anti-racism working group

​At our 2021 Annual Meeting, the Old Ship congregation voted to focus on issues of racism and white supremacy as one of its major social justice initiatives. Prior to this decision, the Social Justice Council engaged in several activities to prepare the congregation for this work.  Here is a summary of those activities
  • We viewed Professor Henry Gates, Jr.’s four-part documentary film series on the Reconstruction.  Each week, we met as a group to discuss that week’s episode. 
  • We sponsored an anti-racism book group that would meet monthly during the 2020-2021 church year, and is continuing to meet.  This group has read a variety of books, both fiction and non-fiction, authored primarily by persons of color. The list of books read thus far is contained later on this page. Everyone is invited to participate in this group, on a “drop-in” basis.
  • In response to an identified need for masks in black and brown communities, sewers in our congregation made masks that were donated to the Family Van, which serves the communities of Roxbury, Dorchester, and Chelsea. Many of the most exposed workers to COVID 19 are of Black, African American, or Hispanic descent and live in these neighborhoods.  These masks were truly a gift to these communities, and we want to thank those who donated time and material to make these masks. 
  • The Rev. Mary Margaret Earl, Executive Director and Senior Minister of the UU Urban Ministry, preached at Old Ship on March 7, 2021.  Her sermon was titled “Justice and Joy - A Reflection on the Inner Work of Making Outer Change.”  She described her sermon in this way: “We think of racial justice work as march and protest and banners - but there is much work we do within and between us, and much joy to be found in the journey.” Following the service, our coffee hour time focused on how our congregation might be more involved with the programs of the UUUM in Roxbury.  Once COVID 19 protocols permit it, we plan to participate more directly with the programs at the UUUM.
  • We are exploring ideas for how we at Old Ship can best acknowledge that our Meeting House is on land that was originally the home of the Massachusetts Tribe. 
 
If you are interested in this work, please join us.  If you have questions, please contact Davalene Cooper.

Old Ship Book Group

​Anti-Racism/Social Justice "Drop-In" Book Group
This group meets on the third Sunday of each month at 7 PM on Zoom unless otherwise noted.  There are no meetings during December or during the summer.  Here are upcoming discussions. All are welcomed to join us.
September 15 - All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis (2020), edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katherine K. Wilkinson
October 20 - The Black Box: Writing the Race (2024) by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
November 17 - Wandering Stars (2024) by Tommy Orange
January 19 - In Search of Beloved Community: John Lewis (2024) by Raymond Arsenault
February 16 - 1001 Voices on Climate Change: Everyday Stories of Flood, Fire, Drought, and Displacement from Around the World (2021) by Devi Lockwood
March 16 -- Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor (2015) by Dr. Jim O'Connell

This group is open to all who are interested. It is a drop-in group so members may attend whatever book discussions they are most interested in. For more information, or for any questions, contact Davalene Cooper.
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Previously Discussed Books
Upcoming Activities

Summer Concerts at the UU Urban Ministry: The Makanda Project will have three jazz concerts this summer at the Urban Ministry, 10 Putnam Street in Boston. Everyone is invited to attend these free concerts under the summer sky in the heart of Roxbury. Here are the dates for the concerts: Saturday, July 13th from 1:00pm - 4:00pm, Saturday, August 17th from 1:00pm - 4:00pm, and Saturday, September 14th from 1:00pm - 4:00pm.

Additional Support for the UU Urban Ministry Programs:  As you may recall, the UUUM supports Roxbury artists of color through its Arts and Humanities Programming. To see the artists who are spotlighted and to download the catalog, go to Arts and Humanities Programming | Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry (uuum.org).  
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Important New Film about Reparations  — Many of us studying white supremacy and the history of enslaved people have talked about reparations. There is a new documentary film that is available via streaming that follows the repartations debate in Evanston, Illinois, a city that has enacted a reparations program. The film, The Big Payback, can be seen at the following link: The Big Payback | First Reparations for Black Americans Stirs Up Debate (pbs.org). Additional information and resournces on reparations may be found at The Big Payback (bigpaybackmovie.com).​

Additional Support for the UU Urban Ministry Programs:  As you may recall, the UUUM supports Roxbury artists of color through its Arts and Humanities Programming. To see the artists who are spotlighted and to download the catalog, go to Arts and Humanities Programming | Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry (uuum.org).  
A UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’ THEOLOGY (excerpt)

​by Kenny Wiley - March 26, 2015
To read the complete essay, click here.
"The first of the Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism reads: Unitarian Universalist congregations affirm and promote the inherent worth and dignity of every person... It’s beautiful, and simple, and too often not quite true.
 
Like the Declaration of Independence and the preamble of the Constitution, the first principle of Unitarian Universalism stands as an unrealized promise. It is a map of the work done centuries and decades ago, and a map of the work yet to do. The first principle operates as what UU and Harvard Divinity professor Dan McKanan calls “radical hope.” 
 
