Justice for George: Community Resources and Message from Unity's Beloved Community Staff Team5/29/2020 Where to donate money and resources (locally organized ground support):
Current needs and information about direct action/protests:
Anti-Racism Learning Resources: CLICK HERE for Lift Every Voice and Sing, today's music message from Ahmed Anzaldúa.
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![]() Ray Wiedmeyer, On Behalf of the Beloved Community Communications Team The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI, https://idiinventory.com), developed by Mitchell R. Hammer, professor of international peace and conflict resolution at American University, assesses intercultural competence as the capability to shift cultural perspective and appropriately adapt behavior to cultural differences and commonalities. To help us grow our ability to be an anti-racist, multicultural spiritual community, a number of key ministry groups at Unity Church are being invited to take the IDI. As part of a series of articles about the IDI, Ray Wiedmeyer, a member of the Beloved Community Communications Team, shares what he learned from the IDI and how he determined to increase his cultural competency. If you are interested in taking the IDI, please email Drew Danielson at [email protected]. Back in the early 1970s, I spent a semester abroad in Malaysia as a college student. Classes consisted of Malay language study, Eastern Religions, a hands-on Asian Textile course, Psychology of Adjustment and included a month of travel in Japan, Thailand, and Taiwan. That semester of college was one of the most exciting of my whole college education. I was suddenly immersed in a world that was totally different from my world back in America. Everything from food, to housing, to government, to religion was totally “not” the culture I had grown up in or was used to. My return home months later was filled with culture shock. I suddenly saw things in my environment that I had never really seen before. In 2016 I took the IDI (Intercultural Development Inventory) for the first time at Unity Church as part of the Mid-America Mosaic Makers Conference. Prior to taking it, I would have told you that I thought I was a pretty culturally well-rounded person. After all, not only had I traveled world-wide in the years since college, but I also had friends and acquaintances from a variety of cultures. It was a surprise then when the IDI rated my intercultural skills as firmly in the center of the Intercultural Development Continuum, also known as Minimization. It left me in a bit of a quandary. What was I missing? The competency they spoke of was something I wished I had. I saw it as a necessity if we really want a world where everyone is treated as an equal and true justice is achieved. Our Unitarian principles are just words if I’m not working on a becoming a better me; a person moving in the world in such a way as to not ignore or negate others. After taking the IDI the first time, I set up a one-on-one conversation with a qualified administrator. We went over those first results and she suggested some activities I might work on. One of those activities, I remember, was keeping an intercultural journal. This was a place where I “might reflect on cultural differences and commonalities I observe in my daily interactions with people from other cultural groups.” I remember doing this for several months and feeling more and more aware of those interactions as they came up. I also continued to volunteer at Mano a Mano, where work activities here in the U.S. and my occasional trips down to Bolivia gave me frequent real-life practice interacting with that culture. I began to look for, and engage more fully in, the cross-cultural friendships I already had. I took part in events sponsored by Unity Church where I was immersed in the discussion of white privilege. I began to read more about American racial history and I traveled to Africa to learn more about slavery. I found myself becoming more and more conscious of the white culture I was constantly swimming in and how it kept me from seeing and acknowledging that there were other ways of seeing the world. And last but not least, I worked on staying present when my cultural view of the world was being questioned or challenged. Recently, I took the IDI again. I believe it was the third time and I was glad to see that I had made some measurable progress. I believe it was what I had been working on the past four to five years that had moved me on the continuum, hopefully making me more competent in my interactions with other cultures. Yes, I’ve made progress but I’ve also become aware of how much I still need to learn, so I am not about to end this life-long journey anytime soon. ![]() Mary-Margaret Zindren, Beloved Community Communications Team Beloved Community Staff Team note: As we continue the work of living into our Ends and creating an anti-racist, multicultural spiritual home, we are