Meeting Minutes March 21,2022

 BELLINGHAM UNITARIAN FELLOWHIP

BLACK LIVES MATTER MINISTRY ACTION TEAM

 

MINUTES FOR THE ZOOM MEETING ON 3/21/2022 7-9PM

 

IN ATTENDANCE

Michael Betz​​Naomi Gary​​Stephanie Sarver​Rupert Ayton

Lauralee Carbone​Henry Ohana​​Cat McIntyre​​David Curley

Judy Kaspar

 

We had invited City Council member Kristina Martens to speak but she had an unexpected death in the family and asked to reschedule to next month.

Stephanie Sarver offered to help lead a discussion reviewing our Objectives for Engaging the Congregation 2021-2022. See diagram below.

Our overarching feeling is that “BLM” and The Covenant of Beloved Community is finally “rippling through” the BUF community at large. There is still much work to be done.  The sense of accountability is what sets this year’s actions apart from previous attempts. Lauralee mentioned that even Book Groups and Chalice Circles are now taking actions towards building a more beloved community.

 

 

 

 

Action/goal	What’s been done since July 2021
1. Meet twice a month to  (a) review and plan activities, and  (b) present an educational program.	Continues. Meetings increased to four times per month while reading books. Plan to continue to meet three times per month starting in April, with one business meeting and two program meetings. Reassess frequency as needed.
2. Engage the congregation in consciousness-raising through Anti-racism Minutes, Sunday forums, sermons, informational handouts, and more.	Continues.  ANTI-RACISM MINUTES OFFERED ALMOST EVERY  SUNDAY, AT LEAST TWO SERMONS ADDRESSED RACISM, BUF BLM BOOKMARKS CREATED MID FEBRUARY.
3. Meet with BUF staff twice a year to discuss how we can help each other move toward structural change at BUF, transforming the congregation to an anti-racist, multicultural organization.	BUF BLM HAS NOT MET WITH STAFF FORMALLY…BUT INDIVIDUALS HAVE MET WITH INDIVIDUAL STAFF. WE DECIDED TO WAIT FOR PAUL’S RETURN TO REQUEST A MEETING.
4. Partner with community groups such as the Racial Justice Coalition, Whatcom Human Rights Task Force, Juneteenth organizers, and others.	BLM IS WORKING ON A GEORGE FLOYDMEMORIAL WEEKEND  EVENT AND WILL BE “PARTNERED” WITH COMMUNITY GROUPS
5. Work with BUF children's and adults' Religious Education teams to develop and teach anti-racist programs; e.g. Widening the Circle, book club selections, films, and discussion topics for communities within BUF.	Genia has engaged on the BLM focus. White Christ/Black Jesus  course was attended by 12 people, two from the BLM team.
6. Provide members and leadership for the ministry action team formed to implement the Beloved Community Steering Committee.	ACCOUNATABILY TEAM INITIATED THE PROCESS, BLM WAS ONE OF THE FIRST TO COMPLETE. THERE ARE 26 TEAMS AT BUF AND AT  LEAST 9 PARTICIPATED IN THE FIRST ACCOUNTABILITY LAUNCH!  NEXT EVENT IN MAY 2022 DAVID, CAT AND NAOMI REGULARLY ATTEND THE MONTHLY BELOVED COMMUNITY FORUM. EVERYONE IS WELCOME!
7. Create posters, banners, tri-fold brochures, etc. to publicize anti-racist activities, programs, and ideals.	Bookmarks distributed throughout BUF, in particular the sanctuary. LAURALEE  SUGGESTED ASKING FOR ARTISTIC HELP FROM BUF MEMBER AND GRAPHIC ARTIST JEANNE BRUSSARD
8. Conduct a survey of congregation, beginning with the BLM mailing list and the Rapid Response phone tree members to invite people personally to meetings.	Completed for the BLM mailing list. WE NEED TO COMPLETE THE REST…WE NEED TO REMEMBER TO INVITE PEOPLE TO BLM!
9. Create occasional spaces (virtual or physical) for ritual, music, art, literature, and humor that help build a Beloved Community and dismantle racism.	The group agreed that more attention should be given to this goal, perhaps beginning with a re-start of the Coffee House after Covid restrictions are lifted.
10. Communicate to the congregation via BUF News, BUF MidWeek Update, BUF Black Lives Matter Facebook group, BUF Breeze mailing group, and our blog http://bufblacklivesmatter.blogspot.com	This is ongoing with postings in the BUF News and the MidWeek Update. It was agreed that some maintenance is needed for the  blog and Facebook pages.

