by Mary McKillip, Chair, Racial Justice Initiative

As new chair of the Racial Justice Initiative, I want to express my excitement and anticipation for the year ahead! The monthly theme of vision is timely as I think about what I envision in the coming year and beyond for the racial justice work in our congregation.

We have made excellent progress in our congregation in the past few years (see detailed timeline here): starting the racial justice initiative, having nearly 70 members and friends of the church participate in Beloved Conversations, followed by a year of work by the praxis group to identify how to build a racial justice rooted congregation. Then, this summer we affirmed that our congregation supports an 8th principle of journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.

What next? What is your vision for what you see in yourself and the congregation in regards to racial justice work? Where would you like us to be? How do we live the 8th principle?

I have my own budding vision of where we could go from here, but mine is not the vision moving us forward. I will be working closely with the new Racial Justice Initiative steering committee and together we will be working to listen to the voices of those of you in and out of our congregation, particularly those of Black, Latinx, Asian, and indigenous backgrounds, so we are constantly considering whose vision is moving us forward.

Here are some upcoming ways you can get involved and support racial justice:

• Connect with other members seeking to live the 8th Principle: Monthly meetings starting in October to explore transforming racism from the inside out. Find more details and register HERE (scroll down to “Living the 8th Principle” under the Racial Justice header).
• Attend the White Accountability and Organizing All-day workshop on October 13, 2018 for white people who want to work against racism. Request more details and RSVP to racialjustice@uucwc.org
• Support a classroom funding request from a Trenton NJ teacher to kick off the school year
• Read the article Why People of Color Need Spaces Without White People
• Read the young adult novel The Hate U Give – getting ready for the movie adaptation release on October 19.
• Listen to The Hairstons episode on the Nod podcast
• Watch Morris from America, available on Amazon Prime or other streaming/DVD rental

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email racialjustice@uucwc.org.