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Commentary: Checking My Privilege
UCC General Minister and President
I have to check my privilege quite a bit these days.
I am constantly observing my actions, words, and behaviors while processing what my being white has done to affect certain responses and outcomes. The same is true of observing how others interact with me. How does my being white affect what they say and do to me, and how they behave around me?
It is an important part of my commitment to actively dismantle the white skin privilege that persists in America today. While I remain much invested in the ongoing work of deconstructing institutional injustice and systemic racism, I am also committed to being hyper-aware of and hyper-sensitive to how I am
manifesting and/or receiving privilege. I believe justice requires both. I also believe I can't condition myself to see or to rebel against institutional privilege if I can't first see them in myself.
I don't pretend to be able to notice or catch all of my privileged behavior, and recognize that this is going to have to be a lifetime commitment. Getting it right today doesn't end my investment in whiteness; nor does it guarantee that whatever getting it right today gained won't be lost when I forget tomorrow to repeat those behaviors.
In this ongoing discourse with myself and with others, I can't help but notice a division that is emerging between privileged whites and traumatized black leaders. Specifically, I refer to reactions to the Black Lives Matter movement, which itself is a response to an increasingly militarized police force whose proclivity for racial profiling is costing black and bro
wn lives
.
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WHAT DO WE DO NOW? AN INVITATION
White Privilege ~ Let's Talk
by Wendy Vander Hart
Associate Conference Minister, MA Conference, UCC
Following is an excerpt of Wendy's blog. Read the blog here.
In the wake of yet more shootings that raise awareness of the racial divide in our country AND with a significant source of that strife stemming from white privilege, what can our churches do? How can we be that transformative community that Jesus calls us to be and for which residents might rejoice?
Kelly Gallagher thankfully encouraged us to pray about what we might "do," instead of "say" in these days. With the constituents of most of our churches being predominantly white, there is a clear opportunity before us. The national UCC has created a curriculum entitled "White Privilege: Let's Talk." For myself I would add a word and title it "Ending White Privilege," but nevertheless, we have a ready resource to use in our communities and begin transformative doing.
Here is my invitation to you members, friends and leaders in the churches - make a pledge today to bring this curriculum to your church or setting for ministry. Personally invite your town or city leaders, fellow staff, friends and neighbors to join you in engaging it. Once you have completed it, let us know so that we can report our collective progress and shape the next thing we collectively can DO in this marathon race set before us.
To make this pledge, click the link below, and may God indeed shape us into the people that make our communities grateful for the ways we make God's love and justice real.
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IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE ISSUES
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Raise Awareness - Embrace Refugees
Leviticus 19:34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The Ad Council Embrace Refugees campaign has been in the market since mid-June. It has already provided many points of engagement for spreading awareness that "Refugees are no different than us. We all want to live without fear."
www.embracerefugees.org/ You can help build this awareness. Share this website and its stories broadly.
Church World Service offers ideas on welcoming a refugee into your community. You can help a refugee right away, from gathering supplies to showing them around their new city. When you help ease a refugee's transition into our country, you not only aid someone in need-you also serve your community. Your generosity can help change a life.
Read more here.
From the Embrace Refugees Campaign:
Refugees are people who flee violence and persecution to seek a safer life-people who have no choice but to leave their homes, often on little or no notice, in order to escape torture or death at the hands of extremist groups or corrupt governments. These families are matched with safe countries where they can build a life free of fear and become contributing members of a community.
Read more here.
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Resolution on Life Without Opportunity for Parole
Bring the conversation to your church
At the 217th Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Conference in June, there was a hearing on the Resolution for Life Without Opportunity for Parole. (Read the resolution draft here). A vote will be taken next year on this resolution, which calls for all Massachusetts sentences to include an opportunity for a parole hearing.
From now until next June, the Innocence Commission Task Team would like to talk to Conference churches about the resolution
. If you are interested in having a team member come to your church, please contact
Charla Kouadio
or
Jonathan Tetherly
.
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The Thirtieth General Synod called on the congregations of the United Church of Christ to mark the Sunday preceding September 21 (which the United Nation recognizes as the "International Day of Prayer for Peace") as Just Peace Sunday.
Save the Date - September 18, 2016
Just Peacemaking expresses our commitment to engage practices to resolve conflict at every level - in ourselves, in our families, in our communities, and in our world - without violence whenever possible; when it is not possible, to then restrain, contain and reduce violence; and finally to work actively to bring it to a swift, sustainable, and just conclusion.
