Pauline Eichten, with input from the Beloved Community Staff Team It’s timely to have this article in December, when our worship theme is wonder. How might we wonder together, with curiosity instead of judgment, about the challenge of reparations? Are we making any progress toward racial justice, as an interviewer wondered in March of 1964, when he asked Malcolm X if progress was being made. “No, no,” Malcolm replied. “I will never say that progress is being made. If you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches, there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that’s not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they haven’t even begun to pull the knife out, much less heal the wound.” And when the interviewer attempted to ask another question, Malcolm interjected, “They won’t even admit the knife is there.” “Pulling the knife out” is an essential step, but it is only an act of suspending the harm. It does not “heal the wound” because it is not an act of remediation or reparation. Repairing the wound requires those culpable to make amends and restitution for the harm inflicted. The claim for restitution anchors historically on our government’s failure to deliver on the promised 40-acre land grants to the newly emancipated, a failure that lay the foundation for the enormous wealth gap that exists today between Black and white people. The case for reparations does not center exclusively on “slavery reparation” but seeks accountability for the atrocities of legal segregation we know as the Jim Crow era and the ongoing atrocities, including mass incarceration, credit/housing/employment discrimination, a criminal justice system and policing that continue to kill unarmed Black people. It includes the immense wealth disparity borne by Black American descendants, the cumulative legacy of our nation’s trajectory of racial injustice. Reparations is about repairing the wound, both acknowledging the moral failing and making restitution for lives robbed. Reparations ultimately aspires to the righting of a wronged relationship and the deep spiritual yearning for reconciliation. When asked “Why reparations?” several members of the BCST responded with these statements.
Unity Church has been on a 20-year journey to becoming an actively antiracist multicultural community. We continue to learn about the history of this country and its development and economic power built on the exploitation of African Americans and the appropriation of land from Native Americans. And we are aware of the current disparities in education, wealth, health and safety experienced by Black, Indigenous and People of Color that are an outgrowth of those foundational practices of exploitation.
The more we learn about the history of mistreatment of Black and Native Americans, and the continuing effect of that mistreatment into the present, the more it seems clear that some form of restitution must be made. Kevin Shird, in a recent column in the Pioneer Press, says compensation today for historic injustices would be a major step forward. However, beyond any monetary compensation, he stated that just the acknowledgement of the injustices committed against Black and Indigenous people matters. The need for reparations or restitution is clear. What gets complicated is how to do it and who is responsible. House Resolution H.R.- 40, named after the 40 acres and a mule promised to enslaved people after emancipation, but never given, is a bill seeking to establish a federal commission to examine the impacts of the legacy of slavery and recommend proposals to provide reparations. The bill does not authorize payments; it creates a commission to study the problem and recommend solutions. Representative John Conyers, Jr., of Michigan introduced the bill every year starting in 1989. After he retired in 2017 at age 88, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat from Texas, assumed the role of first sponsor of the bill. 2021 was the first year the bill made it out of committee. Locally, the St. Paul City Council established the Reparations Legislative Advisory Committee in June 2021 to lay the groundwork for the Saint Paul Recovery Act Community Reparations Commission. The Commission will develop recommendations to “specifically address the creation of generational wealth for the American Descendants of Chattel Slavery and to boost economic mobility and opportunity in the Black community.” The ordinance to create the reparations commission will be coming before the council yet this year, after which it will be Mayor Carter who appoints the commission members. It is hoped that he will do that after the first of the year. And the issue of broken treaties and restoring Native lands is a particular form of reparations that needs to be addressed. As members of the BCST seek to expand and deepen conversations about Unity’s role in reparations, watch for future articles that dig into these and other efforts addressing reparations and how this congregation might contribute. Available in Unity's Library The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide Barbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose Brewer, 2006 The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Richard Rothstein, 2017 Available Online "The Case for Reparations," The Atlantic magazine, Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2014 Truth Telling and Healing: Indigenous and Environmental Justice Series
0 Comments
Beloved Community Communications Team The “Honoring Water Protectors Discussion” held on December 1, 2021, in the Sanctuary at Unity Church and livestreamed on YouTube featured two remarkable water protectors: Sharon Day, executive director of The Indigenous People’s Task Force and leader of the Nibi Walk movement, and Tara Houska, an attorney, as well as environmental and Indigenous rights activist. Photographer John Kaul was inspired by the work of Indigenous and these two remarkable women. His work can be seen in the Eliot Wing photo and story exhibit, and he will post photos from the show on his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/john.kaul. We were inspired by the water protectors and their deep respect for the earth and wanted to share what they told us about how you can help. Ideas on How You Can Help from Tara Houska and Sharon Day:
