AntiRacism Minute 9/15/21-Cat McIntyre

 Eracism Minute - Cat McIntyre, Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team

For over a year, I have been working with Black Lives Matter and many others in the congregation on anti-racism and anti-oppression training to continue the learnings from the Beloved Conversations program two years ago.

We organized in-person workshops led by black

women professionals experienced in working

with groups to achieve goals like ours. We

invited other UU congregations in Blaine and

Mt. Vernon to join us. We contracted for the

first series of workshops.

However, because of the current upsurge in

COVID in our community, we considered holding the workshops on zoom instead of in person. Now, with input from experienced educators, we realize that this training will lose its impact on zoom. So, we have decided to postpone the workshops until later in the year when, hopefully, we can meet safely in person.

I want to add a second, very important, reason to postpone: the recent resignation of yet another BUF Board president requires serious reflection NOW for all of us. We must work on BUF governance, policies and procedures, and how we deal with conflict within our congregation.

Our Healthy Relationships Covenant is designed for one-on-one problems, not systemic dysfunction. When we have resolved this important issue in a way that is consistent with a Beloved Community, BUF will be more likely to benefit from anti-racism/anti- oppression workshops.

Announcement: Anti-Racism Training – Sept. 25-Oct 9, 2021

Announcement:  Anti-Racism Training – Sept. 25-Oct 9, 2021

What is it?  In pursuing BUF’s Covenant of Beloved Community, BUF recently joined with the UU congregations in Blaine and Mt Vernon to help us all move towards a fully inclusive, anti-racist, multicultural organization in a transformed society. Part of the training cost is supported by a grant from Pacific Northwest Unitarian Universalist Growth Foundation, and donations from BUF.

Who’s it for? The training is not just for members of Black Lives Matter or Widening the Circle. It’s for the entire congregations of all three UU fellowships. There are 30 openings, total.

Who does the training?  Courtney Wooten, an experienced anti-racism trainer and owner of Suburbia Rising.* Courtney attended Stanford University and is currently pursuing an advanced degree in Social Justice and Community Organizing program at Prescott College. Her current advocacy work centers on racial justice and intersectional feminism.

When and where is it happening?  All training will take place on zoom, on three consecutive Saturday mornings, Sept. 25, Oct. 2 and Oct. 9. Each training session will last two-three hours. Those who sign up will be expected to attend all three sessions.

How much does it cost?  $50 per person for all three sessions, assessed as soon as we have chosen the thirty participants.  Some scholarships may be available.

How do I sign up? If you are interested in attending this training, please email Naomi Gary naomiwwwgary@gmail.com  Deadline for sign up is September 18, 2021.

* from suburbiarising.com:  "Suburbia Rising is intentionally working to start people on the road to lifelong activism, which means, yes, we do want our participants to feel good and sometimes that means holding a hand as we set off into uncomfortable territory. However, we are teaching and committing to real, measurable, sustained systemic change–and our participants exit our workshops with the skills and resources to do the same. We expect our participants to be challenged and even upset at times during our work; growing requires effort and labor, not just good intentions. Suburbia Rising is a solid first step, way beyond the platitudes and talk-only diversity trainings about celebrating difference. We are action-oriented, so our empathy partners with accountability and follow-through.”

Anti-Racism Minute 8/8/21 - Cat McIntyre

Every month, BUF Black Lives Matters holds a program meeting on the second Monday to educate ourselves about the history, and the impact of racism and white supremacy onourselves and our society.

 

For the past three months, we have been watching, individually, episodes of a Netflix series, “Amend, the Fight for America,” then getting together, in our program meeting on zoom, to discuss what we learn from each episode. 

 

The whole series describes the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which provides that all persons are entitled to equal protection under the law.  We have already discussed the first three episodes, and we will discuss the fourth at tomorrow’s program meeting. 

 

This fourth episode is entitled “Control,” about the rights of women. In the words of Ruth Bader Ginsberg,

 

“It’s clear that the core purpose of the 14th Amendment is to eliminate racial discrimination, because a person’s skin color bears no relationship to ability. Similarly, sex, like race, is a visible, immutable characteristic bearing no necessary relationship to ability.” 

