Building an anti-racism movement among white Unitarian Universalists

The first ARE online election is complete. With a 97% affirmation, the Nominating Committee slate was approved. On behalf of the Nominating Committee, Kathryn Hope, Jill Cowie, Phyllis Daniel, and myself, I want to thank all of you who voted and all of you who renewed your ARE membership as part of the voting process. The new officers are:

Executive Team
President - Wendy von Zirpolo
Vice-President - Michael Tino
Stewardship Coordinator/Treasurer - Kenneth Wagner
Communications Coordinator - Jane Page
Membership Coordinator - Open (to be filled by appointment by the new Executive Team)

Coordinating Council
Connections Team Leader - James A. Hobart
Congregations Team Leader - Richard Speck
Education Team Leader - Bill Gardiner

The new officers will take on their new roles as of May 1, 2008 (the start of the first month after the election).

Jill Cowie (Stewardship), Megan Lynes (Process Observer), Minton Brooks (Co-Chair), and Annette Marquis (Co-Chair) will be leaving the Executive Team. And Joan Cudhea (Congregations Team) and Nancy Lawrence (Education Team and Acting Treasurer) will be leaving the Coordinating Council. Please join me in thanking them for their wonderful service over the past eighteen months.

The ARE website is designed to allow ARE members to have access to information available only to members. In order to access this content, you must be an active member of ARE and you must create and login to your account on this website. Please read the following instructions to find out how you can create an account on this website, join ARE or renew your ARE membership:

If you are a current ARE member or were an ARE member in the past: If you are a current ARE member or were a member with ARE in the past, you might already have an account on the website. Please proceed to the "Request New Password" page here: Request New Password Page. Enter your e-mail address to have a password sent to you. If the website doesn't recognize your email address, please email Minton Brooks at mintonbrooks@gmail.com and he can assist you.

If you would like to renew your ARE membership and have already created an account on the website: Log into your account (click Login at the top right of the page) and visit the "ARE Membership Donation" page here: ARE Membership Donation Page.

If you have never been an ARE member and would like to join: You may create an account on this website and register as a new member at the same time on the "ARE Membership Donation" page: ARE Membership Donation Page. If you would like to register for an account on the ARE website, but do not wish to donate at this time then you may register here: Basic User Registration. If you do not donate, you will not be a member of ARE and you will not be able to access certain areas on this site reserved for members.

We are in the process of rolling out a new website that will allow you to become an active participant in the site. When everything is operational, you will be able to join and renew your ARE membership, and as a member of the site, you will be able to post comments to stories, register for conferences, update your personal contact information, track anti-racism trainings you attend, and become involved in the work of ARE. Everything is not working at this moment, so we ask your patience if you click a link and you get an error message. When everything is working the way it is supposed to, we'll let you know. In the meantime, begin exploring and thanks for your involvement in ARE.

Our mission is to be accountable to people of color in building a movement among white UUs committed to unlearning white privilege/supremacy and to confronting racism in all its forms.

Our vision: We the UU Allies for Racial Equity ground ourselves in a vision of an anti-oppressive, multicultural Unitarian Universalist faith. We will be accountable to DRUUMM by building a movement among white UUs to understand white privilege and unlearn racism and white supremacy. Recognizing that we have a long journey to becoming an anti racist, anti oppressive, multicultural faith community, we begin with a commitment to:

• Develop an anti-racist practice
• Support DRUUMM leadership and DRUUMM initiatives
• Include diverse perspectives committed to recognizing our humanity
• Cooperatively journey together in mutuality and right relationship towards transformation and wholeness
• Support other white UU's as we struggle together to effectively use our anti-racist power to help transform the institution and Unitarian Universalist congregations
• Provide resources for a sustainable road to justice built on love, faith, hope, and courage