BUUF Racial Justice Ministry, 1/8/20

Meeting Minutes, January 8th, 2020 @10:00a.m.

Present:           Eileen Oldag, Tom Neale, Don Stepich, Diane Ryssel, Mary Beth Bolin, Ministerial Intern, Rick Groff

Next Meeting:  January 22, 2020 @10:00a.m.

  1. Announcements:
    1. January 19th, 2020 Sunday message for MLK day by Reverend Sara and 8th Principle music by Mary Beth. Eileen will offer a reflection on what brought her to the RJM.
    2. Changing Systems Webinar at BUUF January 28th, 2020 from 6-7:30p.m. facilitated by Rick Groff.
    3. February 3rd, 2020 6:30-8:30p.m. Path to Allyship White Fragility program followed by a roundtable discussion 8:30p.m. to 9:30p.m.
  2. Discussion:
    1. Tom is putting together a movie night at BUUF with race or racial justice movie theme. Title and dates to be determined.
    2. Eileen is working with Rachel on the revised pamphlet and postcard to be ready for distribution on MLK Sunday.
    3. Don has been working with Jim Bigelow creating an RJM website. Don is pulling together the materials we have used thus far for the Path to Allyship programs, including the video of the month for January to post on the website.
    4. Brainstormed ways to distribute information about RJM programs, events, videos, meetings, etc. The Sunday bulletin, online bulletin, and Google group email seem to be best utilized right now. Members were encouraged to join the email Google group.
    5. The Changing Systems Webinar. A joint effort. American Friends Service, UUA put together racial justice training for asylums. Collection of five live interactive webinars. RJM will host these.
    6. February Path to Allyship White Fragility program. Name the 8th Principle before each program. Discussed balancing introverts with extroverts in group formats. Dealing with informing versus discussing, and how folks best hear and internalize new information. Idea of  creating a covenant of how we want to do this work followed by a personal story, with humility, compassion, inclusion…we are learning.
    7. Racial Justice Roundtable discussions following Allyship program from 8:30p.m to 9:30p.m.
  3. Racial Justice Ministry Path to Racial Allyship Series dates and topics:
    1. 11/04/19 White Privilege (Don and Tom)
    2. 12/02/19 Implicit Bias/Good and Bad Binary (Eileen and Diane)
    3. 02/03/20 White Fragility (Diane)
    4. 03/02/20 Intersectionality (Tom)
    5. 04/06/20 Systemic Racism (Don)
    6. 05/04/20 The Pillars of White Culture (Eileen)
  4. Changing Systems Webinar: 6-7:30p.m. at BUUF
    1. 01/28/20
    2. 02/25/20
    3. 03/24/20
    4. 04/28/20
    5. 05/26/20

Summary:

  • Don will continue to work with Jim Bigelow regarding uploading RJM materials to the new website.
  • Tom will work on scheduling a BUUF movie night put on by RJM.
  • Diane contact Debra Smith about a congregational read, and email Paula Cole Jones regarding the 8th Principle being put to music.
  • Eileen will finalize pamphlets and postcards with Rachel, and prep for her reflection.
  • Rick will facilitate the Changing Systems webinar on 1/28/20, and will set up the roundtable discussion following the 2/3/20 White Fragility program 8:30p.m. to 9:30p.m.
  • Mary Beth will finalize her 8th Principle music presentation.
  • Diane will screen videos for the upcoming White Fragility program and start putting together an outline of the program.

Ongoing Team Focus:

Short videos for discussion
Recruiting speakers
Advertising events
Fund raising options
Offering a book series Waking up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race, by Debby Irving (Eileen)
Story circles
Congregational Read
Discussion groups
Handouts and media sources