2/7/21 Anti-Racism Minute-Cat McIntyre

 Anti-racism Minute, February 7, 2021 - Cat McIntyre

​At our February BUF Black Lives Matter meeting, we changed the name of this minute from Eracism to Anti-Racism, following the lead of Ibram X. Kendi.  An anti-racist is someone who is willing to admit the times when they are being racist, who is willing to recognize the inequities and racial problems of our society, and who is willing to challenge those racial inequities by challenging policies. 

​February is Black History Month.  Black Lives Matter reminds us that racism against people of color doesn't occur in a vacuum -- we must not celebrate Black History Month by studying THEIR history AS IF it occurred outside of our own. 

​Teejay Morris, a local black leader, wrote:  "I both LOVE and LOATHE Black History Month.  I love it because it's an opportunity to learn about the contributions of black people in this country. I loathe it because black history is HISTORY period.  It should be taught every day of the year in every classroom in every history class."

​He continues:  "In my mind, you cannot talk about Thomas Jefferson without talking about Phillis Wheatley and Sally Hemings; you cannot talk about Abraham Lincoln without talking about Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass; you cannot talk about John Brown without talking about Nat Turner and Margaret Garner; you cannot talk about World War I without talking about Jim Crow; you cannot talk about Women's Suffrage without talking about Ida B. Wells; you cannot talk about American literature without the Harlem Renaissance. "

​Following Teejay's advice, let's make Black History Month OUR History Month, every month.

 

2/1/2021 Meeting Minutes

 BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team

Business/Planning Meeting:  February 1, 2021

 

Present: Murray Bennett, Lauralee Carbone, David Curley, Barbara Gilday, Lisa Heezen, Bharti Kirsher, Tom Kirshner, Claire Lender,  Cat McIntyre and Hank Ohana

 

1. Eracism Minutes. --Now entitled Anti-Racism Minutes per meeting agreement

Feb 7              Cat McIntyre

Feb 14            Eliana Steele

Feb 21            Lisa Heezen

Feb 28            Hank Ohana

 

2. Programs for Feb 8 and Mar 8:  Barbara will research Truth and Reconciliation Efforts for Feb. 8 program; if she can't find anything by Wednesday, she will call Hank Ohana, who will organize a program on William Barber.Cat will organize March 8 program with Seattle group, GRACE (Grandmothers for Race and Class Equality) for a dialogue on reparations and HR 40. David suggested an alternative for March or April, a program on Inter-racial, Class-based Organizing with BLM founder Alicia Garza. 

 

3.  Widening the Circle Study: Genia Allen is organizing this eleven-meeting program from February through mid-May.  Mel Hoover and Rose Eddington will lead these discussions. Much interest in this program among those attending this meeting.

 

4.  Scholarship for Black Teachers.Tom Kirshner suggested this as a BUF activity under Covenant of Beloved Community. Barbara Gilday has communicated with Western Washington U and several individuals in the community. Woodring College is very interested in BUF funding a fellowship for a minority person (black, indigenous, or hispanic) at a cost of $5,000/year without dorm; $13,000/year with dorm. There are several possible hosts for home stay (Barbara, Genia, Lauralee). We agreed there should be a clear statement of the purpose of this educational support to avoid "White Savior" or offense to the student. The aim is to provide four years of support.  Bharti, Tom and Barbara will present the idea at the Beloved Community Covenant meeting on Thursday. We should be sensitive to this effort not competing with BUF for funds, given the tight budget for the coming year due to COVID.

 

5.  Review of BLM Ministry Action Team Charter. Cat and David presented the proposed updated Charter, to cover 2020 through 2023.  The Beloved Community covenant (8th principle wording) is included in the new charter.  Objectives have been spelled out, including supporting Beloved Conversations II in 2021. 

 

6.  Covenant of Beloved Community.  Everyone is encouraged to attend the next meeting on Thursday, February 4 at 6 pm

 

7.  Beloved Conversations II. We have support from the Board with $1,000 funds for Fall 2021; those attending will pay some fee to underwrite the cost. We agreed that the newer, on-line Beloved Conversations is too expensive, at  $250/person, for our community, so we will stick to in-person version at BUF next fall.

 

8.  Black Community interest in meeting at BUF.  The expression of interest from Dr. Damani Johnson for BUF possibly providing a meeting space for local black community is on hold while Damani completes his retirement and continues conferring with other black leaders; David offered assistance in finding them a space even if it's not BUF

 

Next BLM Program meeting: Feb. 8 at 7 pm

Next BLM business/planning meeting: Mar. 1 at 6 pm

 

 

Respectfully submitted

Cat McIntyre, co-facilitator, BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team

Erika is moving to Vermont!

 Hi All,

 

Many of you remember our friend and BUF member, Exquisite Erika, who helped initiate our journey toward a Beloved Community by founding our BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team. She moved to Portland a few years ago and now is moving to Vermont!

 

Transitions are difficult, especially for people of color, who experience direct and indirect racism in everyday life. Exquisite is going to have a lot of transitional expenses such as moving her car, winter tires, snow boots, warm clothes, possibly furnishings, etc. If you would like to contribute, I’m taking up a collection. You can send checks to me and I’ll send them along to Exquisite before the end of January.

