Racial and Restorative Justice

The Racial and Restorative Justice Ministry Team advocates for justice and so help heal the world. We acknowledge the importance of every voice to restorative and racial justice, in interracial healing, and in building Beloved Community. For more information about this team, please contact Rev. Shay MacKay at shay@unityunitarian.org.

The Circle of Peace Movement

The Circle of Peace Movement is a pathway to racial healing and peaceful communities. It works by creating a safe space where people come together on a regular basis to share a meal and engage in respectful conversation. Through circle, we come to understand and care for one another, and find hope and strength to transform our communities.

The Racial and Restorative Justice Ministry Team

• Provides lifelong opportunities for spiritual growth, learning, and engagement in racial and restorative healing within the Unity Church community.
• Seeks to make all feel welcome and connected to the work across all identities.
• Encourages shared ministry and intentionally widening the circles of power, opportunity, and access within and beyond Unity Church.
• Commits to antiracism and racial healing in covenant with people and communities of color. Its projects reflect a desire for continuing relationships and mutuality.
• Advocates in the public arena for liberal religious values in response to prejudice, injustice, and oppression and working with other institutions around shared values.

The team's community partners include Amicus/Volunteers of America and the Rondo Circle of Peace. The team also promotes congregational involvement in neighborhood events and projects such as Rondo Days, the Selby Jazz Festival, National Night Out, the St. Paul Martin Luther King Breakfast, Obama Elementary School and the Children’s Defense Fund Summer Freedom School. 

Amicus/VOA offers many activities supporting those who are or who have been incarcerated.  We support Amicus through individual participation as One-to-One friends with prison inmates, as Pen Friends with people in prison, through its Winter Warm Up drive. 

The Circle of Peace Movement is committed to ending the cycle of youth violence in our neighborhood and promoting racial healing in our local communities. We assist with providing meals for Circle of Peace.

Our partnership with Amicus/VOA and participation in activities of the Second Chance Coalition provide many opportunities to address prevention, incarceration, and reentry. The Second Chance Day on the Hill is an annual event that is promoted within the team and the congregation.  

The team also engages in issues regarding voter registration and remains informed and active as needed.  Team members join with other congregants and metro UU churches to Side with Love and participate in activities promoting racial issues, such as #blacklivesmatter protests and the Change the Redskins Nickname Rally.
 
The team meets monthly on the third Thursday evening and shares a meal as well as use the Peace Circle process (passing a talking piece, all in circle are equal, respectful listeners who speak from the heart) to create a safe, supportive place to talk about the difficult issues of racism. During meetings, team members plan activities around volunteer opportunities. Individual members contribute time and energy in areas of interest to them. Meeting leadership and meeting tasks are shared on a rotating basis. The team’s work is celebrated, and members sometimes attend cultural and educational outings together.