unitarian Universalism is splendid as an affirming church family. Its primary...Reading | By Mark Hicks | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Diversity, Kwanzaa, Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Unitarian Universalism, Multiculturalism
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Blackmail, blacklist, black mark. Black Monday, black mood, black-hearted. Black plague, black mass, black market. Good guys wear white, bad guys wear black. We fear black cats, and the Dark Continent. But it's okay to tell a white lie, lily-white hands are coveted, it's great to be pure as the...Reading | By Jacqui James | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: Balance, Psychology, Race/Ethnicity
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Congregation starts, reading the words in italics. They say I am “illegal”; But so is anyone who ever rolled through a stop sign, jaywalked or threw trash on the ground. Not having a visa is a civil infraction, not a federal crime. They say I am here to take your jobs; But the jobs are often...Reading | By Julia Hamilton | January 21, 2015 | From WorshipWebTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), America, Anti-Oppression, Immigration, Justice, Race/Ethnicity, Immigration