To fight for black lives now is to participate in radical hope. It is to battle for salvation on this Earth. It is to fight for life, for love, for justice. It is to demand more out of the first principle.
​It is to demand a more perfect faith."

resources

Racial Justice Organizations
  • Black Lives Matter Boston Learn more.
  • UU Urban Ministry at First Church in Roxbury.  ​The mission of the UU Urban Ministry (UUUM) is to unite communities and transform individuals through education, service, and advocacy. We engage communities and congregations in social action and change, with programs that empower youth and adults to realize their full potential. Over nearly 200 years, our programs have adapted to meet the needs of our community.  Updates on programming and ongoing events are at uuum.org.  Learn more
  • Community Change, Inc. Educating and Organizing for Racial Equity since 1968  Learn more. 
  • Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ): Boston. Racism 101
  • BLUU: Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism  Learn more. 
  • ​ACLU Massachusetts  Learn more.
Articles/Audio
  • New York Times March 19, 2018: New demographic research showing long-term effects of systemic racism on black boys and men. Heartbreaking and important to understand. Click here.
  • WBUR On Point March 19, 2018: "The Burden for Change," with professor Alfred Young, Jr. Here.
  • The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) speaks to the Black Lives Matter movement. Several of these articles were published in UU World, the magazine for liberal religion and life that we receive with membership in Old Ship. 
    - November 5, 2015: Message from UUA President Peter Morales on the Movement for Black Lives  here
    - November 1, 2015: "Powerfully, adamantly, dangerously afraid"  A discussion among 5 UUs of color about Ta-Nehisi Coates' provocative new book Between the World and Me. here
    - October 26, 2015: What UU churches learn when they proclaim Black Lives Matter here
    - August 10, 2015: Five ways to support Black Lives Matter here
    - Read the 2015 Action of Immediate Witness "Support the Black Lives Matter Movement," as adopted by the UUA's General Assembly in June, 2015.
Memoirs/Non-Fiction
  • "So You Say You Want to Talk About Race?" by Ijeoma Oluo 2018.
  • "When they call you a terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir” by Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele
    “This visionary book reveals what inspired Patrisse’s visionary and courageous activism and forces us to face the consequences of the choices our nation made when we criminalized a generation. This book is a must-read for all of us.”           - Michelle Alexander, NY Times bestselling author of The New Jim Crow.
  • "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" by Beverly Tatum 2017 (20th Anniversary edition). By the President Emerita of Spelman College, insights into the racial barriers that still divide us and actions we all need to take. "A landmark publication in 1997... this updated edition is as fresh, poignant and timely as ever." - Earl Lewis A "must read," good for youth as well.
  • "Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America" by Michael Eric Dyson 2017. "In the tradition of The Fire Next Time (Baldwin), short, emotional, literary, powerful, this is the book that all Americans who care about the current and long-burning crisis in race-relations need to read."
  • "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates 2015. "Required Reading." A bold and personal literary exploration of America's racial history, in the form of a letter to the author's adolescent son. National Book Award 2015.  
  • "Waking Up White" by Debby Irving. "I’m a white woman, raised in Winchester, MA... a blissfully sheltered, upper-middle-class suburban childhood... My book Waking Up White is the story of my two-steps-forward-one-step back journey away from racial ignorance." Meet Debby's mentors and learn more here. 
History/Non-Fiction
  • "The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration" by Isabel Wilkerson, 2010. An insightful history of the two great migrations of African Americans out of the South to the Midwest, Northeast and West, from approximately 1915 to 1970 - told through three biographies, general history and (understandable!) statistical analysis.
  • "My Bondage and my Freedom" by Frederick Douglass
  • "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" by Harriet Jordan
Novels
  • "Sing, Unburied, Sing!" by Jesmyn Ward, 2017. -- powerful, beautiful, raw, and deep
  • “Mudbound” by Hillary Jordan, 2008 (also a movie) – Returning World War II vets face the brutal realities of Jim Crow segregation in the Mississippi Delta.
  • "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche, 2013 National Book Critics Circle Fiction award. "When the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was growing up in Nigeria she was not used to being identified by the color of her skin. That changed when she arrived in the United States for college. As a black African in America, Adichie was suddenly confronted with what it meant to be a person of color in the United States. Race as an idea became something that she had to navigate and learn..." - NPR
Films/Video
  • ​"I Am Not Your Negro" (documentary, 94 mins.) 2017, by filmmaker Raoul Peck, based on original writings and words of James Baldwin: a "blazing examination of the tragic history of race in America" - connects the Civil Rights movement to Black Lives Matter, through looking at the lives and assassinations of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr..
  • 13th (2016, documentary) by director Ava DuVernay. The film explores the "intersection of race, justice, and mass incarceration in the United States;" it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery (unless as punishment for a crime).
  • Ken Read-Brown's Sermon: September 20, 2015 - Naming Lives That Matter.  Old Ship conversation around Black Lives Matter. We hung the banner… what does it mean?

 serving

• immigration issues

• anti-racism working group

• green sanctuary

• opportunities to serve

• social outreach grant
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