Resources About Racism and Classism
For Congregations...
- Long Challenge: The Empowerment Controversy (1967-1977) by Victor
H.
Carpenter
A look back at the conflict between African American and white UUs that exposed deep tensions that remain with us today. Chicago: Meadville Lombard, 2003. Available from the UUA Bookstore. - Empowerment: One
Denomination's Quest for Racial Justice (1967-1982)—A
Study of the Unitarian Universalist Association by the Commission on
Appraisal.
This report is of our denomination's response to the black empowerment issue. - Wilderness Journey: The Struggle for Black Empowerment and Racial
Justice within the UUA (1967-1970).
This is an "oral history" of the first-hand participants in the so-called Black Empowerment Controversy within the UUA of the 1960s and 1970s, thus preserving this important witness for future generations. DVD produced by Ron Cordes. Available from District libraries.
For Religious Educators…
- Whiteness and Anti-Racism: New Resources!
In the fall, 2006 The Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance Site offered excellent resources about Whiteness and Anti-Racism. We recommend them all. - Whiteness and Anti-Racism in the Early Grades
For young white students, explorations of fair and unfair, just and unjust, can go a long way in advancing anti-racist white identity. Lives of white anti-racists are part of these suggested programs. - Whiteness and Anti-Racism in the Middle/Upper Grades
Often, white youth must come to understand that society attaches meaning to their whiteness and that they have a choice about how to be white in a multicultural society. This program explores supportive paths for youth exploration of these issues. - Whiteness and Anti-Racism in Teaching/Leading
How can adults who work with children and youth grow as anti-racist activists? This section offers resources for adults. - Talk with Kids about White Privilege
Parenting columnist Elizabeth Bauchners reflects on explaining the concept of white privilege to children in this July 2006 article from Tolerance.org.
To Guide Anti-Racist Religious Education & Practices…
- Considerations
for Cultural Borrowing: Questions to Ask (and Answer) prepared by
the 2003
UUA Cultural (Mis) Appropriations Ad Hoc Committee, Judith
Frediani, Chair.
This document offers a comprehensive set of questions to consider when potentially integrating culture specific practices into Unitarian Universalist worship and teaching. - Reckless
Borrowing or Appropriate Cultural Sharing? By
Jacqui James.
The author writes, "It is important that we learn to differentiate between drawing from the wisdom and appropriating rituals, artifacts, and other elements of the spiritual traditions of other religions." - Cornrows, Kwanzaa and Confusion: The Dilemma of Cultural Racism
and Misappropriation (PDF), by
Rev. Marjorie Bowens-Wheatley.
This article opens a dialogue on the complex issue of cultural racism. Is it possible to honor the need and the right of each culture to affirm and celebrate its own heritage and traditions, while inviting others to join in? - Lessons
from
the Kwanzaa Candles, by Gail Forsyth-Vail.
How can a white Anglo-American Unitarian Universalist respectfully address Kwanzaa? This award-winning worship service addresses this question as well as the history and meaning of Kwanzaa. The author writes, "The Kwanzaa candles encourage me to learn what it means to be white in the United States , learn what my forebears exchanged for a place in the American melting pot. I must search for and claim the red, the past, my past, before I can truly envision a fair world, a world of justice, equity, and compassion in human relations."
Last updated on Monday, November 3, 2008.