 

I hope you will be generous in your giving and show Erika the appreciation for all that she did at and for our BUF community!

 

Lauralee Carbone

360.201.3445

2212 40^th St.

Bellingham WA 98229

January 11, 2021 Program: Susan Burton

A New Way of Life:  Susan Burton is a black woman who experienced incarceration multiple times. When she left prison the last time, she was finally offered treatment for substance abuse, and her life turned around. She purchased a home and transformed it into A New Way of Life--a program to help other women leaving prison. She provides a safe, drug-free space where they can rebuild their lives despite enormous challenges.

 

Join us for a video about Susan Burton and A New Way of Life, at 7 pm on Monday, January 11. 

ERacism Minute 1.9.21 David Curley

 In the national election, ending in Georgia on January 5th, we saw the hard won fruit of many years of work.

The next day, in the Capitol Building, a white nationalist race-riot encouraged by the President tried and failed to use violence to annul the results of this election.

What lessons can we learn?

Of the two, I believe the national election was by far the more important event.

Elections matter. Offering solutions to sharedproblems matters. Black voices matter, and Black lives matter. But all of these also can be ignored, silenced, orannulled.

As we celebrate Dr. King in January, we remember that in the 1960s people lost their lives in the effort to register Black voters in the South. Their actionssecured passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. We also can remember that this landmark legislation was gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013.

Beloved Community in the Civil Rights Movement always required both the courage to stand up for justice, and the courage to offer forgiveness and loving kindness to violent opponents.

Even the white nationalists who rioted on January 6th.

In the spirit of our Covenant for Beloved Community, we have an opportunity to learn more nextSaturday, January 16th, at the 23rd annual celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Day. Sponsored by the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force, the theme is, “Recapturing the Revolutionary Spirit: Dangerous Unselfishness.”  

For details, and to register for this on-line event, go to www.whrtf.org

December 14, 2020 Meeting Program

 The BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team invites you to its December program meeting:  Monday, December 14 from 7-8:30.  We will listen to and discuss the Bryan Stevenson "Love is the Motive" podcast. You may listen to it before hand, if you'd like, or you can't attend the meeting: https://onbeing.org/programs/bryan-stevenson-love-is-the-motive/

Here is the zoom link to the meeting:

Topic: BLM Dec 14 Program Meeting at 7pm

Time: Dec 14, 2020 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/96917727292

 

Meeting ID: 969 1772 7292

Passcode: BUF

One tap mobile

+12532158782,,96917727292# US (Tacoma)

+13462487799,,96917727292# US (Houston)

 

Dial by your location

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

Meeting ID: 969 1772 7292

Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/a6KrqQghK

Meeting Minutes 12/7/2020

 BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team

Business/Planning Meeting:  December 7, 2020

 

Present:  Mary Alden, Murray Bennett, Lauralee Carbone, David Curley, Claire Lending, Cat McIntyre and Henry Ohana

 

1. Eracism Minutes. 

Dec 13           Cat will ask Genia Allen about Coming of Age

Dec 20           Cat will ask Kevin Allen-Schmid about Holiday Music

Dec 27           Henry Ohana

Jan 3              Mary Alden

 

*Please email to all when you have scheduled one of these "will ask" eracism minutes

 

With the passage of the Beloved Conversation Covenant at the Nov. 15 congregational meeting, the Eracism Minutes will likely be broadened. This will be raised with the transition (from Eighth Principle) team. David has discussed with Rev. Paul the creation of a new team, possibly named the Beloved Conversation Covenant team, to include both "Inside BUF" and "Outside BUF" representatives. The goal is to involve all aspects of BUF congregation and leadership.

 

2. Program for December 14: Many good suggestions for topics, including Ta-Nahisi Coates "The Case for Reparations," conversations with UU BI_POC representatives abut what Beloved Community means, and a selection from Brave New Films (Henry will research). We decided on a podcast of Bryan Stevenson and Krista Tippett, "Love is the Motive." Cat will send event description to Midweek Update and BUF-News, and send links to BUF Black Lives Matter mailing list.

 

3.  Consistent Zoom Links.There has been confusion about zoom links sent out to recent meeting, particularly Nov. 29 meeting after the service. Henry volunteered to talk with Kathy to get a permanent zoom link for all Black Lives Matter events.

 

4.  Continuing Feedback from Beloved Community Covenant meetings. Many people attended the post-congregational meeting listening session on Nov. 22. Feedback later included some dissatisfaction with how suggestions were (or weren't) received. David, Henry and Barbara all dealt diplomatically with these, and concluded that: a) Very important to have Healthy Relationships Team facilitator in each meeting; b) Clarity of meeting and its purpose established; and c) Patience and tolerance as we embark on a journey that involves many people coming from many different perspectives.

 

Next BLM Program meeting: December 14 at 7 pm

Next BLM business/planning meeting: January 4 at 6 pm

 

Respectfully submitted

Cat McIntyre, co-facilitator, BUF Black Lives Matter Ministry Action Team