Racial Justice

UUs holding Black Lives Matter banner witness for racial justice in Denver, CO, January 2015.

UUs witness for racial justice in Denver, CO, in January 2015. See map  of UU congregations supporting the Movement for Black Lives.

Every person has value as a member of the human family. The suffering caused by racism must be ended if we want to create fair and loving communities. We work to end racial discrimination and injustice, starting within ourselves and moving out into the world around us. We support multiracial, multiethnic congregations and advocate for stopping racist policies like mass imprisonment and attacks on voting rights. Our multicultural ministries will continue until there is peace, liberty, and justice for all.

We invite UUs of all ages and backgrounds to share their hopes and dreams for the role that Unitarian Universalists can play in advancing racial justice in the United States. Many UUs are already working with groups and campaigns, and others are still figuring out how they want to be involved. Learn more about multicultural welcome and inclusion.

What We Are Doing

  • Black Lives Matter and Building a Movement for Racial Justice  
    Racial profiling, police brutality, and mass imprisonment of are examples of how African Americans and other people of color suffer at the hands of today’s legal system. Join the movement to end these systems of racial injustice. See our map of UU congregations with Black Lives Matter banners and learn more about building a movement for racial justice.
  • Poor People's Campaign 
    The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is uniting tens of thousands of people across the country to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality. We align with the following goals, strategies, and tactics that strengthen multi-faith and partner relationships and coalitions, deepen our own faith, and help build a transformative movement for justice.
  • Doctrine of Discovery 
    We support the struggles of Native peoples for freedom. In 2012, the UUA took a stance against the past and current impacts of the Doctrine of Discovery, an historic international law that allowed Europeans to kill non-Christian peoples and steal their land.
  • Love Resists 
    A joint UUA-UUSC campaign activating people of faith and conscience to resist harm inflicted by criminalization and create safe, welcoming, sustainable and just communities
  • Multicultural Leadership and Inclusion  
    We support leaders intentionally building multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural Unitarian Universalist congregations and communities, centering the experiences of indigenous peoples and people of color.

Worship, Learn, Connect, and Live Your Faith

Worship

Education

Community: Gatherings and Groups

Stories

  • Catalyst: the UUA newsletter on racial and ethnic ministries

Partnership

Effective justice ministry depends on partnership, since racial discrimination touches everyone. UU partners in racial justice work, beyond the Unitarian Universalist Association, include UU State Action Networks, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, the UU College of Social JusticeDiverse & Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM), Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), and Allies for Racial Equity. UUs also form interfaith partnerships, such as with the Interfaith Organizing InitiativeCongregation-Based Community Organizations, the Forward Together movement, the NAACP, and the Living Legacy Project.

Black Lives Matter banner on UU Community Church sign

Banner at Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Hendricks County - Danville, IN.Gallery of UU congregations with Black Lives Matter banners as well as amap. Resource:The Power of the Black Lives Matter Banner.

The Promise and the Practice of Our Faith for Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU)

Imagine what our faith would look like if we upheld and centered the history, the perspectives, the voices, and the leadership of Black Lives of Unitarian Universalists...

The Promise and the Practice of Our Faith Campaign is our opportunity to take the lead as a faith denomination in addressing our history of upholding white supremacy. Together, we can collectively work to dismantle it and amend a long broken promise to the Black Lives within our Association.

Join our Association of Congregations as we do something different in this extraordinary moment to connect our finances with our theological values as we enter a new chapter within our faith.

Learn more

Revisiting the Empowerment Controversy Black Power and Unitarian Universalism

By Mark D. Morrison-Reed

From Skinner House Books

The preeminent scholar of black Unitarian Universalist history presents this long-awaited chronicle and analysis of the events of the Empowerment Controversy.

Buy This Book