Cameron Young, Congregational Life Staff, MidAmerica and Southern Regions

This past week bore witness to an historic event here in our region—the sentencing of officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd (see “From the UUA: We Speak George Floyd's Name”). Undoubtedly, this verdict brought out a spectrum of emotions in many of us, especially our black and brown friends and colleagues, ranging from joy and relief to anger and hurt—both that this epidemic of racial police brutality continues and also that the application of bare minimum standards of accountability have to be acknowledged as a milestone.

But accountability is one small shift. There is no justice nor is there reconciliation without acknowledgment and accountability. Our American institutions, including our UU ones, both congregational and associational, still have ample work to do with applying our own standards of accountability. This is why we recommend to continue reading and discussing Widening the Circle of Concern just as we are as UUA staff.

Always be asking, how is the Church accountable to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) (see The BIPOC Project)? To trans people? To youth (see the UUA’s Youth page)? To marginalized peoples both within and outside of our walls (because that work is not mutually exclusive)?

Please know that your MidAmerica regional staff as well as your UUA Organizing Strategy Team is here for you as you navigate and act on these questions.

As so beautifully stated in the press release above:

Our Unitarian Universalist faith compels us to join all those who are striving to establish true structures of safety, stability, and freedom for all people. Our tradition’s Principles—including our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every human being—move us to work together to build the anti-oppressive world we imagine where everyone can be safe and everyone can thrive.

May it be so,
Cameron Young (they/them)