 

RBG said that her challenge was to educate the men on the bench about discrimination against women in America.  Thank you, RBG, women have come some distance since 1970. However, the fight for equal rights for women is not yet over, particularly at the intersection of sex and race: women from marginalized groups continue to face all kinds of discrimination.

 

I invite you to watch Episode 4 of Amend today, and then join us at 7 pm tomorrow in our program meeting on zoom, to discuss, it.

8/2/21 Business/Planning Meeting Minutes

BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team

Minutes – August 2, 2021 Business/Planning Meeting

 

Present: David Curley, Barbara Gilday, Amoret Heise,Tom Kirchner, Cat McIntyre, Henry Ohana and Rupert Thayer

 

Anti-Racism Minutes:  

 

            August 8         Cat will give Program update & Anti-racism training at Flower Communion  

            August 15         Cat will recruit Naomi Gary -- Rod Haynes will be leading the service

            August 22         David will talk about Dr. Spratlen – service leader not yet announced

August 29 Henry will do an update on Covenant and 8^th principle – Barbara TenHove leads

            Sept.  5            Henry will ask Pat Conover – the service is Animal Blessings with Rev. Paul

 

Each speaker should remember to alert the person running the summer services on or before the Wednesday before the service that they will give the anti-racism minute at the service. Also, send the script of their minute after the service to Lauralee Carbone and Deb Cruz to publish in Midweek Update and on blog.

 

Program Planning:  Upcoming segments of “Amend” on:  

         August 9, “Control” Women’s movement – Cat lead discussion

         Sept. 13, “Love” LGBTQ+ - Henry lead discussion

All programs begin at 7 pm and end at 8:30. 

 

For October, we need to test whether we can share RadioLab podcast, “The Vanishing of Harry Pace,” on Zoom 

 

Anti-Racism Training Update – Cat announced that we have augmented the $1,000 in BUF budget by $ 12,000 with a grant and a donation. We interviewed and are in the process of contracting with Courtney Wooten of Suburbia Rising and Kim Harris of Distinctive Voice Consulting to give two-three week trainings this fall. We are still short about $1,500 to pay for these trainings so we’ll approach both SEJC and individuals/participants to make up the difference. Deb Cruz, Naomi Gary and Tom Kirchner collaborated to get the grant. We were joined in the grant application by UU congregations in Blaine and Skagit County – their participation was very important in getting the grant. The trainings are planned to be held at BUF with necessary safety precautions, with a limited number of participants.

 

Scholarship at USF. The ABC subcommittee is close to having sufficient funds to support three scholarships for black men pursuing education degrees at University of South Florida. They will apply for this program to get BUF SEJC support.

 

Book box - Lauralee got the books! The Sum of Us and is establishing a book group box at the Bellingham Public Library.

 

Retreat.  We want to have a retreat, outside, to review where we’ve been, where we want to go, and how we want to coordinate with others. Tentative dates are Sunday afternoon on Sept 12 or Sept 19.  David will work on format and agenda; Cat will send out doodle poll to BLM list or those who have attended this year’s meetings on regular basis to participate. Again, we are planning safety precautions regarding COVID.

 

Next Program Meetings on Zoom:  August 19 and Sept. 13, 7 pm.

Next Business Planning Meeting on zoom:  Sept. 6, 6 pm

 

Respectfully submitted

Cat McIntyre, co-facilitator

BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team

 

Anti-Racism Minute 8/1/2021 - Henry Ohana

Hi – I’m Hank Ohana and I’m a member of the BLM ministry action team.  We meet the first and second Monday evenings of each month.  Everyone is invited to join us at any time.  Perhaps particularly of interest might be the meeting on the 2nd Monday since this is a program meeting where we watch or read or listen to something and then discuss it.  Please consider joining us at any of these meetings.  No background work is necessary – we are all on this path together.

