Unity's next artist in residence Marcus Young 楊墨 invites you to try the movement-based art form he and others created. Don’t You Feel It Too? (DYFIT) is a liberatory practice of transforming the self while taking action in the world. Anyone can do it. Participants feel stress relief, connection, and new belonging. It's free and offered four days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday) through the end of October. More dates will be available in November.
 
Try it in person outdoors (while it's still nice) or online. DYFIT embraces the theme of Embodied Practice for Racial Healing and offers racially caucused spaces as well as an open practice for anyone. Each session is around 60-75 minutes. CLICK HERE for details and sign up.
 
Don’t You Feel It Too? is a dynamic form that draws from mindfulness practices, physical exercise, street protests, and dance. Participants listen to their own music moving freely, bravely. Move for exercise and stress relief. Move for liberation and the common good. The world needs your resilience, your daring, your movement, now more than ever.
 
Read about Unity's newest artists in residence!

​Friday, October 9 • Discussion at 7:00 p.m.
Register: http://bit.ly/rjclassdivided
Watch this documentary from Frontline online and then join the discussion. A Class Divided is a 1985 PBS documentary featuring Iowa educator Jane Elliott reuniting with her class of third graders to discuss their participation in her 1970 exercise on discrimination and privilege. This documentary focuses on their reflections of having been divided into two distinct groups: the children with blue eyes and the children with brown. 

Shelley Butler, Beloved Community Communications Team 

Register for Part 2 • Wednesday September 22: Conflict

Following up on a half-day workshop last fall, Team Dynamics is back with a seven-part series as one of our next right actions at Unity Church to realize our goals, ends, dreams of creating an anti-racist, multicultural community and to individually increase our competence and awareness. You don’t need to attend all sessions, but you need to attend either Part 1 or Part 2 to attend any sessions in the rest of the series. So, if you were not able to attend on September 15, please register for September 22, Part 2.
 
Attending Part 1 was a rich and instructive experience. Pauline Eichten described some of the many important messages from Team Dynamics trainers Alfonso, Mark, and Sarah:

We carry our culture and our identities with us. They function as a filter, a lens for how we see the world and how we regulate or police what we see. How we react to something says something about ourselves and our assumptions and expectations. What is the culture and the identities that I carry and how do they shape my responses? Some of those identities are outdated, but they still operate and can catch me unawares.

In wrapping up the session, we were told that the moral of the story is to start with “rigorous and sacred self-awareness” of our own lens, which includes actively looking for those influences that affect our unconscious and impact how we react and make decisions. Much more to come in the next six sessions.

Remember that you must attend either Part 1 or Part 2 to be able to attend following sessions. Information about each session and links to sign up are online.

Lia Rivamonte on behalf of the Beloved Community Communications Team
​
In a recent peace circle conducted via Zoom about how we might transform policing, it struck me how difficult it is to communicate from one screen to another. Not being able to read people’s faces or body language, it’s hard to gauge how others in the group are feeling because awkwardness is built into the platform. It was helpful, of course, to have such skilled facilitators as Karen Hering and Maura Williams, who are experienced in soliciting responses in large group settings.
 
What follows are some of the thoughts I have about my digital peace circle experience. They reflect some of my first impressions only—with the emphasis on my.

• My white UU sisters and brothers may be too quick to “own” their privilege. When a story is prefaced by the words, ”I know my experience would probably have been different had I been black or a person of color,” I feel that you are pre-interpreting the story before we’ve had a chance to hear it, preventing us from bringing our own understanding to the sequence of events being shared. It’s like saying, “Now what you’re about to hear may make you angry or feel hurt but it’s because of my white skin that I did not feel threatened during my encounter and I am sorry for that.“ To me, it’s more useful to tell the story, reflect on what the experience meant to you at that time, and what you glean from that experience now, with your new understanding of privilege. I hope each of us in a circle can be trusted not to judge one another’s character or level of “wokeness.”
  
