Red
Zone
Growth
Zone
Comfort
Zone
You go through three zones when learning.You learn the most
in your growth zone. What do you feel like there? In your comfort zone? In your
red zone?
Line up in alphabetical order by the last movie you saw. Get
a partner.
What are your hopes for this week and what do you want to
come away with?
What is Patriarchy? (popcorn style)
Men rule
Dad runs family
Perpetrated by all genders
Women change name when they get married
Men bring dollars home
Inequality
Most politicians are male
Male characteristics are valued more
Art is dominated by men
Power positions dominated by men
Women’s views discounted
Male affirmation
Majority of rapes by men
Women are for making babies
Language male dominated
Exploitation is encouraged
Double standards
Male intimidation
What is Heterosexism?
Sexual intercourse between men and women is a deeper
connection than other sexual acts
Assumption that everyone is or needs to be straight
Marriage
“natural”
Assumptions about families
shameful
stereotyping
sex most important thing in the relationship
Gender Binary System
There are only 2 genders
Bathrooms
Makes anything not male or female invisible
Defining people by their sex and not their gender
Clothing stores that have men and women’s clothes
Michigan women’s music festival (not trans inclusive)
Only two options on applications
Lack of understanding about transitions
Operations on babies to assign them a gender
Idea that men and women are very different
Capitalism
Greed
Profit before people
Very large amount of power goes to small amount of people
Worth determined by money
Effiecient economic system
Encourages individualism over community
Encourages creativity and new ideas
Dehumanizing
Money rules politics
Money=power
Expoitation
Unfair competition
Destruction of the environment
White Supremacy
White people are better than people of color
Power born with rather than earned
Defense mechanism for those who feel guilt and shame
White is normal, everything else invisible
Light and dark imagery in language
Power based on superficial thing like skin color
Method of intimidation to keep people in their place
The State
Government
Those lucky enough to get the power/ wealth
Military might
Making decisions that affect lots of people
The voice
Bureaucracy
The way we’re viewed by the rest of the world
Infrastructure
Timeline Activity
Groups of four, come up with two examples of genocide, slave
labor and exploited labor and theft of resources in the past 500 years.
(Genocide- systematic elimination of a race or ethnic group, their people and
culture.)
Names and dates are less important than: what are the
patterns?
What has the justification been for so much violence in
history?
What is Manifest Destiny?
American destiny is to have as much land as possible, to spread
from “sea to shining sea”
The notion that Europeans are superior in knowledge and
lifestyle
“Civilizing”
Christianity vs. savages
God is White, God’s children are white
There are right vs. wrong ways of living
Broad ideas of land ownership, superceding laws of the
native people
Private profit for rich
Development vs. tradition
Homestead act
Returning east/ conflicts (death, deperation and survival)
Gov’t control through occupation
Cont’l expansion
Rail and steel companies profited
Expansion of slavery
North/ South power struggle
Violation of indigenous nations
Cultural destruction
Maintaining of culture as resistance
This history is in the room, it’s in our interactions, in
the way we do business, we should pay attention to that, know it, seek to understand
it better.
Evaluation, because “constructive criticism is an act of
love!”
Tuesday 8/5/03
People who came since last time: Lori Worthen, Jova Vargas, Kendra Rogers, Paul Kendrick, Vanessa Pope,
Jodi Slezak, Margaret Daniel, Lehna Huie, Sam Trumbull
History of anti-racism in YRUU- 1999 resolution making a-r a
priority, introducing identity groups into continental programming, youth of
color conferences, youth and young adult resource and strategy meeting (Tampa),
youth empowerment movement within anti-racism in UUA, white anti-racist ally
conferences, district events and trainings for anti-oppression, youth of color
leadership development conference
Why we do ID groups: There has been a neglect of talking
about privilege as it relates to race, to create safe spaces for people of
color who needed it to talk about race oppression from their perspective, to
build community, to struggle in alliance with other people of privilege (for
white people) so as not to put the burden of consoling on people of color,
working through anger and guilt in productive ways, inspiration of hearing
other’s success stories, we act in ways that maintain the current power
structures, for POC’s it’s not safe to challenge one another’s behavior that
serves the current power structures in front of white people because in front
of white people we need to support each other
ID Groups- White people meet in the lodge, the nurse’s
station and the porch. POC’s meet in the lodge too.
Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Part Deux
Tuesday Agenda
I.
Coming back together
II.
Interpersonal Dynamics
III.
Institutionalized Racism
IV.
Closing
12:05pm We share experiences from the ID groups
Where were you born? Line up alphabetically from A to Z
based on the city where you were born.
Break into groups of 5 and talk about an incident when you
were aware of a racism occurring—if you are white, try to mention an experience
that you played a part in. Think about an occurrence within the UU community.
Big group share:
A lot of our worship material is appropriated
Congregations aren’t welcoming to people of color
No people of color within churches, so it’s uncomfortable
for new POC’s to join
Assumption that white culture is everyone’s culture in
worship and cultural relevance of material
A lot of outreach to POC’s is done in a tokenizing way
Offensive comment made by a family member
A person of color called out a white person who brushed them
off because it wasn’t convenient to talk about it right then
*Reminder to use I statements when speaking about experiences
and not make generalizations
Break into 6 groups. Talk about how each of the following
institutions perpetuates racism:
Education- MeCHA not allowed in school, standardized tests,
property taxes determine quality of school so poor people get crappy schools
Housing- Redlining- the practice of encouraging segregated
neighborhoods by real estate practices
Military- Recruiting is more aggressive in majority POC
schools, college students exempted from the draft, white kids more likely to be
enrolled
Media- White broadcasters and actors are valued more than
POC’s, white models on high quality products and POC models on cheaper quality
products, stereotyping on sitcoms for the entertainment of white racist
majority
Criminal Justice System- Penalties for crack possession are
more strict than cocaine, discrimination in the court room
Health and Social Service- universal healthcare, but
immigration is very racist so it’s hard to get access (Canada)
How did this activity make you feel?