 

 

Measurements of Success

Action	What’s been done since July 2021
Report quarterly to SEJC, describing nature and number of meetings and events held.	The Program meeting of 3/21/22 began the process of completing the next quarterly report.  WE REPORT QUARTERLY TO SEJC AND THE CHARTER WAS UPDATED IN OCT 2021 AS REQUIRED EVERY THREE YEARS. WE USED THIS UPDATED CHARTER FOR OUR ACCOUNTABILTY PROCESS.
Complete annual audit using Beloved Covenant audit process. • Incorporate feedback from BIPOC communities on our effectiveness in reaching goals	The audit was completed in December 2021. An area for development and exploration relates to gathering feedback from the BIPOC communities. NAOMI TO CONTACT CITY COUNCIL MEMBER KRISTINA MARTENS TO RESCHEDULE HER BLM PROGRAM AND WORK ON GEORGE FLOYD MEMORIAL EVENT   DAVID TO CONTACT DEBRA LEKANOFF, WA STATE LEGISLATOR, AND INVITE HER TO A BLM PROGRAM MEETING

Anti-Racism Reflection of January 9, 2022

Like many of you, watching the video of George Floyd being murdered made me very uncomfortable. I thought about what would stop murder-by-cop, and what I personally was going to do about it.  And then embarrassment pushed me into action.

Some of you may have heard the story of the Red House eviction crisis in Portland, Oregon, in 2020.  At first an outcry over an afro-indigenous family being evicted from their long-held property.  Then the news report that seemed to blame the son for the events leading up to the eviction.

As the story went, years ago the son had been charged with a drug related crime, and to pay for his defense, the family had taken out a mortgage on the home they had owned free and clear.  Then later the family had stopped making payments on the mortgage, and the son had engaged in a series of efforts to avoid repayment and foreclosure.  This went on for years.

A couple of days after the story, a young acquaintance mentioned the crisis.  Smugly, I recited the causes I had heard on the news as justification for what was happening.  He then took me to school on all the ways institutional racism had contributed to the crisis. I was embarrassed.

He explained how institutional racism in the courts treated BIPOC defendants differently from white defendants. And how lenders preyed upon BIPOC families by denying them the same loans as white families.

At first, I was in denial. But this young man was now telling me I did not understand how embedded racism was in the institutions of America, and how outcomes were so different for white people versus BIPOC people.  Then and there, I committed to do my homework.  And I was horrified at what I began to learn, especially about the dog-whistle racism in politics.

I am so glad that BUF, with these reflections, is pursuing anti-racism.  Change—dismantling institutional racism—happens person by person.

I am Rupert Ayton, and I am living with intention.

Anti-Racism Reflection of February 13, 2022

 It’s 1936 and Show Boat is a smash hit on the big screen. The director is openly-gay hit-maker James Whale.  The cast includes the famous vocalist Paul Robeson.

Whale was born into the poor working class of the 19th-century-English-industrial-midlands, and quietly worked to escape that rigid caste system.

World War One gave Whale his way out. Fighting through the trench carnage in France, Whale was taken prisoner of war. In prison camp, Whale learned how to stage entertainment for the enlisted men.  Returned to England, Whale began to succeed in theater.

Hollywood beckoned, and Whale directed a string of successful horror films, starting with Frankenstein in 1931.  Critics have recognized how the Great War influenced Whale’s sets and filming, and how Whale subtly incorporated gay sensibilities in his horror films.

