Dear Friends,
By the time you read this, I will be a little more than half way through my four-week vacation/study leave. While I am enjoying my break, it also feels a bit strange to be out of touch with all of you.
I can’t begin to express my gratitude to you for this time of rest and renewal. It has given me a chance to reflect on my ministry this past year at Northwest and gain some additional clarity about my calling and purpose.
As your minister and as a Unitarian Universalist, I believe that it is my responsibility to find my voice and footing when it comes to working towards building a more just world. And, since learning this past Saturday the news that George Zimmerman had been acquitted by a Florida jury in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, I have found myself feeling deeply disturbed about this trial and tragedy. In a message on July 15, Unitarian Universalist Association President Rev. Peter Morales wrote, “It is hard to imagine that if an unarmed white teenager had been shot and killed by an African American man that the verdict would have been the same.” That thought crossed my mind, too.
I take no comfort in the consolation that “we still have the best justice system in the world” (a state governor’s response to the Zimmerman verdict) when an African American teenaged boy goes out to buy a package of Skittles and a can of iced tea and doesn’t make it home alive. I’m uneasy with a legal system that understands self-defense to include the use of deadly force against an unarmed youth.
I believe that in our painful journey toward racial equality and non-violence, hope was interrupted. It was interrupted by the tragic reminder that we are long from finished with our work . . . and that building the Beloved Community demands that we get in the middle of things.
So, what can we as Unitarian Universalists do to get in the middle? Rev. Morales noted in his message that 2013 UUA General Assembly delegates approved an Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) condemning racist mistreatment of young people of color by police. The AIW stems from the work of author Michelle Alexander whose book The New Jim Crow describes the institutional racism behind the mass incarceration of people of color.
To build on this resolution, the UUA’s Standing on the Side of Love movement suggests we take the following steps:
- Read and study as a congregation The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Dr. Michelle Alexander.
- Watch videos of Dr. Alexander’s presentation at the 2012 Justice General Assembly:
– 2012 General Assembly Workshop Video
– Workshop Video Clip: Overview of Thesis.
– Workshop Video Clip: Awakening to The New Jim Crow.
- Build the movement to end Jim Crow. This can include finding partners in our local community and in Georgia, and joining them for action.
Who will join me to help get hope back on track? I would like to hear from you.
Yours in faith,
Terry