Lucky
Discouraged
Food for thought
Lots to work on
It’s not just one area—these are big aspects of life and
they all have issues
It’s all so intertwined
Makes me wanna start over from scratch
People who aren’t experts can come up with tons of examples
in a few minutes
Nice to see the problems on paper so we know what needs to
be challenged
People’s Institute Definition of Racism- Race prejudice +
misuse of power by institutions= RACISM
We’re just scratching the surface but it’s a huge surface to
scratch. We have few opportunities to do it. We should be thankful.
Break for lunch
Skit on sexuality and community
A Teams
Plenary I
Puddies are Plenary Buddies. An old youth council member is paired with a new youth council
member so that if a new person has a question about the meaning of something
that was said, rather than stopping the whole meeting they can (lights out!
Lightning struck) (then they came back on and the rain was REAL loud) ask their
puddy.
Pre-packet briefly explained.
District Sharing
Prarie Star- supposed to have 11 cons, only had 9 this
year. got $2000 for their social action
budget. YAC is being well supported by
the district.
Mountain Desert District- diversity of conferences-
business, LDCs, SDCs, social justice, there was a rape in the district
Central MidWest- introducing Anti-Racism into every
conference that happens. Rev. Thandeka came to a conference and spoke- it
was amazing, Katie and Jenny have led AR workshops that went well, worships are
a challenge because there are between 200 and 300 youth present and finding an
activity appropriate for all those people is difficult. Revamped YAC so it is now a DYSC. They have smaller area youth councils. Discipline policy developed that is more
respectful. Building a manual. A con manual is being developed to help
local churches plan cons. The district board loves YRUU. An AR packet was developed for youth in
leadership positions. There is a new
position on the board created to focus on Religious Education for just youth
and young adults. Several things have
fallen through. Problems with the new
structure, attempting to make it more grassroots but having difficulty getting
people involved. Concerns with
advisors, issues with youth empowerment, not willing to go to advisor
trainings. Getting a website.
Metro NewYork- SDC, advisor training, YAC newsletter,
website for the district, new smoking policy,
SouthWest- needs anti-racism on a district level. 6 Rallies (a rally is another word for a
con). The Canadian Resolution was
passed and money will be collected. An
AR Rally is being planned for the Spring. Drug troubles at rallies. Cliques and exclusivity is a problem. YRUU body was told that if the youth don’t
change things then the adults will do it for them. The district board told the YAC that they have no real power and
they are just a committee. It is
unclear on whether they have any self-governance of not.
Pacific SouthWest- combined social justice cons, urban
activist training camp was led by Tera Little and it was great
St. Lawrence- 5 cons
QuOM- completely new! (central and eastern Canadian
regions.) HOW EXCITING! Money is a big issue, they have a very small
budget. Geography issues. There aren’t many advisors interested in
being in YAC. There was a very
successful conference and a lot of excitement around youth organizing and
networking. YAC had some visioning and
was made. 1st ever weeklong
summer camp will happen. The
cross-border stuff is still happening and youth have survived the split.
Heartland- Chaplain Training was put on by 5 members in this
district and will hopefully be taken over by the Youth Office, with an AWESOME
manual that goes along with it.
Troubles with gender sleeping areas.
A WHOLE HEAP OF CONS!!!!!!!!!
Problems with leadership. Con
attendance has dropped. Trying to
recognize classism in the advertising of cons.
The district is fairly new and larger than they used to be so clusters
were created, but they haven’t worked out.
Instead of 6 clusters they’re making 3.
Trying to bring back SUN (the Still Unnamed Newsletter). A JANNY DEPP with PNWD.
Joseph Priestly- SDC, planning other trainings, training
chaplains
MidSouth- 4 YAC meetings, 6 cons, one of which was a social
action con at the School of the Americas vigil, lots of sexual activity at an
LDC and was dealt with by not having multi-gender sleeping areas.
Thomas Jefferson- SDC, social action con didn’t happen at
the last minute, let youth groups know about stuff that is going on in YRUU
Northeast- uprising about whether there should be solely
single gender sleeping areas or allowing multi-gender sleeping areas
New Hampshire/Vermont- YCR was off at college so problems
staying connected to district,
Adults- Tony is working on the Advisor Handbook so it will
include AR/AO and LGBT.
Sylvia- doing
Hope- helped plan and is excited about youth of color
LDC. Working on DRUUMM Youth and Young
Adult conference and White Allies conference
Mass Bay- AR training, MASSive Con, revamped Steering
Committee, chaplains are getting trained, because of the geographical smallness
they want to do day events around social action
Clara Barton- 6 cons, LDC, SDC. Issues around nudity and smoking pot. Smoking is becoming a social event at conferences. Last con was $300 under budget. Martin Luther King Con around AR/AO that
went well and will hopefully happen again.
