Anti-Racism Ministry

CURRENT AND RECENT PROJECTS

 

 

 

Stand Against Racism
As our congregation came into our Sunday morning worship service on May 1, 2011 each person found a metal pin attached to their bulletin that read “Racism Hurts Everyone”. This was part of our participation in the national YWCA “Stand Against Racism”. During the service everyone was invited to put their pin on, sign a pledge to stand against racism and discrimination of any kind, and write on slips that later went in the offering plate where they would wear their pin in public in the next week. As people left the service they were each handed a slip of paper that had one “Did you know?” fact related to race and racism. During the coffee hour people compared their facts and talked about them.

Revising Our Investment Guidelines
An ad hoc committee is working on a proposal to the congregation to revise our investment guidelines for the church to include language that specifies that:
“We will proactively seek to include in our investment portfolio some … enterprises or funds … which :

• Make a positive contribution to the elimination of racism through investment in enterprises owned by people of color and/or those that promote the economic welfare of communities of color”

No One Leaves!
We recently sponsored a Sunday morning adult transformative learning session by an organizer from “No One Leaves!”, an organization in Springfield, MA which is organizing in communities of people of color and of poor white people to take action to prevent banks from making people homeless through foreclosures and evictions. We are exploring opportunities to volunteer with this campaign and to consider donations and investments. We are looking for ways to be together in solidarity, not charity.

In Solidarity with the Local Muslim Community
In response to some harassment of Muslims who are part of our local community, and in conjunction with the local mosque, we are organizing a joint statement from many local religious congregations to express our solidarity with the Muslim community. The current draft of the statement reads: "As people of faith, we voice our support for Muslims in our community and beyond.   We deplore anti-Islamic harassment, prejudice , hate-speech, and hate-based-actions.   We stand with our Muslim sisters and brothers and oppose any mistreatment or exclusion based on religion.  We welcome opportunities to grow in our understanding of each other’s faiths, and to build relationships of mutual respect, trust, and friendship."
We are also exploring starting a book group on the book, What’s Right with Islam?

Massachusetts Conference of the UCC – Anti-Racism Resolution
We authored and are sponsoring a resolution at the Annual Meeting of the United Church of Christ Massachusetts Conference declaring the Conference’s commitment to pro-active anti-racism and calling on all UCC congregations (among other things) “ to engage in sacred conversations on race and in on-going study, reflection, dialogue, and prayer about race, racism, white privilege and racial justice. We encourage congregations and individuals in the Conference to learn how to contribute more directly to the elimination of both personal and systemic/institutional racism throughout our society, and to take concrete action steps.”

1st Church Anti-Racism Action and Information Alert E-mails
A good many members of our congregation have signed up to receive periodic e-mails from our team informing them of opportunities to take action against racism through signing online petitions, making special donations, or other actions. These help keep us informed about ways racism continues to manifest itself today. Our team sends these out from time to time.

Transformative Learning
We continue to offer an adult learning session related to ending racism at least every other month before worship on Sunday mornings. We have plans to examine the role of mass incarceration of people of color, especially black men, and attitudes and policies with regard to immigrants to this country, both documented and undocumented.

Meetings of our Ministry Team
We continue to meet regularly as a team. We begin each meeting with an opportunity to reflect on our own learning and reactions to racism around us and in the news. We are committed to furthering our own learning and growth, and to helping our entire congregation continue to learn, grow, and find ways to be effective in helping to end racism, both systemic and personal. We welcome participants in our congregation to join our team.