BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team
Minutes of Program Meeting – December 8, 2021
Present: Rupert Ayton, Mike Betz, David Curley, Naomi Gary, Mel Hoover, Angie Lindquist, Tom Kirchner, Judy Kasper, Cat McIntyre and Hank Ohana
This program meeting was about planning program meetings for 2022. David Curley led the meeting, with questions about Audience, Content and Format.
Who is our Audience? Who are we trying to reach, how do we reach them, to develop Beloved Community?
o Begin with the 105 people who attended the congregational meeting that supported the Eighth Principle (amended to Covenant of Beloved Community).
o We don’t just want an audience—we want participation
o Teams who have completed their accountability assessments
o Beloved Community meeting group
o Newcomers to BUF and/or newcomers to BUF Black Lives Matter
o Core group of committed leaders
o Young people, parents, elders, multi-cultural representatives
Considering the Content that participants favor:
o Naomi found that going to an event together, like Juneteenth, was very powerful
o Hank suggested a SURJ speaker
o Rupert finds discussing an issue, like a recent Washington Post article, useful
o How about focusing on a current event that affects the entire congregation, like the trials in Charlottesburg, or the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict?
o Feedback from the participants of January anti-racism training?
o The origins of Community Land Trusts in the American South
o WWU History professor about the history of Blacks in Bellingham, and the 1852 treaty with Lummi Nation
o Self-education so that we can be a resource when people have questions; e.g. about Blacks and banking, home ownership, courts, sentencing, institutional racism, dirty politics, local actions in these areas
o Cowboys: who were they? Why is the cultural perception that they were all white?
o Institutional change – the congregation accepting that “we won’t be a white congregation anymore” and committing to being a human community
o Policies, practices and mentalities that support being a human community
o Learning to be authentic, especially in leadership
o Help people find their Next Right Step
o Racism isn’t about Black people, it’s based in White people; don’t be “animal rights” types advocating from outside
o Learn about BLUU and the Eighth Principle
o Study books from Beacon Press
We decided to have book discussions, beginning in January and February, reading Dogwhistle Politics, by Ian Hainey Lopez in January, and The Sum of Us, by Heather McGee in February. Since the BUF book group, which meets on the third Thursday of every month, is reading McGee’s book in January, we may organize a joint meeting with the BUF book group at the end of February.
Format: We will hold weekly meetings every Monday at 6 pm in January and February. We need a leader and some provocative questions about Dogwhistle Politics to begin. We will discuss this at our Monday, January 3, Black Lives Matter business meeting.
Cat agreed to publicize the new format and meeting topics in the BUF Midweek Update, and procure weekly zoom links for January and February.
Respectfully submitted,
Cat McIntyre, scribe
Co-facilitator, BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team