Florida- youth empowerment problems between the Florida
District and the YRUU body. There was a
coming together of people to discuss this, but not much came out of it. The age range is 12-20 and to help that there
are “transition in” cons that help youth become accustomed to what YRUU is
about. Social Justice Con was a flop,
SAC moved to Oregon. Would like advice
about how to keep leadership. 50 new
advisors were trained. WOO!!!!!
Western Canada- No conferences L Issues around the split. Leaders couldn’t get their act together.
Hope to incorporate AR into conferences.
RYSC meetings happening.
British Columbia- YAC meeting with PNWD. PNWD has been a great help. Drug use at spring con but dealt with. Planning an LDC for the fall.
Pacific NorthWest- 9 events- 3 YAC meeting, 2 cluster cons,
2 big district cons. Made $10000 from 2 district cons. Recently revised bylaws. No major concerns.
Paper will be posted for people to ask questions for other
people to come up and talk with them outside of plenary.
Bill Sinkford’s speech
Very happy to be here.
Came into UUism through Liberal Religious Youth (LRY) which was the
organization that preceded YRUU. Lived
it up during the Very impressed with our YRUU’s commitment to Anti-Racism. LRY also had this commitment. There were LRY’ers who were freedom riders
and involved in the civil rights movement.
The leadership was racially diverse.
They thought they had it well worked out because of this. They assumed because they had racial
diversity in leadership, UUism would reflect that diversity, but it didn’t
happen. Instead, UUism retreated from
it’s commitment to racial justice. Many
people of color at that time felt betrayed by their faith and left the religion,
Bill included. He applauds YRUU’s
commitment, but do not assume that because YRUU has made strides the religion
as a whole has AR figured out.
LRY self-imploded and wasn’t recreated until an event called
CommonGround. This event was a time
when the youth community and the adult community came together to build a space
for youth empowerment. Believes that
after 20some years it is time for another CommonGround to look at where youth
empowerment is going. A new CG needs to
be done in partnership. Bill wants to
offer as much financial support as is needed.
It needs to expand beyond the Long Range Planning. We need to get the
youth who don’t feel comfortable in our YRUU community at the table. As many stakeholders at the table as
possible. Need a competent outside
facilitator. Bill is committed to
helping make this go well.
One of the fundamental commitments as president is to
increase UUism’s voice in the world.
Press and media coverage has greatly increased, but it has been mostly
reactive instead of proactive. It is
time for us to become proactive.
Strategic Plan- (dun, dun dun) 3
themes to get proactive around (how does the theme fit with our principles, and
what opportunities do we have to act on them)
- Family
Matters (includes but is not limited to): LGBT, children raised without
finances. Want to take back the
definition of “family” from the religious right.
- Role
of Religion in Civil Society (wants to invite YRUU to be involved here):
should “God” be removed from US Pledge of Allegiance? But it’s bigger than this. There is a war being waged in
Washington, in schools. The
battlegrounds are affirmative action, support for LGBT, how much should
taxes on rich be reduced and services to those experiencing poverty be
reduced (none). The Religious
Right is a potent opponent.
Americans need to reclaim our democracy. Congregations need to become active in the coming election:
watching to make sure the injustices at the polls during the last election
don’t happen again and that more US citizens are voting.
- Racial
Justice: Anti-Racism, Identity
work (there is not adequate language around this topic yet), public
witness,
Polyamory- Q: How
are we going about making sure polyamorous families are protected?
A: associated press
unfortunately gave bad messages out about polyamory after GA. Our principles support this community. But we need to support in a way that doesn’t
cripple our other issues.
Q: What’s with the
use of “God” in our principles?
A: Conversation
about the language of reverence. There
is no language about religion in our ethics.
The misprint that Bill wanted to use “God” in our principles caused a
huge uproar. We need to be able to name
the “holy” in our lives and what that “holy” calls us to do.
Q: CommonGround.
What kind of issues should be discussed at CG?
A: Bill has thought
about this a lot and have a long list of issues to be discussed.
- What
is the fundamental relationship between youth and adults
- Age
ranges
- the
role of the Youth Office. Are YPSs
there to support YRUU or youth ministry beyond YRUU.
- how do
we gather. How can we take the
partnership between youth and adults to create youth empowerment
- money
Q: Long Range Planning (LRP). How would the LRP be incorporated into CG?
A: It needs to be a
part of CG.
Q: What is the time
range of CG?
A: 1 year
Q: Youth governing bodies.
What is Steering Committees and Youth Council’s role in executive
decisions?
A: that is definitely something that needs to be discussed
at CG and has created confusion.
Q: What are some achievements we have made with this war
that has been going on?
A: There was much deception and miscalcuation from the Bush
Administration. It has been hard to
find hope but he has found it in:
- the
NAACP partnering with other organizations into powerful coalitions that
may help in the next election.
Together they can give a wholehearted “yes”
- UUism
has done good work. Bill went to
Jordan to convene with all of the major Iraqi religious leaders and others
from the international community.
For the first time since pre-Sadaam Husein they agreed to work
together.
Q: Youth empowerment has become a bad word in the SouthWest
District. What is your definition?
A: Bill is going to
duck that question because he’s not ready to address this but sure will soon.
Q: Canadians still participate in YRUU. How do you feel about that and how will you
support us as a continental organization?
A: Feels Canadians
are experiencing oppression in our religion.
He has been trying to be supportive of this continental organization and
if it hasn’t felt that way he needs to know so he and the UUA can work harder
to be supportive.