  (I mentioned this to my husband, Matt, who is white and who also participated in the circle. He shared with me that he felt it important to name his “privilege;” moreover, he said, framing his experience with the knowledge that his “whiteness” would/could influence an outcome in his favor had become an essential practice. )

 

• The two police officers in the group were the kind of people you hope to encounter when in trouble. Thoughtful, respectful, community-minded. As I understand it, they both regularly attended the Monday evening Circles at Unity. I would like to know how many like them we would meet if police participants had been randomly selected.

 

• The black members of the circle rarely had positive encounters with law enforcement—every encounter related was negative, bred fear, and confirmed what they already knew about the police. Not only did they not feel safe, but instead, felt threatened for their lives.

 
We were all asked, “What makes us feel safe?” It is the question at the heart of the change we seek. It is a basic need as human beings to feel protected, to trust that those around us care about our safety and well-being. That those of us who have willingly taken on the responsibility for keeping the larger community from harm must not predetermine who among us is worth protecting, while automatically ascribing criminality to whole groups or individuals based on the color of their skin. And while it may be simplistic to attribute the reflexive violence that members of our police force employ to answer our calls for help, it does seem that no other alternatives are considered. Especially when they show up armed.
 
Have we given too much power to an institution that can too easily be corrupted? Probably. But an institution is comprised of individuals who also share our vulnerability as human beings. How do we make sure we all feel safe?
 
Admittedly, the evening session was not what I had anticipated — I was expecting to hear and possibly to contribute some “solutions” about how we might transform policing in our community. However, when speaking to a friend about the evening, I realized that it was just the beginning we need.

Friday September 11 • Discussion at 7:00 p.m.
Register: http://bit.ly/rjmoviediscussion
Please watch this 2019 docudrama (available on Netflix) and then join the online discussion, facilitated by Rob and Janne Eller-Isaacs, on September 11.   
​Based on the Broadway play, American Son follows Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale as an estranged couple whose son goes missing. The couple spends the night at a Miami police station in search of answers about their missing son, Jamel. With themes of police brutality and unconscious bias, American Son showcases the treatment of the families of victims and the system’s failure to aid Black families in the aftermath of a murder. ​

About the Series
Building on the Next Right Action initiative, expert facilitators and trainers gathered by Team Dynamics will lead seven Tuesday evening workshops to explore critical concepts to equip us as champions for racial justice in our own lives, in our communities, and in our spiritual growth and development.

Series Learning Goals in Service to Unity’s Multicultural and Racial Healing Ends

• Increase self-awareness to understand how our experiences of race, gender, and more inform the choices we make in pursuit of our personal and collective justice goals
• Explore tools for deeper practice as a champion for racial justice
• Understand how movements for social change work and how we experience them
• Situate ourselves within a movement for justice and consider when and how to deploy our tools and take actions 

Sessions Overview 
This is a seven-part series. It is our intention that participants attend session one and/or two as prerequisite in order to participate in sessions three through seven. Additionally, we ask that you attend as many as your schedule allows. This is a sequential series and a cohort experience, with each session building on the previous session's concepts and learning. Sign-up is required for each session. An RSVP will be sent to confirm attendance. 
​
All sessions are on Zoom, Tuesday evenings, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., September 15 – October 27, 2020. Each session will be hosted by Alfonso T. Wenker from Team Dynamics with various faculty participating throughout the series. 
 
REGISTER FOR SESSION 1 • September 15: Identity + Bias 
Explore how our beliefs are connected to our experiences of culture + identity and how those beliefs influence our actions. Faculty: Mark Pineda, Sara Wernick Schonwald

REGISTER FOR SESSION 2 • September 22: Intercultural Conflict Styles + Strategies
Explore conflict through the lens of culture. Understand your preferred conflict style and increase capacity to manage conflict across culture. Faculty: Sara Wernick Schonwald, Liz Loeb, Levi Weinhagen

REGISTER FOR SESSION 3 • September 29: Understanding + Utilizing Power
Power is an underlying force in relationships and organizations; however, we tend to treat power as a “have or have not.” This session explores power as ever present in all bodies. We will dive into the connections between position, identity and power and explore ways to responsibly exercise power toward equity goals. Faculty: Tyrai Bronson-Pruitt, Pearl Dobbins, Anil Hurkadli

