In the fall of 2016, the WUUC Board and church staff drafted a statement supporting the current movements for black lives, and at a congregational meeting in December 2016 the congregation overwhelmingly approved that statement. Given the agitation, demonstrations, and protests occurring around the country and around the world in the wake of George Floyd’s death, WUUC reaffirms our commitment to eradicating racial injustice.
- We reaffirm our commitment to dismantle structural racism against Black communities in education, employment, housing, voting rights, and access to health care.
- We reaffirm our commitment to reverse the disproportionate effects of environmental degradation on the Black community.
- And given the continuing ubiquity of police violence against Black Americans, we most definitely reaffirm our commitment to demand equitable and ethical treatment in the administration of criminal justice in the Black community.
In 2016, we committed to engage in faithful discernment that we may know when to speak and when to listen, when to lead by following, when to be a presence, and when to witness. While discernment is always necessary, the most important thing we need to do today is act. We must act on our commitment and do everything in our individual as well as collective capacity to support the ongoing protests, use our voices to call out injustice, and work to dismantle white supremacy in all its manifestations. While we recognize that national events have galvanized our attention, we also reaffirm our commitment to promote racial justice in our local communities.
WUUC’s Resolution on the Movements for Black Lives (adopted Dec. 4, 2016)
The Woodinville Unitarian Universalist Congregation commits to supporting the current movements for Black lives. We will do so with our resources, time, energy, and physical presence. Our white members commit to doing the internal work of addressing our systemic privilege and racism so that we may better act to build beloved community. Our congregation will work to create and maintain covenantal relationships with the Black community in the Seattle Area and Seattle’s East Side.
We will risk being vulnerable and courageous in the building of these relationships, acknowledging that we need to step up and step in behind Black leadership. We will let those relationships inform and guide our actions in support of Black lives. We will be responsive, responsible, and firm in our commitment to the movements for Black lives.
We will act to dismantle structural racism against Black communities in education, employment, housing, voting rights, and access to health care. We will act to reverse the disproportionate effects of environmental degradation on the Black community. We will work for equitable and ethical treatment in the administration of criminal justice in the Black community.
We will engage in faithful discernment that we may know when to speak and when to listen, when to lead by following, when to be a presence, and when to witness. The Woodinville Unitarian Universalist Church is committed to the transformation of our own and others’ lives. As such we claim the commitment to the current movements for Black lives as
a religious and spiritual mandate.