Q: What words would
you like to add to the principles?
A:
“holy”,“reverent”,“humble”
Thank you and please continue this vital work.
Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Part 3
Components of a Healthy Relationship
We’re not in relationship with people that are the same as
us. We have differences—how do we negotiate them?
- respect-
allowing those we’re in relationship with to develop into their whole,
beautiful selves
- care-
we don’t follow our loved one’s around everywhere that we go, but we look
out for them whether we’re together or apart
- responsibility-
being accountable to each other
- building
trust- by consistent accountability
- honesty-
Not sharing every thought in your head, but being truthful
- forgiveness-
for when we’re not as responsible as we could be
Everybody experiences life differently depending on your
identity. In a way, this conference is a caucus, we all have things in common.
Think about the work of caucusing, Hope asks the POC’s to
self-identify and they go.
White Caucus- Privilege activity from Peggy Macintosh’s
“Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”
What does it feel like to identify as white? What emotions
come up? In small groups.
Transformation: Here we are, with all of these emotions
about being oppressors, what do we do now?
What are some characteristics of an ally?
Listens
Affirms
Supports
Advocates for
Exposes injustice
Tries to understand
Educates self and others
Fights alongside
Helps
Use privilege to win rights for all
Contributes resources
Joining forces
Walking with
Always learning
Laura Manning and Kendra talk about their experiences of
working as allies to communities of color.
Question to think about: What’s really at stake with being
an ally… being the coolest white person in the room, or JUSTICE?
Wednesday 8/6/03
Resolution Writing Workshop
Parts of a Resolution:
- A
“catchy-ass” name
- Sponsor
- Co-Sponsor
- Point
Person- Primary Aid
- UU
Principle- specific problem
- Explanation-
hope to achieve, fiscal impact
- Goals-
who and how they will be achieved
- Evaluation
Bringing it Back- how can you bring this back to your
district?
- Present
it at an LDC
- Resolution
Writing at Cons
- Put
it in a newsletter
- Put
it online
- Create
a team to implement a resolution
- Develop
a skit
- Get
your district leadership to understand the process and support the
writing of resolutions
- Get
people talking about what needs to change in YRUU- visioning workshops,
that can be followed up by a resolution writing workshop
Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Part 4
Accountability- what did we come up with about
accountability in our ID Groups?
- be
educated
- bring
home
- listen
to the needs of your allies
- help
but not hinder
- step
out of comfort zone when you need to
- step
in and intervene
- different
levels self + community
- must
be in relation with the someone before you can be accountable to them
VISIONING
Racial Justice- brainstorm on what it is
- One
group not having privilege over another
- Equal
power and equal leadership
- Equal
representation
- Commitment
to change
What would racial justice in schools look like?
- learning
the perspectives of all people, not just straight white males, in every
subject
- equal
resources for all students no matter where they are from
- teachers
represent the community they’re teaching in
- people
can decide for themselves what they want to learn
- children
wouldn’t be assimilated into other cultures. They could keep their own.
Self-determination-
people have the power to determine their own destiny
Drawing Activity- draw what racial justice looks like to
you.
The group danced around until the music stopped and then
shared our drawings/visions with other people. Our dreams are really
strong! Just as strong as the systems
of oppression we’re fighting against.
RESISTANCE!!!!!!!
Break into groups of 3 and each person give an example of resistance to
oppression whether it be historical or personal.
- 3 UU
victims of violence during the march to Selma
- California
teachers who are prohibited from speaking Spanish in the classroom
speaking it anyway
- Educating
people about the School of the Americas (SOA/WHISC)
- Blacks
and white defy the Fugitive Slave Law
- Revolt
in Attica- where prisoners revolted in order to improve their conditions
improved
- Using
fair-trade coffee
- WTO
(World Trade Organization) protests, as well as IMF, World Bank protests
- Anti-war
protests WORLDWIDE!!!!
- Rosa
Parks resisted when she refused to give up her seat on the bus during
separate but equal- in many schools we’re taught she was just tired and
didn’t want to give up her seat, and not that she was a trained
resister. Why?
- Grimke
sisters were 2 white womyn during slavery who did a whole lot of
organizing around gender and racial justice
How do we hold up an organization? We need to include and support people. It’s hard to ask people for help sometimes or to get people to do
the hard work. It’s hard to remember
especially in YRUU that we need to share the empowerment we’ve gotten. We need to pass it along to the next
generation and to people who aren’t as involved on a continental or even
district level.
There are a lot of psychological fears around organizing “I
can’t do it as well as that other person”, “I won’t say it as well as they
would”, “people will think I won’t do a good job if I volunteer for this”.
Organizing we’ve done:
- youth
group to gay pride march
- Halloween
for hunger- instead of collecting candy collecting money for food bank
- Taco
Bell boycott
Who are we organizing with?
Youth groups, congregations, the Raging Grannies, young democrats, Paul
Wellston, teachers, students, Walter Mondale, city officials, anarchists,
Halloween against hunger, food not bombs, Catholic nuns
Who are we organizing against? Taco bell, Krogers, WTO, SOA/WHISC, pesticides
Bill Sinkford was talking yesterday about how we need to
organize against the Religious Right.
They are sure organized. How can
we be just as organized?
Split into ID Groups- white folx discussed What is your
self-interest in doing racial justice organizing?
Panel Discussion- Christine M., Marissa G., Jenny D., and
Topher W.
