Diversity, Inclusion
and Belonging
Ministry
The Diversity, Inclusion ad Belonging Ministry acknowledges and addresses racist and discriminatory approaches within out communitty and develops strategies that support and enhance a culture of diversity, inclusion and belonging.
Largely in response to The Waking up White Program Partnership between the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert (UUCOD) and the Insight Community Desert, and the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Widening the Circle of Concern report, the UUCOD Board of Directors established the Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Ministry (DIBM). The membership of this ministry was formed and DIBM began its work in November 2020. Since that time several changes have been implemented and there has been impressive participation by several congregants in the Meadville Lombard Theological School’s Beloved Conversations Program.
The DIBM meetings have been both important and meaningful. They have also begun the process of our congregation working toward being more multicultural and anti-racist while truly living into the recently adopted Eighth Principle.
Letters from the Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Ministry
Black History Month
February was established as Black history month in 1976.
Each year a theme is chosen for Black History Month. This year, 2023, the Theme is Black Resistance. This is a time for us to remember those who have fought for equal rights for African Americans. As result of resistance slavery was abolished, separate but equal was dismantled, and voting rights were granted. Equality in sports, the military, education, and the work force have improved. However, as we are aware there is still much work to be done.
December 2022 Update
The Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Ministry (DIBM) plans to write posts routinely this year to provide background and updates on work going on in our community to advance multiculturalism and anti-racism. We hope that these communications will not only provide information but also engage your thinking and our collective discussion about living into our beloved community. This is the first of these posts that will appear approximately bi-monthly and is intended to provide an overview of the DIBM. We invite you to join us in this important work.
Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Ministry Recent Posts
Black History Month
February was established as Black history month in 1976.
Each year a theme is chosen for Black History Month. This year, 2023, the Theme is Black Resistance. This is a time for us to remember those who have fought for equal rights for African Americans. As result of resistance slavery was abolished, separate but equal was dismantled, and voting rights were granted. Equality in sports, the military, education, and the work force have improved. However, as we are aware there is still much work to be done.
December 2022 Update
The Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Ministry (DIBM) plans to write posts routinely this year to provide background and updates on work going on in our community to advance multiculturalism and anti-racism. We hope that these communications will not only provide information but also engage your thinking and our collective discussion about living into our beloved community. This is the first of these posts that will appear approximately bi-monthly and is intended to provide an overview of the DIBM. We invite you to join us in this important work.
Series of Excellent Programs Now Available on PBS
The Diversity Inclusion and Belonging Ministry (DIBM) wishes to bring to our UUCOD community’s attention a series of excellent programs now available on PBS. They address in deep and powerful ways the experiences, both horrific and hopeful, of Jewish, Hispanic and Black people at different points in our history. DIBM strongly encourages you to explore these enlightening, challenging, at times disturbing but ultimately essential viewing opportunities.
Juneteenth
While Juneteenth has now been made a federal holiday, and should be celebrated by all, it is important to understand what the enslaved African-Americans of Galveston, Texas were told on that day.
On June 19, 1865, Union troops under the command of General Gordon Granger entered Galveston. The general proclaimed to the people assembled his General Order #3. Its first provision told those who had been enslaved that the Civil War was now over and that pursuant to the Emancipation Proclamation, they and others enslaved in the states in rebellion (the Confederacy) were no longer enslaved but were free.
Trans People are a Divine and Beloved Part of the Human Family
UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray responds with moral outrage to recent anti-trans legislation in Alabama and offers unequivocal support to all trans and non-binary people:
I am morally outraged by the passage of SB 184 in Alabama, a bill that will criminalize—and make it a felony—to provide gender affirming medical care for trans youth in that state. As Unitarian Universalists, we deeply believe that diversity of sexuality and gender is a gift. We unequivocally uplift and support all the trans and non-binary people in our lives, our congregations, and communities, and we closely hold trans children and their families in care.
One day this kid will…
Many of our UUCOD LGBTQ members and allies were appalled at the passage of Florida HB 1557 known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. They are deeply concerned for the threat the bill poses to the health and welfare of LGBTQ youth throughout the country. At a time when youth may be struggling with new undefined emotions; when they may begin to sense that there could be something different within their soul; they have no safe place share their feelings with an adult. The following words by an anonymous author describe the unsafe world of LGBTQ youth.
February is National Black History Month
Each February, National Black History Month serves as both a celebration and a powerful reminder that Black history is American history