Widening the Circle of Concern
At the New Orleans General Assembly in 2017, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Commission on Institutional Change was established and charged by the UUA Board of Trustees to conduct an audit of white privilege and the structure of power within Unitarian Universalism, and analyze structural racism and white supremacy culture within the UUA. The Commission was in place for three years through the Virtual General Assembly in June of 2020.
Over the three years, the Commission on Institutional Change shared regular communications through the Institutional Change Blog and various social media platforms. The Commission has curated discussion guides, videos, and presentations for congregations, fellowships, covenant circles, and other forms of community to engage in the work of institutional change. These resources are substantial materials to support the final work of the Commission, Widening the Circle of Concern: Report of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change, presented to the Board of Trustees and General Assembly in June 2020.
Rev. Karen has preached about the promises our faith tradition has not kept to Unitarian Universalists of color and other marginalized identities, and about how our Association has heard a clear call from those communities to engage in a process of truth and reconciliation. We learned about the Commission on Institutional Change, and we began to explore the report they released in June 2020. Rev. Karen will offer reflections on this report several Sundays throughout the year, and you can read it here (https://www.uua.org/uuagovernance/committees/cic/widening).