Christine- pilot AR training, an addition to the bylaws that
AR is included in every conference.
Marissa- attends University of Southern California activist
group. Led AR activities in YRUU. Anti-war work on campus which is AR work
too, because war and racism are so intertwined as are so many of the other
systems of oppression: the prison system, education system, and all those other
institutions we . Cards for people who
couldn’t attend protests because of classes they couldn’t miss that say “Sorry
I couldn’t be a part of the protest but I do not support this war” to show
people others who don’t go to the protest that they’re opposed.
Jenny- 1st AR training was at a mini-young adult
one. Helping to get ID Groups part of
every con. On Steering Committee which
goes to at least one AR training during their term. DRUUMM youth and young adult activities. The Youth and Young Adults (YaYA) of color
conferences. The Tampa Meeting where
YaYA’s of color and white allies came together to get this work started. Meeting in Portland to design a task-force
to address YaYA AR trainings (which differ from adult trainings). SO MUCH GOING ON!!!!
Chris- personal racism within self and others. Each One, Teach One. Sitting down and having conversations with
friends around AR. Fair Trade vs Free
Trade. Protesting and boycotting
corporations that have racist practices.
Leading white ID Groups.
Heartland Area Anti-Racism (HAAR) Con.
Doing all those similar conferences Jenny talked about that Steering
Committee did. Being part of the white
allies group that works to support DRUUMM.
There are so many forces and institutions working against us
that make us feel like we’re hopeless, that we can’t change things. But these are just 4 people doing so much
work. We ALL are working together on so
many fronts to change these oppressions that are all interlocking. Though the media, corporations, and
political leaders all lead us to believe that we aren’t doing anything, it’s not
true. We are powerful together.
Evaluation:
Positive:
- useful
to have agendas up
- sticking
with the same people in breakout groups
- variety
of activities interspersed
- Clare
and Chris are rock stars
Delta/Change
- confusion
about what we’re doing. So more structure
- more
personal reflection time
Hunger Banquet (see the description in the post-packet
information)
People asked not to talk during the activity.
Thursday 8-7-03
REPORTS
Continental Social Action Coordinator (C*SAC)- Marissa
YSJC is very exciting.
Working on getting most complete list of SACs. Would like to write a regular article in Synapse. District social action work looks like it’s
strong. YRUU day of action. We should be mobilizing around the Global
day of action to say no to the WTO and YRUU needs to unite for this. Also we need to unite for the FTAA protest
in Miami in November. It would be
Canadian At-Large- Asha
HUGE year for Canada.
All sorts of new things. There
are somewhat functional YACs. May 2002
Steven Turnbull became the 1st youth observer to the board. Working on getting a youth voting
trustee. But for now glad to have
someone there to represent us. CanUUdle
had 70 youth attend, where business was discussed about continental YRUU. Talked about the AR work going on in
YRUU. The 1st advisor
training will be happening this year.
Money from ConCon last year will go to other trainings. All 4 regions
will have youth programming at their gatherings. 1st Youth Advisory Group (like Youth Council of
Canada) will happen with some funding from the Youth Office. National Coffee House to raise money for
youth programs; $400 was raise. Thank
you to everyone who organized to send money from US Districts to help
Canada. Cross border work has been
going really well. Things are taking
off at an alarming rate. Thank you.
CUC’s Director of Lifespan Learning- Sylvia
1/3 of Sylvia’s time was spent on youth issues. Trying to increase youth leadership from
Canada in YRUU’s structure including YCRs from each region. Youth Advisory Group
(YAG) is a critical group in advising CUC regarding youth. A youth stream is being integrated in each
of the fall gatherings. All the
trainings (LDCs, SDCs, and Advisor trainings) are being included in the fall
gatherings. Budget from Canada. District YACs and other committees raised $
(by way of the $1 per participant tax)
for Canada youth programs.
Thanks to the Rockford church, Heartland District, Mass Bay District,
Mountain Desert District, and Ohio Meadville for their contributions. $1200 YFUUD grant went to the travel
equalization fees for the trainings being held. Scholarships being set up through Lifespan Learning Budget. Very grateful to be part of this whole
process.
Liason to YRUU from Young Adult Campus Ministries (YACM)-
Vanessa
Networking to help bridging youth into the Campus
Ministries. Contact Vanessa or Joseph
Lyons if you have any interest or questions about Young Adult Campus
Ministries.
Long Range Planning- Katie
Report is included in the prepacket. Work for the LRP began after Youth Council
last year. 50 people participated
including UUA Staff, Adults (more adults than youth attended), and youth
involved locally, on district and continental levels. Youth of color had to be recruited to attend. AR wasn’t a big part of it. Dynamics concerning AR were not as healthy
as they should have been. There was
broad brainstorming, then small groups to work on the 6 areas and come up with
5 or 6 main goals for those areas.
Q: Is there anything you would recommend for CommonGround 3
around the issues of oppression that came up in the LRP?
A: Including visions from more people. Encompass the ideas of all YRUU’ers.
Position On Appraisal (POA)- Topher
New POA hasn’t been selected yet, because of lack of
applicants. Looking for people on local
level to bring new energy to this position.
