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LauraSue Schlatter, Beloved Community Communications Team It may feel as though Unity's Board of Trustees presented us with too daunting a task when it asked us, the members of Unity Church, to “understand the interconnected roots of oppression . . .” in the opening challenge of our Ends Statements. But we have willing and patient teachers among our Beloved Community Staff Team, congregants, and partners in the community who can help us. The six-week “Interconnected Roots of Oppression” Wellspring Wednesday series was designed to teach and engage participants during weekly dialogue circles about:
Who, we wondered, was showing up at this well-attended series? Why? And are these conversations leading to new possibilities, cultivating collective action, and genuine transformation? To find out, we spoke to some participants, recorded their responses, and share them now with you.
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Maura Williams, Racial Justice Community Outreach Ministry Team Since it became seated in spring of 2024, the Saint Paul Recovery Act Community Reparations Commission has created its own bylaws; developed sub-committees, work plans, and budget; hosted community listening sessions; and set the course for its next big steps: a Harms Report and a legislative proposal. The Harms Report will underlie future recommendations for repair and redress. The contract for production is being awarded this fall, and delivery of the Harms Report to the Commission is requested by the end of 2026.
The Slavery Disclosure and Redress Ordinance (SDRO) will likely be proposed to Saint Paul City Council this year. Slavery Disclosure acts require that companies who wish to apply for government contracts investigate their history, and that of predecessors and acquisitions, for any links to slavery and the slave trade before the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. In addition to companies that directly benefitted from the labor of enslaved persons, businesses like financial institutions and insurance companies that engaged in holding or transferring enslaved persons as assets or providing loans for their purchase, would also be required to investigate their records. Companies must then file an affidavit about their findings. Depending on how the ordinance is written, consequences for records of links to slavery must be disclosed to the municipality, and continued pursuit of a city contract might require public disclosures and hearings, programmatic support and/or financial contributions. Insufficient investigations or false affidavits could result in legal action or being barred from future contracts. SDROs have been enacted in other municipalities — Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, Philadelphia, and more, as well as at the state level in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Connecticut. Members of Unity’s Racial Justice Team, and more recently the Board’s Reparations Committee, have attended monthly meetings of the Commission as a show of support and as an opportunity to develop personal and institutional relationship with the Commission. Quietly observing their policy work is a far cry from the “hard work of antiracism” as stated in our new ends, but we are preparing to learn, together with the Commission, what will be requested of white allies who commit to standing with them as their recommendations become actionable. The SDRO proposal will be the first public act of the Commission aimed at establishing accountability for historic acts of oppression that enriched the bottom line of enterprises now doing business in Saint Paul. We don’t know what kind of blowback the proposal might generate. The Commission will be asking for signatures of support from individuals and organizations to accompany the ordinance proposal to City Council. Most of us are probably comfortable adding a signature to a list of supporters and asking our City Councilperson to back a measure. Are we as willing to take it to the next level and ask organizations in our networks, or our workplace, to add their names in support of the SDRO? Learn from representatives of the Commission and Unity’s Board and Racial Justice Team at Wellspring Wednesday on October 1. Maura Williams, Clover Earl, and Angela Wilcox, Racial Justice Ministry Team  Maura Williams: What’s the role of a ministry team in a faith community with a strongly voiced commitment to racial justice? How do we advance justice, wholeness, and equity, or dismantle dominant culture, as stated in our congregational Ends? Where should we start?
After reflecting on these questions, gathering input from stakeholders, and discerning an authentic path forward, the Racial and Restorative Justice Team has been reimagined as the new Racial Justice Ministry Team (RJMT). We are back with refreshed commitment to our work. Statement of Purpose: Justice can be defined as love made public. We focus on how to dismantle white dominant culture by expanding our individual and congregational capacity to center relationship and love as foundational to our work in the world. We see this as the first step before the hard work needed to achieve racial justice. The RJMT brings the double helix to life, integrating spiritual and antiracism practices within and among, so we can step into courageous action in the beyond. Our initial efforts this spring follow two pathways.
Angela Wilcox: Jodi Pfarr facilitated a training about identity and awareness at my school several years ago, and the impact was immediate: her model helped us understand the way our identity changes the way we do our work, without the shame that can sometimes put people on the defensive. The simplicity of this model, along with her humor and gifted storytelling, makes her the most effective trainer on this topic I’ve worked with. I’m excited to experience how Jodi can help prepare us for our work beyond the walls of Unity, equipped with tools to help us better understand our own identity and approach commitment to our community with greater intention. Clover Earl: Since resigning from the Board of Trustees last year, I have been in search of a place here at Unity Church to call home, and recently joined the RJMT. In my five years on the board, we had myriad conversations about dismantling white supremacy culture in support of our aspirational multicultural end. We used Tema Okun’s characteristics of White Supremacy Culture to challenge ourselves to take note of how we, as individuals, were showing up and behaving in our monthly board meetings. Turning the spotlight on or own behavior is both uncomfortable and courageous work. In the weeks since January 20, our world has turned inside out and upside down. Chaos rules the day. It seems urgent that we as a congregation continue the identity work begun with Team Dynamics and challenge ourselves to deepen our understanding of how to connect across difference. It is my experience that doing this work in community, with the support of those qualified to guide us, like Jodi Pfarr, is well worth the investment in time. We would be delighted to see you at the workshops this spring! Notes:
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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
May 2026
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. |