REGISTER FOR SESSION 4 • October 6: Constructions of Race + Racism
Race impacts every relationship, system and interaction in our daily lives. While concepts of race are a social construct, the impacts (racism and white supremacy) are real in their consequences. This session allows participants to get grounded in their experience of race while noticing patterns and preference for whiteness. Faculty: Tyrai Bronson-Pruitt, Levi Weinhagen
​
REGISTER FOR SESSION 5 • October 13: Social Change + Social Movements
What are social movements? What makes movements move? How do we utilize this movement moment to create the transformational change we seek? Together we’ll unpack what are the elements of a movement to understand how each of us is situated in a movement. Faculty: Beth Zemsky

REGISTER FOR SESSION 6 • October 20: Organizing + Action 
“But what can I do about it?” Building from the first five sessions, we’ll talk about how community organizing works in pursuit of justice and how to choose your actions wisely. Faculty: Liz Loeb, Trina Olson

REGISTER FOR SESSION 7 • October 27: Using these Tools in Your Practice 
This will be an open, guided time to ask questions and test out ideas for application of the topics covered in sessions one through six. Faculty: Tyrai Bronson-Pruitt, Levi Weinhagen

After the 2016 election, I got involved with Braver Angels (formerly Better Angels) to help bridge the red/blue divide. At the same time, I also helped to start two projects with African American men in Minneapolis. 

The first project was at South High. I was the designer and note taker for a group of young Black men and two Black adult facilitators in the Relationships Project, sponsored by the Office of Black Male Student Achievement. The idea was to improve academic success by working on two principal relationships in the school: with teachers and with young women. The young men interviewed teachers and did focus groups with young women on the topic of how Black young men could take the lead in improving those relationships. Then they developed goals and strategies to which they held one another accountable during their weekly meetings. 

I saw the power of these young men, who were no strangers to racism in the school and community, taking responsibility to work on something they could control: their part in important relationships. I also experienced their cultural pride in being Black, something that transcended the hardships they faced in a White world. It struck me that these two elements — cultural pride and a sense of agency to make changes on their own, without waiting for White people to change — were missing in many of the racial reconciliation programs I was familiar with.

My second involvement was with the Police and Black Men Project, which I co-founded with Guy Bowling, a Black colleague and head of the FATHER Project for low-income fathers. We pulled together a group of five police officers (three White and two Black) and six Black men from the community. We hoped to build relationships of trust and see what we could contribute to better partnerships for community safety. We’ve done community conversations and become involved in police training. We have developed a new narrative to go beyond finger pointing across the conservative/progressive divide on police and race, based on the common goal of safe communities. 

For me, the Police and Black Men Project has been another experience in the power of taking time to build relationships. We began with storytelling — early experiences with police, with Black men, and with White men. We talked about our fathers. We then moved into more conflictual conversations, with everyone committed to returning to the table over and over, no matter what, because the stakes were so high. This bond of trust, even brotherhood, was necessary for the extremely painful conversation after George Floyd’s killing, first as the community members vented their anger, fear, and despair. The officers listened and condemned what their fellow officer had done. Two weeks later the community members were there to support the officers, who were experiencing ridicule and abuse, particularly from White progressives in the community, even extending to harassment of their families. 

Out of these experiences have come two new Braver Angels programs on race. First is a 1:1 Black/White Conversation process (two one-hour conversations online or in person) in which two individuals meet to share and understand each other on the topic of race. No one is there to teach the other; instead, they both listen and learn from each other. I did the initial pilot with a Black colleague. I found it the most impactful experience of any conversation about race in my life. My conversation partner expressed a similar level of enthusiasm and impact. 

Of note, I designed the process so that anyone could fully participate without fear of being called out for expressing the “wrong” opinions or using “wrong” terminology. Braver Angels is nearly ready to launch these 1:1 conversations nationally.

The other new program is still under development: a skills workshop (online for now) on depolarizing conversations about race among White people. The premise is that the conversation about race among White people is nearly as broken as the conversation between the races, often degenerating into White progressives teaching or reprimanding conservatives, and conservatives arguing that they are not racist. The result is national paralysis on a path forward. This workshop will teach skills for respectful dialogue in which neither person assumes the higher moral ground or a defensive posture. 