Created an extensive POA report which will go out in the Youth Council
post-packet. 5 sections in the report:
- intro
- past
POA reports
- youth
council section
- YRUU
Anti-Racism
- Resources
Hardest part of the POA position is how should I spend my
time looking at AR. Currently there are
possible projects for the next POA:
·
one shot workshop creation
·
how to cause and create structural change
·
resource on how to internalize AR into all of our YRUU
leaders
·
include youth programs on district Journey Towards
Wholeness (JTW) budget lines
·
create curriculum that expand beyond one Sunday in
youth groups and congregations
Q: Have you seen any changes in YRUU since we’ve been doing
AR?
A: Yes. There is
less resistance to doing Anti-Racism work.
There is still a need to get AR to local groups. So though we’ve made progress we still have
much work to do.
Youth Office Report
One chance that the staff which supports YRUU gets to really
be accountable to a governance body of YRUU.
(Rob Cavanaugh plays the part of JJ)
It’s been his first year. kind of hard. Specifically with the budget. JJ spent lots
of time spending lots of time this year getting to know the job and the issues
surrounding the job. Hard staff
struggles: Wendell being canned, Mimi jailed for justice. Even with Paula, having a new YPD these
staff issues are causing turbulence, making the job more difficult. Around AR, YO is working hard to support
transformation teams which came out of Tampa.
2) Budget and Finances- Mandy Jacobson
who loves budget?- yay
who loves money?- yay
who loves yruu?- yay
The theme of the budget report is: “tough choices”. US finances have been going down around
investments. This results in full time
UUA positions have been expelled due to budget reasons. Description of the budget, how to read the
budget, and what not. Description of
budget and of YRUU checking account.
YRUU SC has discretion over what gets done with these funds. Discussion on funding and prioritizing with reference
to resolutions and their fiscal impact.
3) YPSes… three proposals for Youth Council to tweak on and
critique. (See the post-packet).We’re gonna present all three, answer
clarifying questions, and then hold further discussion on the proposals.
Bryan Beck goes first: alleviate the workload of January YPS
position by implementing a more extensive intern program. Level one: 8 to 12 weeks, during the
summer. Pays 500-1000 dollars. This position would operate on a proposed
project basis. Level 2: spring break in
the youth office. Youth Interested
would be responsible for travel. YO
would arrange housing. These interns
would work for a week or half a week.
No Pay but accrue Youth Office Hours.
Level 3: volunteers. Help Ethan
do his work. These hours would go
towards Youth Office Hours. If 30 hours
are accumulated then a waiver is given to registration fee for a continental
event (YSJC, ConCon, GA) Level 1 is
just one person; level 2 and 3 are as many as needed by Youth Office. Level 3 are doing office work with
Ethan. Level 1 work with YPSes, where
as Level 2 go in between the two groups.
Megan Selby goes second: Youth Office restructuring. Cumulative workload from 120 hours to 80
hours in a week. This means moving
responsibilities not dropping YRUU activities.
September YPS will do YC and AR organizing. June will organize the trainings and the ysjc stuff along with
networking with sacs. GA
responsibilities will be shared, more with the working group and other uua
staff as well. Website: shared as
well. Synapse: find an intern to work
on layout and YPSes will do content stuff.
ConCon is not mentioned.
Proposal: youth spend more time planning conference for youth. Working Team out of Youth Council to
transform moving ConCon out of the Youth Office and into the hands of
conference attendees. This includes that Youth Council could change the
descriptions of staff positions for the ConCon event. No dissenters, or stand asides.
Youth Council gives the go ahead for trying to revision ConCon. Nora, Amy, Rachelle, Avalon, Dale, Jazmin,
Grace, Siri, Lance, Jerry Franklin.
Mimi steps up to the plate.
Mimi thanks the group for having a great year and for the support
received while in the slammer. Mimi
tried to be accountable to YRUU throughout the proceedings of going to
jail. Three goals of YRUU
anti-racism: Personal transformation,
Organizational Transformation, Transforming
the World with YRUU. 10 seconds of
silence for hoping that we reach our goals.
Mimi breaks out this intense visual aid: it’s a collage not a chart
because chaos is beauty. Whose been
doing what: UUA has JTW. JTW has a
transformation committee which oversees all of the UUA’s antiracism. It is all adults right now, but are excited
to get youth on board. Organically
evolved a youth and young adults core anti-racism team. This team then evolved into a larger team
(Portland Meeting). DRUUMM YAYA and
White Ally organizing going on continentally.
Jubilee world trainers and youth organizers are working together to
develop a training of trainers and eventually a district training program. District SAC’s: CMWD, Camp Unirondack,
Worcester Training, SWD, PSWd, so districts are on board. Locally: movie guide, antiracism
overnights. Working on creating an
antiracism Deep Fun resource book. Back
onto districts: Social Justice work is transforming based on our analysis,
specifically around accountability.
We’re starting to be intentional about how and who we do our social
justice work with, what relationships we build, who we are allies to. BIG HAND
for doing social justice work with an anti-oppression analysis. ID groups are happening all over the
place. Asks the question: we need
feedback. What do you need to get this
work back to your grassroots and districts to get involved? Fits in with the budget thing: big chunk of
capital campaign funds to make this happen.
Estimated budget of about 20,000 bones.
With no further questions, the YO report is complete.
Laura Manning and Jenny Dunmore give their report. Specifically about the Portland
meeting. The Development team meant
there- Looking at where is this work going.
This group was about 12 people who were youth and young adults and
adults who were focused on supporting youth and young adult work. This meeting was kind of like a Tampa
II. Discussion of transformation
team. The team wrote a letter to the
UUA, CUUYAN, and YRUU. Specifically about
the training of trainers. Local groups
are demanding resources, and activities from the YO and the YACM Office but
they’re not quite ready or prepared to provide. A packet of Anti-Racism Awareness is being created as a resource
for the meantime in between time.
