Split the Plate is one of UUCW’s programs of outreach and generosity. Each month we give half of all undesignated offering monies to a non-profit organization as a way to help us live our Unitarian Universalist values and serve our community.

The Black Lives of UU Organizing Collective (BLUU) is an amazing Unitarian Universalist volunteer-led organization. It is made up of Black UU religious professionals who provide:

• Resources and pastoral support to meet the spiritual needs of Black UUs,
• Education and resources to support all UUs and UU congregations (including UUCW) in working to dismantle white supremacy culture within the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), our congregations, and beyond.
• BLUU also helps Black UUs connect with one another for solidarity and support, and
• They connect with non-UU Black-led organizations to help build justice and battle white supremacy for the good of all.

BLUU is able to do all of this good work in part because of support from a UUA campaign called “The Promise and the Practice of Our Faith.” That campaign represents a major commitment by Unitarian Universalists to address our denomination’s history — our “blind spots” — of working against racism while continuing to uphold and benefit from systems which guarantee that white power and privilege stay in place.

In the late 1960s, the UUA was asked to take steps to address the silencing and marginalization of Black Unitarian Universalists. A commitment was made to do so, but the commitment went unfulfilled and the promise was broken. (More here: www.uuworld.org/articles/empowerment-tragedy )

The Promise and the Practice of Our Faith campaign is our renewed commitment to do the hard work of changing ourselves from the inside out — under the leadership of those UUs who are most directly affected by racial injustice and oppression.

Unitarian Universalism is a good faith, and UUCW is a very fine congregation. We care very much about racial injustice, as our commitment to Black Lives Matter demonstrates. But we cannot help but notice our predominant whiteness — and that whiteness is not an accident. Our organization is based in white culture, and it’s difficult to change.

That’s why our Board of Trustees, late last spring, made a commitment to give $10 per member or $4000 to The Promise and the Practice campaign! Rev. Suzelle has pledged to give the first $1000, the Social Action Council will contribute to the pledge, and this month’s Split the Plate monies will round out our gift.

Back on January 7, Rev. Suzelle Lynch and our then-Assistant Minister Rev. Joyce Palmer led a worship service chock full of readings and reflections from Black UUs (via resources provided by BLUU). That day, Revs. Joyce and Suzelle said, “Imagine what our UU faith would look like if we upheld and centered the history, the perspectives, the voices, and the leadership of Black Unitarian Universalists…” Can YOU imagine? We can help make it happen!

You can read the full BLUU story here: http://www.blacklivesuu.com/bluustory/ and find more information here: www.facebook.com/BlackLivesUU/ If you have questions about BLUU or The Promise and the Practice Campaign, contact Rev. Suzelle Lynch via the church office.

For more information about Split the Plate, contact Sue Schalig via the church office.