Braver Angels offers a way for people of different races (Black/White), different political worldviews (red/blue), and different geographical areas (urban/rural) to connect personally and as citizens concerned for their country. Each conversation follows a structured process. For more information, or to get involved, visit our website: braverangels.org.

In the wake of George Floyd’s killing on May 25, 2020, many of us have been looking for ways to turn our outrage and sorrow into concrete action to end racial injustice. Under the banner Finding Our Next Right Action, members of our community are coming together to work toward change on a number of fronts, and you are invited to join us.

On three Wellspring Wednesdays in August, this work will continue with a discussion with Rob and Janne (August 5), peace circles facilitated by Unity's Racial and Restorative Justice Team (August 12), and Committing to Our Next Right Action (August 19). Details for these events is at the bottom of this post.

Shaping ideas that emerged from the Next Right Action Zoom discussion groups in early June, Unity’s Beloved Community Staff Team is channeling these efforts into seven specific focus areas:

Education
The church will make the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) more widely available. The IDI is an assessment tool, used with follow-up resources and activities, intended to help the congregation grow as an anti-racist, multicultural spiritual community. If you are interested in taking the assessment, contact Drew Danielson. Team Dynamics, the consulting firm guiding Unity in this process, will offer three half-day workshops and training sessions during the fall/winter season. Dates: TBD. Contacts: Drew Danielson at drew@unityunitarian.org (to request an IDI assessment); KP Hong at kp@unityunitarian.org. 

Policing Reform
Unity’s Racial and Restorative Justice Team (RRJ) plans to hold two circles this summer, inviting people into deeper conversation about efforts to change infrastructure, training, and accountability for police and police departments. Conversations will be led by RRJ Team members. Date: August 12, 2020. Contact: Karen Hering at karen@unityunitarian.org.

Youth and Parents
A Family Fishbowl on Race and Racism, a Zoom conversation exploring thoughts and emotions about these issues, will be (was) held July 23. In the longer term, the congregation will explore ways to strengthen parental involvement in Religious Education, especially in seminal programs and events including the Boston pilgrimage, Coming of Age, Our Whole Lives, and Tower Club parent council. Date: July 23, 2020 (Family Fishbowl). Contact: Drew Danielson at drew@unityunitarian.org.

Neighborhood Organizing and Policing
Building on existing relationships with organizations such as the Summit-University Planning Council and the St. Paul Police Department, Unity Church (and, in particular, executive director Barbara Hubbard) will seek opportunities to engage in the complex and multifaceted conversation about policing that is under way in our community and our country. Your ideas for creating and shaping these conversations are welcome. Contact: Barbara Hubbard at barbara@unityunitarian.org. 

Funding Emergency Needs
A list of opportunities to support critical initiatives that address police violence, gaps in housing and education, growing economic disparities, and more is available on the Beloved Community Staff Team community resources page and will be updated to provide ongoing guidance. In the longer term, Unity will work toward establishing sustained support and closer coordination with partner organizations led by people of color. Contact: Barbara Hubbard at barbara@unityunitarian.org. 

Hands-On Volunteering
Information about volunteer opportunities will be updated and available right here on the Beloved Community Staff Team webpage. Contact: Karen Hering at karen@unityunitarian.org.

You can read more about these opportunities and Finding Our Next Right Action at https://bit.ly/nextrightstepsdoc.

Reflecting on the Journey • Wednesday, August 5 • 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Email madeline@unityunitarian.org to join this session.
Senior Co-Ministers Revs. Rob and Janne Eller-Isaacs will each reflect on a personal journey they are presently on and on the journey we are on together as a congregation now. In breakout groups, participants will be invited to similarly share with one another.