[dear steering committee, remember wwycd: what would youth
council do]
*NOTE TO NEXT YEAR YC PLANNERS: BRING A LAPTOP PRINTER-
THEY ARE ESSENTIAL TO YFUUD GRANT APPLICATIONS AND RESOLUTIONS
and we break for lunch. 1:24 PM.
Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Part 5
Agenda
- Review
Guidelines
- Difficult
Dialogues
- Journaling
Reflection
- Energy
Break
- Rolling
Rocks
- Resources
Review the covenant.
What are we doing well in our discussions? What do we need to continue to work on?
Pair up with one person and role play. One person is someone coming back from Youth
Council and the other is their friend from home who wants to know about what
they did. The youth council person
should explain what they did in AR.
Role play- same youth council person and their friend from
home. The discussion is happening in
front of everyone though and people can jump in and replace another person.
Observations about what the exercise was like:
Very challenging… a good answer would only be met with
another tough question
Appreciation for being able to talk through the tension in
the room.
15 minutes of journaling time
Brainstorm
of themes we might want to write about:
What to do
in discussions about a-r where there is resistance
Final goal
of all of this
How to
build trust
How to deal
with guilt
How to
build understanding
How to keep
moving
The
importance of identities
The story of Tonytown
Once upon a time there was a place called Tonytown, where
some boulders came down the mountain and hurt some people. The next week more
boulders came down and more people got hurt. Chris was one of them and he is
pissed. Some people go to the top of the mountain to see what’s up. Filthy Rich
Bank has built their headquarters on top of the mountain and they have no
comment on where the boulders are coming from. Everyone in Tonytown is engaged
in relief efforts and lots of people are getting hurt. There is a town meeting
and half the people want to go to the mountain and figure out how to stop the
boulders. Half the people say that they can’t spare anyone, they need more help
with the relief effort.
Not far away is a place called Hopeville, where a refugee
crisis is developing. The Hopeville YRUU group is strategizing for what to do.
One group plays the part of this group.
One group will strategize about first aid. One will
strategize about prevention. One is a youth group. One is Filthy Rich Bank.
How did Filthy Rich Bank have power?
- Money
- Government
ties (their CEOs were sleeping with politicians)
- Could
be offensive instead of defensive
- Control
of the media
How did the other groups have power?
- Together
we had more people.
- Could
hurt their image
- Voting
- Spread
word around to our relatives and friends around the country so that when
Filthy Rich Banks come to their town they can resist there too.
Black Panther party did a lot of organizing in their
communities
- summer
programs for kids
- set
up free medical clinics in their communities
- breakfast
program, which later led to free breakfast programs in schools across the
country
RESOURCES (movies, music, books, people)
- bell
hooks Bone Black and Black
Looks
- The
Color of Fear- film
- Names
Can Really Hurt Us- film
- Why Do All the Black Kids Sit Together
in the Cafeteria
- www.coopamerica.org
- Rabbit
Proof Fence- film
- Bamboozled-
film
- Thandeka-
Learning to be White
- The
Celling of America
- Caucasia- Danzy, novel about
racial identity development
- The Debt- Randolph Robinson, about
reparations
- www.civilrights.org
- Uprooting Racism- Paul Kivel
- People’s History of the United States-
Howard Zinn
- Before the Mayflower
- Bowling
for Columbine- Michael Moore, film
- Lies My Teacher Told Me
- And Don’t Call Me a Nigger!
- Colors
of Resistance webpage- Canadian network doing global justice
Closing- Unity Clap
Friday 8-8-03 JASON
LYDON IS FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We sing, dance, pee ourselves, tell stories, sing,
light candles and pee ourselves some more.
Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Part 6
Agenda:
- ID
Groups
- Resources/
Next Steps
- Commitments
- Building
Community for Social Justice
- Evaluation
ID Groups Discuss “How Are We Going To Take This Home?”
Importance of Relationships. Who are people in our districts, our schools, our communities who
are potential allies and resources to us?
·
our church can rent us space to meet with a group
·
theater groups who could do theater of the oppressed
·
District Anti-Racism Transformation team
·
Work with other churches
·
We can build relationships by listening. Listening is an important part of
Anti-Racism work because everyone’s voice needs to be heard and part of the
work we. Older members of our communities
have a lot of history to teach us that we can use today.
·
DRUUMM and White Allies group. These groups rely on YCRs and other involved
YRUU’ers to get people connected to these groups. They are a way for people to further their Anti-Racism and build
relations among people doing Anti-Racism work.
Handout (see post-packet): “ALLIES” by Breathing Fire
Productions. Womyn of color
organization against rape.
Commitments: write
down 2 commitments you’ll make to continue this Anti-Racism work. Make one a short term (3 months) and one
long term (a year).
Some of the commitments are:
·
write an article for district newsletter
·
mobilize a group of minors for the SOA protest
·
post a letter in my school’s newpaper
·
educate my district on these issues
·
read at least one book on the list we made
·
work with the fair housing group in my city
·
learn about global AR/AO
·
get a social action coordinator for my region
·
make sure AR is part of every conference in my district
·
get more AR positions in my DYSC
·
educate myself about the communities of color in my
town
·
learn about racism in Canada
·
work with the Washington Office to organize DC youth
groups around AR
·
create a resource
·
watch two of the movies on that resource list
·
get my camp to have a 2 hour block everyday for AR
·
work on the planning for the DRUUMM and White Allies
conferences in March
·
hook up with at least one organization in Boston area
already doing AR work and make a weekly commitment to that group.