A Just Peace is grounded in God's activity in creation; in the reconciling activity of Jesus Christ; in the presence of the Holy Spirit; in the community of reconciliation; and in hope. Shalom is the vision that pulls all creation toward a time when weapons are swept off the earth and all creatures lie down together without fear; where all have their own fig tree and dwell secure from want. As Christians, we offer this conviction to the world: Peace is possible
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Our Faith, Our Vote: Be a Local Captain
From the UCC Justice and Peace Action Network
In this 2016 election cycle, with its heightened polarization, partisanship and mean-spiritedness, it may seem especially difficult for people of faith to engage in the electoral process in a meaningful, faithful, nonpartisan way. But perhaps more than ever, our faith, our vote and our voices can make a difference. As we move to a summer of campaigning and conventions, it is critical to find ways to bring an alternative voice and witness to the public sphere.
The UCC
Our Faith Our Vote campaign
offers several ways to make a positive difference in the electoral process and our civic life, through nonpartisan voter registration efforts, issue education forums, voter mobilization/protection activities, and more.
We invite you to check out our resources and think of ways you might engage yourself and your community in the 2016 elections. Want to take your engagement to the next level? Consider leading your congregation in this effort by serving as a local captain for Our Faith Our Vote engagement.
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Seeking Answers: It's Time to Allow Federal Government to Research Gun Violence Epidemic
Commentary by Sandy Sorensen & J. Bennett Guess, United Church of Christ
"Why are so many people dying from senseless gun violence?"
It's a reasonable question being asked by many right now, given that more than 10,000 people in the U.S. have been killed by guns since January and another 20,000 will likely die by year's end. But there's actually a plausible reason why we don't have many answers to our questions: Congress actively curtails federal money from being spent on researching gun violence and how best to prevent it.
Since the ban's enactment in 1996, at the urging of the National Rifle Association, Congress has hampered the nation's principal public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from looking into why the U.S. has five times the rate of gun deaths per year than most European countries, or why African Americans are twice as likely to be killed by guns than white individuals, or why children and adolescents are disproportionately impacted by gun violence. What are the mental health correlations to gun violence? Could we improve gun safety, training or storage methods?
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ECUMENISM AND INTERFAITH ACTION
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Al Filipov Peace & Justice Forum
September 25, 2016 ~ Trinitarian Congregational Church, Concord
This year's Al Filipov Peace and Justice Award will be presented to The Parents Circle-Families Forum, a joint grass roots organization of Palestinian and Israeli families who have lost immediate family members due to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Parents Circle promotes education, public awareness, and advocacy to foster humanization and empathy towards both Israelis and Palestinians, planting the seeds of peace by listening to and understanding one another, person-to-person.
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REGISTRATION OPEN: FAITH COMMUNITIES AS ANCHORS -
LESSONS FROM DISASTER AND TRAUMA
This September 29, join us for day of learning from those who have "been there":
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The Rev. Dr. Nancy Taylor of Old South Church, Boston: Marathon bombings
- The Rev. Fred Meade, formerly of New Orleans: Hurricane Katrina
- The Rev. Matthew Crebbin of Newtown Congregational(CT): Newton School Shootings
- The Rev. June Cooper of City Mission: Black Lives Matter
Open to both clergy and lay leaders, and held at Edwards House at the MACUCC Conference Center, 1 Badger Road, Framingham.
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SPEAKING SCHEDULE FOR CHILE MISSIONARY ELENA HUEGEL
Elena Huegel, a Global Ministries missionary since 1994, will arrive in Massachusetts soon to visit Conference churches and share her stories and insights about her 20 years in Chile. Elena served as staff with the Pentecostal Church of Chile and ministered to others as chaplain at the Shalom Center - an environmental education, peace education, and spiritual development project she helped to establish in the foothills of the Andes Mountains - and as the coordinator of the Roots in the Ruins: Hope in Trauma program. While her schedule is now full, you are invited to hear Elena speak at a Conference church.
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YOUR CHURCH'S MISSION/JUSTICE ACTIVITIES - A SURVEY
Please submit no later than September 15!
Your Justice and Witness Council is asking churches to fill out a survey about your mission, witness and justice activities. We hope to gather this information in order to better understand what you all are doing in the Conference, how we might be able to support your work, and how we might be able to help. Please take a few minutes to answer the questions in this survey - and ask any questions you might have.
Please note: this survey was emailed to churches earlier this year, and we ask that only one survey be completed per church.
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DINNER TO SUPPORT WORCESTER'S HOMELESS
Worcester Fellowship invites you to an all-you-can-eat pasta dinner, featuring penne, meatballs, Italian sausage, homemade sauce, salad, garlic bread, beverages and dessert. The cost is just $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 5-10, $3 for homeless individuals. Those under age 5 eat free. There will also be raffles and a silent auction. Proceeds benefit the homeless and interpreter services. Event runs from 5-8 p.m. Download a flyer to share here.
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All are welcome, including the LGBTQ and deaf communities (an interpreter will be at this event).
Tickets may be purchased by Sept. 10 and picked up at the door. Please send donation and requested ticket info to:
Worcester Fellowship
P.O. Box 307
Marlborough, MA 01752
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