Paula Cole Jones
A Dialogue On Race And Ethnicity
ADORE
The goal of ADORE is to create an environment for building community and multicultural competencies through a constructive dialogue on race, ethnicity, identity development and institutional change.
Objectives
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To facilitate an online series of dialogues that encourage listening, sharing stories, and learning how race has and continues to have an impact on individuals, institutions, and communities.
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To coach a co-facilitator who can continue to lead the dialogues as an ongoing program in the congregation.
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To recommend future ADORE topics.
We, Unitarian Universalists, are called to build the Beloved Community. To do that, UUs must attend to the unfinished business of dismantling racism and oppression in our congregations and Association and with our community partners.
How do we stand in solidarity with the social movements of our times and how do they change us?
We are experiencing an historical shift in social consciousness and institutional responses to the current national and global racially sensitive events such as the Black Lives Matter Movement, systemic inequities as seen in the impact of Covid-19 on people from marginalized groups and front line workers, insurrection and voter suppression, the victimization of people of Asian descent and more.
At last year’s General Assembly, the UUA published, Widening the Circle of Concern, a three-year study and recommendations conducted and written by the Commission on Institutional Change that “analyzed structural and systemic racism and white supremacy culture” throughout the Association. The Assembly also passed two important actions calling for solidarity with Indigenous communities and support for defunding the police.
How Does It Work?
We have all been socialized into racialized norms. Everyone has a story. In the larger society people have been too guarded to deal effectively with matters of race. These dialogue sessions will set the tone for participants to share and explore feelings and experiences regarding race and ethnicity in a public forum.
The participants will also engage in ongoing learning and will be exposed to a range of contemporary issues, resources, and each other’s experiences, which helps to build face cultural norms and build new competencies for deeper multicultural engagement.
Using a facilitated dialogue creates a safe space for:
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Challenging unexamined norms and assumptions about one’s own or other ethnic groups
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Examining the complexity of identity, the intersection of identities and the impact of systemic oppression
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Identifying a core group that can initiate or support opportunities to organize for change.
The dialogues are ongoing and they change as we grow and as the community around us changes. The two-hour dialogues are held monthly. The schedule is coordinated with the primary facilitator of your group.
