Fred Hulting, Board President

At a Special Meeting of the Members of UUCM on Sunday February 28, the following public statement – to be accompanied by a “Black Lives Matter” banner on the exterior of the church – was approved by a vote of 87 – 0:

Black Lives Matter. Period. A sign that states Black Lives Matter is part of our racial justice work. The sign is symbolic of our congregational journey towards justice for people of color. It symbolizes the work we are doing and our commitment to future work.  A sign is a bold message to our community that we stand in solidarity with people of color and hold them in love and honor. We will not back down or turn away from oppression but fight against it. We want the world to know our congregation takes a firm stand against racism in its many forms and communicate our commitment to the journey of ensuring that Black Lives Matter. (Approved by UUCM Members on February 28, 2021 by a vote of 87 – 0)

For more background on the context of the special meeting, please see the previous articles “Announcement of UUCM Special Congregational Meeting” and “Making a Public Statement on Black Lives Matter”.

The Racial Justice team, part of the Social Justice Ministry, is now working with our Facilities team to design and place the banner on the front of our building.  If we are asked about the meaning of our banner, the statement is our answer. We will be placing this statement on the church website. 

It is important to remind ourselves that the statement and banner are only meaningful if they are supported by action. Our Racial Justice team is leading a variety of activities to facilitate that action, and I encourage you to reach out to Kate Flom, or others on the team, to learn more about how you can educate yourself about white supremacy and racial justice and engage in these activities.

The act of proposing, discussing, voting, and approving this statement is also a big step forward for our congregation and its democratic process.  It has been many years since UUCM has come together to make such a statement. I want to thank the petitioners for their passion; the congregation for their respectful engagement in robust discussions, and the Board for managing an open and transparent process.

Finding our voice and expressing our beliefs it critical to advancing our work on racial justice.  As we move forward, we will need to make additional statements, and we now have a model for how we can do that.