The Path to Multicultural Competency
At the 2008 Annual Meeting, West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church voted to become an Anti-Racist, Anti-Oppressive, Multicultural Institution. How do we move towards this challenging goal? The first steps on the path are ongoing education about the issues of race, racism, anti-oppression and multiculturalism. To this end, each year West Shore offers at least one of a sequence of three classes that form a core curriculum. We encourage our members to engage with this path by taking each of these classes over time, and by attending weekend training workshops such as Jubilee World, offered at West Shore or other congregational sites within our District.
This Path is managed by two lay-led groups with support from the ministerial staff:
The Inclusivity Ministry, which offers educational and service programs that engage our members in understanding linked oppressions.
The Diversity Change Team, which is a Board-appointed task force that coaches and monitors the progress that West Shore Unitarian Universalist Church is making as an institution on working towards becoming an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and multicultural congregation.
Programs Offered
Immigrant Rights—a UUA Study Action Issue for 2012
West Shore will be taking up this issue in partnership with local immigrant leaders and in preparation for the UUA’s “Justice GA” in June 2012 in Phoenix, AZ focusing on immigrant rights.
Transforming Whiteness
This workshop and sex session course explores whether and how “whiteness” is a political construct rather than a racial or ethnic reality. Developed by the former director of the UUA’s Social Responsibility Department, Rev. Bill Gardner, this class was last offered in the spring of 2010 and will be offered again in the fall of 2012.