An article on vox.com addresses the issue of how one might work to help vanquish racism in this country. It discussed a study that dealt with bigotry against trans people. This study followed canvassers in South Florida who spoke with more than 500 voters in South Florida about anti-trans legislation. The canvassers used a non-confrontational method of “imagine yourself in the shoes of a trans person” and the results of the effort showed that people did change their mind, became more apt to decide against anti-trans legislation, and that this effect lasted into the future.
The author then tried to make an argument for using a similar tactic for combating racism. And in the process completely missed one huge difference between LGBTQ bigotry and racism: Not only are there LGBTQ persons of all races, they do not necessarily wear their LGBTQness on their sleeve. African Americans, well they really have no choice. And this makes a BIG difference with how whites process things.
Let me take the struggle that has been occurring within the Unitarian Universalist faith with racism versus trans- and homophobia. To combat bigotry against LGBTQ persons in our faith, the Unitarian Universalist Association developed a program called “Welcoming Congregations” approximately 25 years ago. When a congregation decides to become a Welcoming Congregation, they go through a well developed program that includes workshops, open discussions, educational seminars, and more. The congregation works to put together steps to take long-term to encourage the inclusion of LGBTQ individuals as newcomers and as long-term members. I have seen this process at work and have seen how it can change the minds and attitudes of those who participate. It truly is a wonderful thing. Overall, the Unitarian Universalist faith is known as an LGBTQ friendly faith and this program is one of the main reasons why.
Our faith has not been anywhere near as successful in combatting racism. Yes, we are a liberal faith, but we are also predominantly white. And as this election has made glaringly clear, white liberals are not exempt from racist attitudes. No, you will not see outright bigotry within our congregations, instead you will see a rather condescending, white privileged attitude of how wonderful we are to not be racist.
When a black person comes through the door in one of our 99% white congregations (they are NOT all like this, BTW), this attitude shifts into full gear. African Americans who have been UU’s their whole life are “thanked” for being a part of the Unitarian Universalist faith. They are treated as special cases, and therefore as outsiders. As a newcomer, an African American cannot hide the fact they have dark skin and introduce themselves slowly into the congregation to feel things out before “coming out.” No, they are targets of the “let me show you how not racist I am” attitudes right up front and have no way of becoming part of the congregation without their race being their primary identity marker.
When the Black Lives Matter movement came into being, Unitarian Universalist ministers and their congregations were some of the first faith groups to join. Black Lives UU was created by African American UU’s as an organization within our faith to help promote the Black Lives Matter movement. Ministers and congregants joined rallies and marches and participated in civil disobedience.
At our General Assembly in 2015, delegates from congregations across the nation and around the world voted overwhelmingly to make an official affiliation with the movement, encouraging congregations to create programming and community events to work on the issues that Black Lives Matter puts forth. Banners were proudly hung on church campuses declaring Black Lives Matter. And there were some congregations that truly went to work within their communities. But in the end, a large number of congregations declined to participate or hung a banner and decided that was work enough.
My congregation in particular decided not to participate. It was an extremely disappointing outcome for a small group of us after we had tried hard to educate through our social media, had a congregational reading of “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson with discussion and had a prominent Criminal Justice activist in Florida speak on the issue. The excuses were many, but it mostly boiled down to: we live in a 95% white community and we do not want to make waves or attract vandalism or violence and do not want to offend our local law enforcement. In other words, white privilege won out. Now mind you, we are a Welcoming Congregation that actively supports LGBTQ organizations, participates in our annual Gay Pride festival and proudly declares all of this on our website and print material in a predominately Christian Right community. But when it comes to defending our black brothers and sisters? Nope, that just was not gonna happen.
So when an article puts forth an argument on how to combat racism by using a study concerning LGBTQ issues, forgive me if I am a bit skeptical. There are different kinds of bigotry. They are not all equal. And to promote the idea that they are prevents us from really understanding what African Americans are up against in this country.