. . . For all the significant identities that constitute each of us, there is a personal essence that defines who we are, a singular soul that is hidden deep within beyond the layers of identity that protect it. When we make initial contact with each other, we only see the outside of that soul at...

The UUA Multicultural Growth & Witness staff group offers resources, curricula, trainings, and tools to help Unitarian Universalist congregations and leaders engage in the work of antiracism, antioppression, and multiculturalism. Visit...

Consider interactions, relationships, and friendships you have had with people of a different race or ethnicity from your own. What did you learn from others? What broader perspectives did you gain? Were there things that you wish you had known or that you wish you had done/said differently? If...

Whatever any of us concludes about race relations, we should start by including all of us. — Frank Wu, author of Yellow This workshop marks the beginning of the second half of the program. There is considerable flexibility to account for different presentation schedules. Activity 1 is a re-entry...

The UUA Multicultural Growth & Witness staff group offers resources, curricula, trainings, and tools to help Unitarian Universalist congregations and leaders engage in the work of antiracism, antioppression, and multiculturalism. Visit...

Take a few minutes before leading this workshop to consider how unearned privilege accrues in your own life. Read Handout 1, White Privilege. If the concept of privilege is new to you, pay attention to what you think and feel as you read the list. If the concept is not new to you, recall how you...

The struggle for racial justice in America calls those of us who are White to make this journey. Our presence is needed. We have been absent too long. — Rev. Dr. Rebecca Parker, from Soul Work: Anti-racist Theologies in Dialogue, Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley and Nancy Palmer Jones, editors (Boston:...

If you are a White person, meditate or journal about how you discovered your "whiteness." What role has Whiteness played in your life? If you are a Person of Color or from a group marginalized by race or ethnicity, how did you learn about "Whiteness?" How has Whiteness impacted your life?

To consider "Whiteness" . . . is not an attack on people, whatever their skin color. Instead, [it] is an attempt to think critically about how white skin preference has operated systematically, structurally, and sometimes unconsciously as a dominant force in American—and indeed in global society...

The UUA Multicultural Growth & Witness staff group offers resources, curricula, trainings, and tools to help Unitarian Universalist congregations and leaders engage in the work of antiracism, antioppression, and multiculturalism. Visit...

The UUA Multicultural Growth & Witness staff group offers resources, curricula, trainings, and tools to help Unitarian Universalist congregations and leaders engage in the work of antiracism, antioppression, and multiculturalism. Visit...

The UUA Multicultural Growth & Witness staff group offers resources, curricula, trainings, and tools to help Unitarian Universalist congregations and leaders engage in the work of antiracism, antioppression, and multiculturalism. Visit...

Read aloud or silently the poem by Rev. Alicia Roxanne Forde which is included as the opening reading for the workshop. What words and images are most powerful for you? How do these words reflect your own reasons for working to bridge "the great divide"? You may wish to write or draw in your...

I sometimes find myself "examining my identity" as other people examine their conscience ... I scour my memory to find as many ingredients of my identity as I can. I then assemble and arrange them. I don't deny any of them. — Amin Maalouf, contemporary Lebanese author, from In the Name of...

As you prepare to lead the first workshop, reflect on how your life's journey has led you to this moment. Why is Building the World We Dream About important to you? Share your experiences and reasons with your co-leader....

What is true is that for Unitarian Universalism to move into a vibrant future, we will need to mine our past for stories of resistance to oppression, stories of openness to new ways of being religious, stories of transformation that have built new understandings into our narrative of who we are....

Unitarian Universalism is a border-crossing faith. We constantly revisit what it means to be open and welcoming to all who would find sustenance in our message and our communities. Our first Principle calls us to see the inherent worth and dignity in every person....

The Program The world's religions provide a variety of examples of how water has been regarded as part of a sacred life process, not simply another product for consumption. At the same time, our increased comprehension of the story of evolution as understood by science gives us a renewed...

The Program Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. — Albert Einstein Every part of the earth is sacred; every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every humming insect is holy. — Anonymous Roger Ulrich is an environmental...

The Program Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle. — Thich Nhat Hanh A miracle: An unexpected event or revelation that brings an outcome one has hoped...