Evaluation
What worked well?
·
ID Groups being the same
·
Having people identify the gender pronoun the like to
use
·
Role playing
·
History wall
·
Got to know people from the community and getting them
to be part of the presentation
·
One on one time role playing with a “friend from home”
·
All the time talking about organizing
·
Discussing the question “Why is this work importance to
us?”
What could be done better?
·
more intersections of oppression
·
combining ID Groups more
·
more journaling/reflection time
·
get to more learning styles
The Right Wing is kicking or ass in a lot of places so let’s
not let politeness hold us back from giving constructive criticism on how to be
more effective.
SC Elections:
Hannah, Kyle, Annie, Laura, Asha, Tim
*They Speak
*Group Asks Questions
*Group Decides to consent on ballot.
One person stood aside after raising a concern about one
person’s possible purpose for being on SC.
Final Plenary Begins.
Help me. Is anyone reading this? If you got this far, you’re
pretty cool for reading all this crap.
Resolutions on the table are: YRUU accountability, SOA, Bylaw Change (Canadian), Bylaw Change
(Youth Council), Orlando Blue, Its time we do more about Racism in YRUU
Common Ground III, CUUYAN, Rock that Vote, Project Proposal
(Youth Caucus), YaYA Transformation Team
Pump pump the jam, pump it up while your feet are stompin’….
Damn this life saver I’m eating is so old and stale, its chewy. Sam and Edwin are going to be facilitating
this meeting.
YRUU Accountability proposed by Paul Kendrick and Christine
Middleton:
-concern about a certain sentence being unclear. Point raised against nit-picking.
-concern about lack of time line. Point raised that time line not necessary.
Consensus: all, no stand asides, no concerns blocking
consensus.
SOA Resolution:
Clarifying questions:
-YSJC involved in the resolution clarified its role
Concerns:
-Legal ramifications of taking minors to get arrested:
suggested that those attending would attend just protest and not cross the
line. Concern about UUA’s image after
having folks get arrested. Suggest that
add a line denying liability of the UUA in the case of arrest. Counterpoint that the resolution is about
supporting education around the SOA, not about taking a risk. (also possibilities for the legal
responsibilities include the registration form.)
-Concern brought up again that UUA could possibly bring
negative media coverage.
-Concern brought up that YRUU protesters may not have the
legal information needed.
Other:
-the point of the resolution is to dedicate YRUU time for
education and solidify a commitment.
-some districts have no awareness at all and therefore this
proposal would be beneficial.
-Point raised up that Jason Lydon just got out of jail
today. We should support those who
cross the line.
-The resolution doesn’t actually state taking a trip to the
November Protest, but rather revolves around education and protesting through
other forms.
-Point raised that YRUU is its own outside of the UUA, and
that YRUU cannot continue with its principles without supporting anti-SOA
education.
-goals are to educate, support actions of, and demand
another investigation
Resolving Concerns:
put a disclaimer in
yruu has no financial or legal responsibility for those who
choose to cross the line and risk arrest.- Asha’s amendment
consensus reached, proposal passes, all no concerns that
need listing but did not block consensus
Bylaw Change- Canadian
Clarifying Questions:
-point of order: UUA BOT and next year’s YC must approve
this bylaw change before it takes affect
-clarification given about the purpose of the
resolution.
Concerns:
-concern about district/regional and grammar: resolved to
trust SC with Bylaw updating
call for consensus, resolution passes
Bylaw Change- Youth Caucus
No clarifying questions
Concerns:
-Concern about attendance to Youth Caucus Biz Meeting Quorum
and intent to increase attendance.
Discussion to resolve concern.
-Concern about Power Issues around giving more decisions to
Youth Council.
Item tabled until other items addressed
because concerns were not able to be addressed.
Orlando Bloom
Clarifying Questions:
-where would the money come from? YRUU check book.
-the resource book would be modeled after the deep fun
program except about religions.
Broad Open Discussion:
-good acronym. Good
networking with other religions and committees.
-hard to pass as it is a bylaw change: maybe have regional
or district ones instead of a continental
nothing is in the
resolution to change the bylaws which is needed to create a new at large
-Grace feels like this needs more work and feels like it
should be brought back to youth council next year.
-Paul suggests that we pass a resolution encouraging the
dynamos exist on a district or regional level.
Are there concerns about sending this proposal to committee?
-Suggestion to consent to send to committee while simultaneously
supporting creation of the districts.
Consensus, one abstain, one concern- resolution to be sent
to committee for addressing next year
-concern is that nothing will actually happen without the
youth council mandate inherent in a YC resolution.
Its Time We do more about Racism in YRUU
Topher got Mimi and himself some dank ass cinnamon apple
tea. YAY TEA!
Clarifying Questions:
-what is the current process: description of attempt and
desire to work with DRUUMM YaYA SC in an attempt for accountability.
-request to take our time
-why does it take so much work in this process. In order to maximize the accountability
structure beyond just the People Of Colour Caucus.
Concerns:
-Concern raised that DRUUMM YaYA hasn’t been contacted yet.
-Concern raised with the signature aspect is not
Which
things do you want to be conscious of? How can the group support each other?