Learn about the Honor the Earth organization. Tara Houska is the National Campaigns Director. Pull down the “Action” menu for how you can help. Reshape your relationship with nature. Think about how everything you consume comes from nature, that everything around us, including our bodies, is of the earth. Connect to the idea that water and the earth are not resources to be consumed but a living thing with spirit that is endangered in Minnesota. Contact Gov. Walz: Drop the charges against Line 3 activists. Minnesota Public Radio reported in September 2021 that nearly 900 people have been charged, most with misdemeanors but some with arbitrary and escalated felony and gross misdemeanor charges. Call Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and ask him to stop infringement on first amendment rights to peaceful assembly and to protest, and drop the charges against Line 3 activists: 651-201-3400, and/or tweet Gov. Walz: @GovTimWalz, #DropL3Charges Donate to the Line 3 Rapid Response Campaign. The Center for Protest Law & Litigation is administering a fund to subsidize and support legal costs for people arrested in opposition to the Line 3 pipeline. If you prefer to pay by mail, write a check with “CPPL/Line3” in the subject line and mail to: Partnership for Civil Justice Fund 617 Florida Ave, NW, Washington DC, 20001 Protect the Boundary Waters and water in Northern Minnesota from sulfide mining. For information on the legal case against PolyMet to prohibit this dangerous form of mining and to see what you can do, visit the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. To stay abreast of the community outreach teams working on these issues at Unity Church:
Becky Gonzalez-Campoy, Beloved Community Communications Team
A year ago this month a local storyteller planted the seed for what is becoming Unity’s Indigenous Justice Community Outreach Ministerial Team. Rev. Jim Bear Jacobs, a member of the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation and cultural facilitator working to raise public awareness of Native American causes and injustices, joined members of Unity Church for a conversation about restoring broken trust and congregational approaches to reparations with Indigenous Peoples. His story centered around his grandmother’s boarding school experience, one that robbed her of both her culture and her voice. The U.S. government funded more than 350 boarding schools across the country during the 19th and 20th centuries and they were often run by churches, including at least one with ties to the Unitarian denomination. Rev. Jacobs wrapped up his talk with a call to action, outlining three areas congregations should consider if committed to providing reparations to the Native American tribes: 1) help local Dakota and Ojibwe communities to reclaim their language and culture; 2) develop a meaningful relationship with members of the local Native American community through spiritual life exchange; 3) create a pathway to return the land upon which Unity sits to its rightful owners. He cautioned that these steps will take years to achieve. First, we must restore trust. Many of us emerged from Rev. Jacob’s presentation ready to go to work, and came together to take action. In the months since then — and in spite of Covid-19 limiting factors — we have begun to build a solid foundation upon which we can begin to tackle the charges set forth by his call to action. We began preparation last spring to submit a Community Outreach Ministry Team application to Unity’s Executive Team in the coming months, knowing that we must connect vocational calling, spiritual practice, and thoughtful planning to make a real difference. Among the many reasons our members cited for working on behalf of Native American justice is that this group is often overlooked in antiracist advocacy. Their sheer lack of numbers keeps their voices largely unheard. We want to change that. We collect and send out monthly alerts about Native American cultural events and opportunities to volunteer or support Native-owned businesses. We hosted a Wellspring Wednesday presentation by the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) in May 2021, an educational event to encourage congregational learning about the traumatic impact of boarding schools on Native American children and their families. We arranged for one Sunday offering to go to support NABS. And thanks to church member James Oberly, retired history professor from University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, we provided NABS with information about the school sponsored by the Unitarians to add to their research database. Our current Indigenous Justice team brings together many talents and connections to other organizations and Community Outreach Ministry Teams such as the Minnesota Multi-Faith Network, Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance, United Theological Seminary, and Unity’s Act for the Earth Team. In building these relationships, so much of our work intersects. We invite those committed to Native American reparations to take the next step and join us as we continue to build our Indigenous Justice Community Outreach Team and seek community partners. For more information, contact Becky Gonzalez-Campoy ([email protected]) or Rev. Shay MacKay ([email protected]). For additional information about Indigenous justice work, see these resources: |
Topics
All
Beloved Community ResourcesUnity Justice Database
Team Dynamics House of Intersectionality Anti-Racism Resources in the Unity Libraries Collection Creative Writers of Color in Unity Libraries The History of Race Relations and Unity Church, 1850-2005 Archives
September 2024
Beloved Community Staff TeamThe Beloved Community Staff Team (BCST) strengthens and coordinates Unity’s antiracism and multicultural work, and provides opportunities for congregants and the church to grow into greater intercultural competency. We help the congregation ground itself in the understanding of antiracism and multiculturalism as a core part of faith formation. We support Unity’s efforts to expand our collective capacity to imagine and build the Beloved Community. Here, we share the stories of this journey — the struggles, the questions, and the collaborations — both at Unity and in the wider world.
The current members of the Beloved Community Staff Team include Rev. Kathleen Rolenz, Rev. KP Hong, Rev. Lara Cowtan, Drew Danielson, Laura Park, Lia Rivamonte and Angela Wilcox. |