being called to explore more deeply the important role of culture and the sense of welcome and belonging we create -- as individuals and a community -- for newcomers. What we experience as welcoming or unwelcoming is informed by cultural identity, and how well we communicate across cultural differences. This month the Beloved Community Staff Team shares Mary-Margaret Zindren's story of what brought her to Unity Church and where she found connection. We know there are many stories that speak to our individual experiences as newcomers. If you are willing to share your story, please email [email protected]; we would love to hear and learn from you. There is a reason why there are Kleenex boxes in the pews at Unity Church. I wasn’t the first to need them, and I surely won’t be the last. I learned about Unity Church in a roundabout way from Gary DeCramer, my then professor at the University of Minnesota Humphrey School. He had invited a community activist from India to speak at my graduate seminar. The activist was profound and inspiring. I asked why he was in Minnesota and he mentioned he was invited to speak at Gary’s church. That intrigued me. A church that was giving this man a platform seemed like a place I should check out. I hadn’t stepped inside a church for nearly ten years. My mom was Catholic and I attended Catholic schools growing up. My father was somewhere between agnostic and atheist. At a certain point I came to question nearly everything coming from the pulpit. At Catholic services, I bristled at saying words I didn’t believe. So, it was with some trepidation that I arrived at Unity Church. That trepidation was elevated by the fact that I literally couldn’t find the door. This was before the entrance was transformed; there was still a cloister around the church. I must have been late, because there wasn’t anyone to follow. The actual way in didn’t look like a door at all — more like a secret entrance on a wall. Once inside, I was greeted warmly by someone with a “welcome” button on their shirt and directed to where I should go for the service. The church was beautiful. I was grateful I could sight read music and was able to sort of follow along with the opening song. When I sat down, I sat on a Kleenex box. There was an invitation to greet our neighbors. I was used to the Catholic version, saying “Peace be with you,” but in this case people were using their own words, which moved me. There was a swell of noise and you could almost feel the connections growing around you. After the minister reined everyone back in to continue the service, that feeling of connection remained. And then it happened — the Embracing Meditation. It felt like a calling in for those within and beyond the church walls. The minister said, “Your gifts and your wounds are welcome here.” It felt like these words had been spoken directly to me. The fact was, I was wounded. I had been grappling with PTSD following a trauma and wasn’t doing well. It was probably why the idea of returning to a faith community seemed like a good idea for the first time in a decade. I started to cry. And then I remembered there were tissues right there waiting for me. At the end of the service, I stood in line to thank the ministers. I think I actually hugged them. I went to the Parish Hall and there were donuts. And there was coffee. And there was Gary. He introduced me to people I now consider friends. Attending services has been hard for me sometimes. It may have to do with that first visit. Hearing “your gifts and your wounds are welcome here” brings me back to that difficult time in my life. But I would never want those words removed from the Embracing Meditation. There is someone out there who, upon attending Unity Church for the first time, may hear those words and feel that they have found a home. We should keep the Kleenex boxes, too. |
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Beloved Community ResourcesUnity Justice Database
Team Dynamics House of Intersectionality Anti-Racism Resources in the Unity Libraries Collection Creative Writers of Color in Unity Libraries The History of Race Relations and Unity Church, 1850-2005 Archives
June 2024
Beloved Community Staff TeamThe Beloved Community Staff Team (BCST) strengthens and coordinates Unity’s antiracism and multicultural work, and provides opportunities for congregants and the church to grow into greater intercultural competency. We help the congregation ground itself in the understanding of antiracism and multiculturalism as a core part of faith formation. We support Unity’s efforts to expand our collective capacity to imagine and build the Beloved Community. Here, we share the stories of this journey — the struggles, the questions, and the collaborations — both at Unity and in the wider world.
The current members of the Beloved Community Staff Team include Rev. Kathleen Rolenz, Rev. KP Hong, Rev. Lara Cowtan, Drew Danielson, Laura Park, Lia Rivamonte and Angela Wilcox. |