 

People have sometimes questioned the point of these anti-racism minutes.  Sometimes folks have felt they were too academic.  Sometimes too preachy.  Sometimes people have felt blamed or shamed.  Often the question is, “But what can we DO?”

 

As a primarily white congregation, it can be very easy for most of us to never talk about race.  We don’t feel it effects our every day life.  When we start waking up to the variety of ways racism exists in this country we often feel the need to “do” something.  However, taking action without understanding some of the deep seated issues related to racism has at times caused us to repeat some of the same types of harm that have happened in the past.  So learning and talking ARE important - and ACTIVE - anti-racist work!

 

Recently a white friend who has been very actively engaged in anti-racism work for some years now was talking to me about the Olympics and some “ah ha’s” she was having around them.  Obviously, she said, when the US was in a competition it was clear who to root for.  But what about when our country wasn’t a contender?  What if the competition was between say the UK and China?  Who then?  She realized her own internalized racism would have led her to (perhaps unconsciously) root for a European team/individual over an Asian or African one.  The good news is, once you start seeing the racism in society and within yourself, you start asking yourself, “How did I not see this before?”  That is where change happens.

 

I am proud to be part of a congregation that has declared that we want to be explicitly anti-racist.  It can be a bumpy journey, hurt feelings can happen, unpleasant internal biases and feelings can crop up, but we have committed to staying the course.  I want to thank all of you for being on this journey.

Anti-Racism Moment 7/17/21 - Sarah Pearson

Anti Racism Moment 7/17/21

 

Critical Race Theory.  Most of us first heard this term a fewmonths ago.  We understand that it is a framework used in academia through which race and racism are viewed as embedded in U.S. Laws and Policies. 

We also are aware that this term has become the new boogeyman of the right.  It is being used as a catch-all term to describe what are actually diversity and anti-racism initiativesin K through 12 schools, many begun in response to George Floyd’s murder. 

But Parents from Virginia to Texas, from Connecticut to Missouri, have overwhelmed PTA meetings and challenged school boards and educators with fury over their teaching of this“critical race theory”.  Are they simply misguided and unaware that critical race theory is not present in K12 education? Will this “movement” clear up once they understand that?

No.    These mostly white parents are reacting to the teaching of the truth, to the addressing of racism.  They are not reacting to something imaginary, they are just calling it by the wrong name. 

The problem is that this reactionary parent movement is having real consequences.

5 states have now passed laws that limit how teachers can address “divisive” concepts, like racism.  22 states have proposals on the table that would limit how schools can talk about race.   White Voter’s net support for Black Lives Matter reached an all-time high in June of 2020 with those in support being 10% higher than those in opposition, but now, that figure has flipped, with 10% more opposing than supporting BLM.

Rydell Harrison, who is black, was hired as superintendent of schools in SW CT after the murder of George Floyd and was tasked with addressing racial inequity.  But as the “critical race theory” protests bloomed this year, he was one of many educators relentlessly targeted by parents and his community, causing him to resign in June. 

Brittany Hogan, a black woman recently hired as a diversity coordinator in Rockwood, Missouri felt she had no choice but to resign after being violently threatened by local and national figures.

So it seems obvious that we are facing an intense backlash against an equity movement that was making great strides a year ago.   Why?  Is backlash of the proportion we are seeing inevitable?  What can we do to mitigate it so that the grassroots movement of Black Lives Matter can gain ground rather than lose it?

Anti-Racism Minute 7/4/2021 - Lauralee Carbone

 This is the article from which I extracted an Anti-Racism minute for the July 4, 2021 service:

Racism is the greatest threat to democracy today - The Fulcrum

Tyrone Grandison

June 15, 2020

Grandison is a co-chair of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, a political partner of the Truman National Security Project and board chairman of the Data-Driven Institute, a nonprofit that promotes data science to solve public health problems.

Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd. All names you have heard in the past month. All Americans who deserve to live and breathe the values America was founded on. All human beings deserving the basic and common courtesies we publicly and externally promote. Unfortunately, they were not afforded the privileges that are extended to the average white American.

