Report to the General Assembly on the Events and Activities related to Racism and Classism During the Past Year

Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County

"Resolved, that the Delegates to General Assembly are charged to work with their congregations to hold at least one program over the next year to address racism or classism, and to report on that program at next year's General Assembly."

In the fall of 2006, the Board of Trustees charged the Coordinating Council of UUCDC with the task of responding to the above resolution. Rather than holding one major event to address the issues of racism and classism, the Council decided to sponsor a series of events throughout the year to heighten awareness and propose solutions to these topics. Through their committees, the congregation was invited to take part in the church-wide initiative. The following list is in response to that invitation.

• The Social Justice Committee helped to publicize and participate in a dinner-discussion at First Unitarian Church where area Unitarians viewed a play and discussed the history of slavery and resulting current racial attitudes.
• Members of the congregation participated in several volunteer events in economically depressed and racially segregated communities in Delaware County. Activities included working with the Chester Eastside Ministry to develop financial support for their programs; supporting and publicizing Martin Luther King Day activities in the communities of Chester and Darby; and continuing the Task Force on Hunger initiative, which consists of volunteering at a local homeless shelter one time a month.
• Our children's Religious Education program held two large activity sessions. The first included a story, discussion and activity based on the life of Ruby Bridges, who, 47 years ago, became the first black student to attend an all white elementary school in New Orleans. The children made posters proclaiming the right of all people to attend schools and ride buses. The second session focused on the issue of classism. The children were asked, in small groups, to construct houses and were given disproportionate materials with which to build. They learned that what one can achieve in life depends largely on what one has to work with (advantages/disadvantages) from the beginning.
• Our Adult Religious Education group held a forum on justice and racism. They discussed various issues including the difference between justice and retribution/revenge, the meaning of the term "racial justice", and what Unitarian Universalists can and should do individually and collectively to foster racial justice.
• Interweave, in partnership with the Social Justice Committee, hosted a Forum on "Two Spirit People", focusing on Native American traditions.
• Racism and classism issues were the topics for discussion at several Small Group Ministry sessions. These topics were planned specifically in response to the General Assembly resolution.
• A small group of concerned members met and sponsored a forum to discuss the plight of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and are in danger of ending up homeless or in jail. Members of UUCDC are focusing greater attention on this issue and offering practical and spiritual support.
• Our affiliated day school sponsored various speakers from the community to talk about their special ethnicities. A Native American demonstrated dances. A Jewish family talked about how they celebrate Hanukkah. An Asian mother showed how the Chinese New Year is celebrated and demonstrated the use of chopsticks and the abacus.
• The UUCDC Book Club has chosen two books that deal with racism and has invited the entire congregation to participate. One is Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, the story of a Zulu Anglican priest who travels to Johannesburg to rescue his son in
• South Africa in the 1940s. The book is at once an account of the structures of South African society that gave rise to apartheid and a reflection on the breakdown of stable, tribal societies. The second is Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, by James W. Loewen (a Unitarian-Universalist). This book chronicles the nadir of race relations that began in the 1890s and the rise of deliberate, all-white towns. It tells the sordid story of a large number of towns outside the South who, between 1890 and 1968, became "sundown towns" (no blacks after sundown) by systematically excluding African Americans.
• UUCDC participated in an interfaith service with a local synagogue on Holocaust Remembrance Day and heard speakers discuss the horrors of Darfur
• UUCDC held a special Sunday service honoring our commitment to be a Welcoming Congregation, concluding with the unveiling of a permanent rainbow flag to replace the cloth flag that had been desecrated.
• Our Youth Group conducted a Sunday service featuring a sermon on the inequities of standardized testing and how it is unfair to certain classes of people. It was part of a year long discussion focusing on classism in our society.