Whale’s pre-eminence as a director was short lived.  Show Boat, a genre detour, was his last critical film success.  Some claim he was black-balled by homophobic Hollywood.

While Whale was building his reputation, Paul Robeson was already famous, touring Europe, and wowing audiences with his voice.  Born to an ex-slave, Robeson was the embodiment of WEB Du Bois’ Talented Tenth, and entertaining gave him his platform.

As Robeson’s international concert career flourished, theater and film beckoned. At the same time, Robeson was becoming more vocal on segregation and fascism.

Disappointed with the stereotypical roles offered him, after Show Boat, Robeson dropped out of films and plays, but continued his concerts and public speaking.  He became involved in the Spanish Civil war.  When America entered World War Two, Robeson was intensely patriotic.  As the war wound down, Robeson became more involved in championing Black lives.

As you may imagine, Robeson’s public truth-telling on racism was an embarrassment to white-supremacy-America.  It was even the cause of a bloody riot in 1949.

The US government tried to silence and ruin Robeson, going so far as to revoke Robeson’s passport, cutting off his ability to work in Europe.  Branded a Communist, in 1956 Robeson found himself in front of an Un-American Activities hearing.  Some of his testimony that day is worth repeating:

“I am being tried for fighting for the rights of my people, who are still second-class citizens in the US of America . . . You want to shut up every Negro who has the courage to stand up and fight for the rights of his people.”

More than a decade of wrestling with the government, over his beliefs and passport, took its toll on Robeson’s health and voice, but not his continued outspokenness.

From the standpoint of racism, the musical Show Boat was groundbreaking, and even more so in the 1936 film. There are the relationships between the Black and white characters, as well as the issues of Passing and Miscegenation.  In the film, there is a poignant moment of black-face, viewed through the segregated black audience, and images of the brutal labor standards faced by Blacks in the South, as Robeson sings Ole Man River. But there are also degrading stereotypes.

Was Show Boat racist?  Or was it a 1920s commentary on racism? The novel’s author, Edna Ferber, was known for pointing out racism, but not answering it, making it incidental to her white characters. I’d like to think Whale made a subtle point on racism in the movie.  Watch it and you be the judge.

Minutes – Business/Planning Meeting – March 7, 2022

BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team

Minutes – Business/Planning Meeting – March 7, 2022

 

Present: Rupert Ayton, Mike Betz, David Curley, Cat McIntyre, Stephanie Sarver

 

1.Anti-Racism Minutes (aka Anti-Racism Reflections)

Mar. 13      David Curley, stewardship

Mar. 27      Cat will ask Rev. Barbara “Renewing Faith”—women’s hx month

 

2.Program Meeting.  March 14: Bellingham City Council Member Kristina Michelle Martens. Rupert will host. If the number of participants is manageable, we’ll have introductions first, per speaker’s request

 

3.Future program meetings: Mondays at 7. Cat will send out announcements of all the meetings.

 

o   Second Monday of month will be a speaker. Topics of interest: voting rights, policing.

 

o   Third Monday will be review of goals, assignments for tasks, accountability. Stephanie will coordinate on March 21, review, plan and incorporate BLM goals per assessment and goals report; Cat will email it to her. 

 

o   Fourth Monday will be book discussion. On March 28, we’ll discuss Sum of Us. Cat has two copies to give away. 

 

4.Community Actions:  

 

o   Bellingham Community Development Advisory Board Action Plan: Thursday, March 10 at 6 pm

 

o   Bellingham Police semi-finalists 5:30 pm March 17

 

5.In person meetings. We discussed meeting in person, while continuing to incorporate Zoom for those who wish to participate remotely. Question: Can we use the Owl in the flex room, where air circulation would be better than the conference room? Some discussion of whether a table is important psychologically.

 

Reflection: February Training. Two particularly effective items from Kimberley Harris’s training will be written up for the BUF Midweek Update. David will describe Taeku Lee’s discussion of ideological, racial and epistemic polarization, along with some of the remedies that Dr. Lee outlines. Cat will describe Ms. Harris's suggested steps toward opening discussion of unintentionally offensive comments. Links to both of these are in Harris's Distinctive Voices Consulting blog.