If you question that assertion, you likely have the privilege of never having to live your life in constant fear of how others react to you and what they may do to change your life instantly. You have the privilege of firmly believing the police force is present to serve and protect you. You have the privilege of being an individual — with your actions not prejudged by negative racial stereotypes and you not being seen as representatives of your entire race.

We are all patriots. We are all committed to vigorously supporting America and prepared to defend our democracy against its enemies and detractors. Right now, democracy's most formidable enemies and detractors are internal — people, policies and systems. Racism is the greatest threat to democracy today. It is time to live up to our patriotic beliefs and put in the work needed to make America a place where all people are equal.

As a white person, you can be unaware of the racist origins of the American police force. You can ignore the media proactively painting blacks as demonic, super-human, menacing, "more mature," lazy and less deserving of compassion and empathy. You don't get to experience the systems and the networks that exclude the very people who are a bedrock of American prosperity.

You can be unaware of the laws and institutions that have forced generations of servitude, poverty, inequality and despair. You can be blissfully unaware of white Americans breaking every treaty they signed with American Indians, Mexicans and Africans in the pursuit of Manifest Destiny. You can ignore the sadness and sorrow of the genocides — local and global — executed in your name. You can wrap yourself in the flag and recite the talking points that make you feel good about yourself and your fanciful role in the world.

And you can live each day blissfully unaware that a chance encounter may be your last.

What about the American dream for the Indians slaughtered for the land we walk on? What about the American dream for the black slaves that were beaten and brutalized to make your money and deliver your creature comforts? What about the American dream for the Asian immigrants you imprisoned, stole from and demonized? What about the American dream for Latin Americans you put in cages, dehumanize and subject to human trafficking and abuse?

Our country is our values. The Declaration of Independence declares: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

The schizophrenia and hypocrisy of the American experiment rests in the series of lies that we learn as history, which have been embedded into the fabric of everyday life through laws and systems.

It is clear that views of equality in 1776 were aspirational and applied only to white men. It is clear that Indians and the enslaved were "othered" and denied those three unalienable rights. But, approaching 250 years later, the idea of America and the reality of America are still miles apart.

It is now time to address this original sin. It was easy — and remains so — for our government to count a slave as three-fifths of a man, deny veterans' benefits to black and brown soldiers, create Jim Crow laws, institutionalize redlining and incentivize the overseeing of black bodies but the protection of white ones. Now it is squarely the responsibility of white people to collaborate with minority groups to transform the current state of affairs into equitable systems, policies and networks that finally live up to our founding principles.

Those in power are the ones who need to affect change. The powerless can initiate, ignite and press for change, but the powerful control the levers of the system.

As an American, you owe this to every single "other" — in other words, not a white person — to be better, and do better, to finally create a more perfect union.

The system is not broken. It was designed this way. For decades, many black and brown people have raised their voices about the oppression they experience. Many of them have mobilized, identified the ideas that need work, and provided recommendations on what needs to be done.

How do you help? How do you stop America from devolving into one of the nations that it routinely destabilizes? How do you create a better world for you and your kids, and their kids?

First, you must believe and defend your black friends and colleagues. Silence means you are on the side of the oppressor. March towards your path of being anti-racist. In an ecosystem that has racism as a cornerstone, being non-racist is not enough. You must speak up, stand up and risk something to keep this great representative democracy called America.

Second, you must overhaul the institutions that multiply and reinforce the racist ideals of our forebears. It is time to overhaul the justice system, the financial system, the police system, the health care system, the prison system, the education system and the housing system — for starters. What steps can you take to make those systems anti-racist? Should asset forfeiture be examined? Should funding sources for the police be revamped? Should police unions be reformed? Should "broken window" policing be stamped out? Look deeply. Pick your favorite issue in your favorite system or institution.

Third, focus on policy and policymakers. It is time to elect officials who align with our principles and then write laws creating this equitable and just society we all deserve. This applies to everyone — whether white, black, brown or Asian.

It is time to mobilize to elect and create the country and society we all desire and deserve.