We're grateful to artist/designer Kristin Joiner for granting permission to share her sign on WorshipWeb. Joiner asks that this image not be printed by UU congregations. However, you may purchase signs and many other items with this message on it, where proceeds support the health, safety and...

Oh God of the black, the white, the brown and . . . the blue, Oh God of Keith Lamont Scott*, of Justin Carr*, and . . . of Brently Vinson* and of their grieving, troubled families, Oh God of those in our streets bearing the oppressive weight of armor and armaments, and of those in our streets...

Holy One, our hearts are weary; are tired; and are breaking. Our hearts are stretching as they are pulled and pushed, bruised and battered by all the suffering and brokenness and pain. Our ears are ringing—ringing with harsh words, with yelling, with gunfire that echoes in our streets and takes...

Alongside banner displays, many congregations are holding and attending vigils for people killed by police violence, starting study groups and anti-racism education workshops and engaging with UU-led efforts in support of the movement from Black Lives of UU and Diverse Revolutionary Unitarian...

Many Black Lives Matter banners have been vandalized or stolen. These events and the associated “Black Lives Matter” vs. “All Lives Matter” rhetoric has been frustrating and upsetting for many. But it has also revealed just how deeply racism and in particular, anti-black sentiments, are...

Jesus was a teacher, long ago, of love and compassion.

I'm on my way to a job where I am the only black person in my office. I work with people who either don’t know or don’t care about Alton Sterling or Philando Castile. They are going to ask me “How are you this morning?” and the simple truth is that I can’t be honest. I can’t say that...

Sister Goose swam in the pond, happy as could be. Now and then, she ducked her head down to nibble a little bit here, and nibble a little bit there. She took no more than her fill of those succulent underwater plants, for she knew that the pond belonged to everyone....

If your congregation would like to join this visibility movement, here are resources to help....

General Assembly (GA) 2016 Event 506 Program Description We Ready—We Comin’ Members of the Black Lives of UU Organizing Collective offer a celebration of spiritual connections affirmed in the Movement for Black Lives. Standing in the truth that Black Lives Matter and anchored by revolutionary...

BELLEVUE, WA: On Sunday, April 24, 2016 a pick-up truck pulled up to a group of East Shore Unitarian Church Black Lives Matter advocates at the stop light on the corner of Factoria Blvd. SE and SE 36th and threw a sign at the group that read “I Hate Ni**ers─Black Lives Don’t Mean Shit.” On...

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...

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...

"The thing that's really slick about whiteness, if you will, is that most of the benefits can be obtained without ever doing anything personally......

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...

The Rev. Jamil Scott, International Order of Buddhist Ministers, is Acting Director of Religious Exploration at First Unitarian Society of Denver, CO. In November 2015, the congregation’s Black Lives Matter banner was defaced with red paint. This is his story of what happened next. Being a person...

Unitarian Universalists (UUs) are exploring how to visibly show our support for the Movement for Black Lives—through community partnerships, education, social justice actions, and more. In February 2015, Leslie Mac, founder of Ferguson Response Network and a member of the Organizing Collective of...

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...

The statement Black Lives Matter might be hard to hear because it floats. It is a bit of hyperbole. There is no counter point, no balancing narrative. This is something our culture is not accustomed to. We are used to having a good guy and a bad guy, a protagonist and an antagonist. We’ve seen...