 

6.Covenant of Beloved Community Meeting 3/8 at 7 pm.

 

Next Program Meeting on Zoom:  Mar. 14, 6 p.m

Next Business Planning Meeting on zoom:   Apr. 4, 6 pm

 

Respectfully submitted

Cat McIntyre, co-facilitator

Common Patterns in/of Whites

 

Common Patterns in/of Whites

This was one of our handouts in the current Allyship Training this Saturday, February 26, 2022  Enlightening exercise.

Directions: review these common group dynamics:

a.     Check-off any dynamics which you have observed or heard about.

b.     Make a note next to the different dynamics that you have personally participated in.

Some/Many Whites Tend to (consciously and unconsciously):

1. believe they have “earned” what they have, rather than acknowledge the extensive unearned advantages they receive; claim that if people of color just worked harder…

2. not notice the daily indignities that people of color experience; deny and rationalize them away with PLEs (perfectly logical explanations)

3. work to maintain the status quo and protect the advantages and privileges they receive

4. believe that white cultural norms, practices and values are superior and better

5. internalize negative stereotypes and believe that whites are smarter and superior to POC

6. want people of color to conform and assimilate to white cultural norms and practices

7. accept and feel safer around people of color who have assimilated and are “closer to white”

8. blame people of color for the barriers and challenges they experience; believe that if they “worked harder” they could “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”

9. believe that people of color are not competent and are only hired/promoted to fill quotas

10. interrupt and talk over people of color

11. resent taking direction from a person of color

12. dismiss and minimize frustrations of people of color and categorize the person raising issues  as militant, angry, having an “attitude,” working their agenda, not a team player...

13. focus on their “good intent” as whites, rather than on the negative impact of their behavior

14. focus on how much progress we have made, rather than on what still needs to change 

15. want people of color to “get over it” and move on quickly

16. get defensive when people of color express frustration with racism

17. “walk on eggshells” and act more distant and formal with people of color

18. live segregated from people of color and rarely develop authentic cross-racial relationships 

19. exaggerate the level of intimacy they have with individual people of color

20. fear that they will be seen and “found out” as a racist, having racial prejudice

21. focus on individualism and refuse to acknowledge cultural and institutional racism 

22. pressure and punish whites who actively work to dismantle racism to conform and collude with white racism; criticize, gossip about, and find fault with white change agents

23. expect people of color to be the “diversity expert” and address racism as their unpaid job

24. minimize, ignore, and discount the competencies and contributions of people of color 

25. rephrase and reword the comments of people of color

26. ask people of color to repeat what they have just said

27. assume the white person is in charge/the leader; assume people of color are in service roles

28. rationalize away racist treatment of people of color as individual incidents or the result of something the person of color did/failed to do

29. dismiss racism when shared by people of color with comments such as: That happens to me too...You’re too sensitive...That happened because of _____, it has nothing to do with race!

30. judge a person of color as over-reacting and too emotional when they are responding to the cumulative impact of multiple recent racist incidents 

31. accuse people of color of “playing the race card” whenever they challenge racism; instead of exploring the probability that racist attitudes and beliefs are operating

32. if racially confronted by a person of color, shut down and focus on what to avoid saying or doing in the future, rather than engaging and learning from the interaction

33. look to people of color for direction, education, coaching on how to act and what not to do

34. compete with other whites to be “the good white:” the best ally, the friend of people of color

35. aggressively confront other white people and distance yourself from your own racist patterns

36. seek approval, validation, and recognition from people of color

37. if confronted by a person of color, view it as an “attack” and focus on HOW they engaged  me, not my original comments or behaviors

38. disengage if feel any anxiety or discomfort; remain silent in discussions of race and racism

39. avoid confronting other whites on their racist attitudes and behaviors

40. when trying to help people of color, feel angry if they don’t enthusiastically appreciate you 

41. believe there is one “right” way or “fit”, meaning “my way” or the “white way”