The August 12 Wellspring Wednesday offering, "Reimagining Public Safety: A Circle of Peace," has reached capacity. Due to high demand another circle has been scheduled for Sunday, August 30, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Register online.
The Racial and Restorative Justice team is calling together a Circle of Peace to help us begin talking and learning about Reimagining Public Safety, how white people center police in maintaining personal safety, and how policing harms people of color and fails to keep them safe. All levels of interest are welcome; the Circle is open to people ages 15 and older. Most of the time will be spent sharing in the Peace Circle process to enhance listening and avoid crosstalk. All participants must preregister and are asked to read the MPD 150 report “A People’s Project Evaluating Policing” before attending. This first step in understanding multiple perspectives will be followed with an invitation into several ways for getting involved. The MPD 150 report is online at www.mpd150.com in both printed and audio formats. 

Committing to Our Next Right Action • Wednesday, August 19 • 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Register here: https://bit.ly/commitnextrightaction
A follow-up to Finding Our Next Right Action held on June 4, 2020 (participants do not need to have attended June 4).
We’ve listened, we’ve discerned, we’ve created lists—what’s next? Come connect with others to learn more about and sign up for action steps generated from the “Finding Our Next Right Action” forum held on June 4 (see the doc outlining next steps here: https://bit.ly/nextrightstepsdoc). There is work enough for everyone — some of it personal, some of it within and some outside Unity Church. 

July 3, 2020
Beloved Community Program Update:  Finding Our Next Right Action
Unity's Beloved Community Staff Team
As part of two gatherings following the killing of George Floyd, “Finding Our Next Right Action” provided Unity Church members a chance to connect online, ask questions, discuss next steps, and stay engaged.  Breakout groups organized by topics—from protesting to legislative demands around policing to hands-on volunteering—provided opportunities for constructive exchange of information and discerning our next right action.  From the array of ideas generated, the Beloved Community Staff Team worked to organize and discern next steps, prioritizing actions that expand upon existing ministries, that create brave space for deeper relationships with community partners, that ask for greater humility and spontaneity in addressing gaps in our commitments, that enlarge our prophetic imagination in the work of racial justice. There is work for everyone, from Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) assessments to community organizing training with Team Dynamics to legislative work on policing with the Racial and Restorative Justice Team.  For those who participated in earlier breakout sessions and all others who are seeking to engage in this moment’s call to action, please click here for Finding Our Next Right Action.
 
June 24, 2020
​Beloved Community Program Update: #WeCantBreathe // Finding Our Next Right Action
Unity's Beloved Community Staff Team
In early June, a little over one week after the killing of George Floyd, Karen Hering and KP Hong of the Beloved Community Staff Team convened two programs, prompted by conversations of Black clergy and leaders. The first, #WeCantBreathe, was an opportunity for people to come together on Zoom to reflect on what our broken hearts can teach us in times like these, and what our UU faith calls us to do in the wake of the killing. We looked inward to our spiritual practices as the first step. 

Finding Our Next Right Action, the second program, was held the following night. Seventy-five people showed up online to ask questions and discuss next steps. Breakout groups organized by topic such as “protesting,” “police reform/abolition,” “neighborhood organizing,” and more, raised many good questions, highlighting the need to learn from and perhaps be guided by our uncertainty. The resource list generated from these discussions is being prepared separately. Follow-up and next steps are underway by the Beloved Community Staff Team, please watch for more information. CLICK HERE for a summary of the breakout groups from this online program.

What became clear is that the next steps forward have to lead from engagement with the community. This will help us cultivate or strengthen right relationship with Black leaders by building on connections already made or by building new ones. If ever there was a time to lean into our Ends of creating brave space for racial healing, dismantling dominant culture, and creating a multicultural spiritual home built on authentic relationships, this surely is it. But, how do we take our uncertainty and work in proximity with Black leaders to affect change? 

The Beloved Community Staff Team is working to identify key pieces of potential work from the range of ideas generated at these discussions, as well as address any gaps that might need our attention. There is work enough for everyone. Some of it is personal work like taking the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) to examine our own path toward the anti-racist values to which we aspire. Other work is practical, like helping with rebuilding businesses damaged in the protests. Still other work is legislative, to make sure this moment doesn’t pass without significant change. Please watch for more information about our next right actions in congregational email messages and on the Unity Church website.

May 29, 2020
​Our list of community resources includes where to donate money and resources, current needs and information about direct action/protests, and anti-racism learning resources.