Unitarian Universalists are proud of our history of engagement with social justice issues. We cite our religious ancestors as heroes from pre-Civil war abolitionists through the civil rights struggles of the 1960’s. We post and share pictures of UUs from around the country marching in protests on current issues of marriage equality, voting rights, LGBTQ, Immigration, women’s rights, and Black Lives Matter (BLM).

We lift up these examples of how UUs live their faith—and we see marching in protests as THE WAY that we live out our values—by showing up and marching.
While those UUs on the street, being gassed, holding signs, and being arrested are important, I believe they are only the part of the iceberg that shows above water. There are numerous congregants “below the surface” who form the majority of our religion. And—we are not homogeneous in support of issues being protested—not now and never have been. Our Universalists ancestors published a denominational decree against slavery in 1790 and again formally in 1841—our Unitarian ancestors (as a denomination) never published anything. A turning point in society’s opinion about Civil Rights was when 2 Unitarians were murdered in Alabama (Rev. James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo) in 1965 . Yet, at this same time—the Unitarian fellowship in Nashville agreed that it would not admit any non-whites to its membership.

My point is not to tarnish our heroes, but to recognize that the diversity of beliefs we hold withing our congregation encompasses a wide spectrum on social justice issues—even current ones. As a denomination we are progressive and liberal—but we cannot base our opinions of ourselves on those people on the forefront of changing social injustices—we need to see the total reflection in the mirror—and to recognize that changes are needed below the tip of the iceberg.

“What can I do?” is a question echoing in most of my circles. Because of COVID-19 and our demographics, most of us fear the risks of being out of our bubble, much less protesting in large numbers. Many of us are of an age who would not do well being tear-gassed or clubbed. But while we appreciate our congregants who take it to the streets—we also tend to feel guilty about not being in the street—even in peaceful protests.

But doesn’t true social change begin within oneself? Action is important, but social changes take place over extended periods of time—decades and lifetimes. It is the persistent and consistent perseverance of working to right social injustices that make lasting changes. If I change from being sympathetic to being anti-racist—won’t my changes ripple out to those around me?

What can I do? Here are a few things I shared in my sermon on June 7, 2020 about what I’m doing now to prepare myself for the long-haul of changing the wrongs around us. There will be more for me to “do” in the future, but for now, I’m doing the following:

“GRIEVE. I’m leaning into the pain and sorrow of a broken heart. I will not minimize or dilute the pain of the deaths and violence and punishment. I will sit with my grief and see what it can teach me.
LISTEN. Watch the interviews of protesters. Watch the news. Listen to anyone speaking their truth. Just listen without calculating a fix.
AVOID OUTRAGE EXHAUSTION. This is an overwhelming time. I take breaks from the news, from the internet, and from the sorrow with my own spiritual practices. If you don’t have a spiritual practice—get one. If you do—double down.
VOTE. I trust you know all about this one.
EDUCATE MYSELF. I naively thought I understood oppression and privilege. I don’t.”

On that last one (Education), our Adult Religious Exploration (RE) Team has taken the initiative to provide a multi-phased approach to educating UUFSCC about racism—and what anti-racism work looks like. The first Endeavor was a three-session series on the book “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo (if you haven’t read it, please consider doing so). Those sessions were well attended—with feedback from participants of wanting more. So, the Team is looking to bring more opportunities to the congregation like movies, books, discussion groups, guest speakers, workshops, and other activities on educating and revealing ourselves (since many of us are White & Privileged). Please look for more opportunities in Current Happenings. We need to become informed and talk about what BLM means—really means.

What can I do? One of my trusted colleagues says his approach right now is to “Show up & Shut up.” This simplistic statement holds content beyond its brevity. Showing up can mean reaching out, reading, listening, and watching—not just marching in protest. The challenge of this mantra is the second part: to shut up. If we come from a position of privilege, we are poor listeners and over-zealous fixers. That is inappropriate behavior for being involved with BLM.

What can I do? How about answering this with another question: What can you do that will matter in the long term? What can you do to challenge your beliefs, change your words, assess your attitude to recognize the biases we carry?
What you can do is to do something………….be it marching in a protest or joining BLUU (https://www.blacklivesuu.com/) or participating in our coming Adult RE sessions or donating to a just cause or talking with friends/family about BLM or keep participating at UUFSCC……you are not idle or wasting time if you are engaged with something—whatever you can do.
Prepare yourself for the long journey, for many will try to keep the status quo by wearing us down. Don’t give up……………
…….yours in shared virtual ministry…………………..Russ