Submission 478
Peter Anderson
Prairie UU Society (Madison, WI) 8412
What is your suggestion or idea?
The present discussion of Article II, which lays out noble goals for racial justice, has raised major objections about the way it proceeds but not to the goal. It has reached the point that it risks creating a schism in UUA as an unintended consequence because of that collateral dispute.
Sadly, Article II only presents verbal exhortations for racial justice and, by itself, the current structure of Article II risks the organization’s future without improving the condition of marginalized communities.
Far better to change the entire direction from raging verbal disputes internal to the organization to actually doing things in the real world to end injustice, and thereby actually do good, and do so without undermining the organization.
For this reason, I would urge consideration be given to leave the seven principles as is, the first two of which already encompass racial justice.
Instead, in order to actually achieve the goals for the marginalized that Article II seeks to emphasize but actually only discusses, and discussed mostly internally, I propose action.
UUA should urge each congregation in the coming year to not endlessly debate the wording of proposed Article II, but instead find one or more existing programs with black leadership that actually works in the real world to heal the legacy of slavery in the lives the underprivileged descendants of slaves live.