Celebrate!
Welcome to the New Year—for those of us who celebrate on January 1st, and also for those who celebrate the Chinese New Year (Jan. 29th) and the Muslim New Year (Jan. 31st). Hope you are off to a great start on the year, and that the months to come will be full of fun and learning. Speaking of fun and learning, click on the links below to find out about how you can celebrate holidays from around the world.
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We Honor… |
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| All the Unitarian Universalist ministers who responded to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for clergy to come join him for a march on Selma, Alabama. You can check last January's KidTalk to learn more about two UUs who were killed because of their participation in this march for freedom and justice, but we should also remember the less famous people—many still in our ministry—who took the same risk to stand up for the rights of African-Americans. As many as 1/5 th of our UU ministers at the time responded to King's call, marching with him for civil rights. That's something to be proud of!
Read memories of that time, shared by Rev. Orloff Miller, one of two UU ministers who were with James Reeb when he was killed. |
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Act!
Sometimes changing the world starts with taking a careful look at yourself. It would be great to think that racism and prejudice had disappeared from the world thanks to the bravery of civil rights workers like Dr. King and the people who worked with him. These brave people changed the laws that used to make discrimination legal. But the sad fact is that racism and prejudice are very much alive. Prejudice means making assumptions about someone because of some category they belong to—Black, Latino/a, Arabic, girl, boy, old, young, disabled, etc. Racism means the whole tangled web of ways that life is made harder for people from particular racial or ethnic groups. It's racism when a Black person is followed around in a store because a security guard assumes that someone with dark skin is more likely to steal. It's also racism when schools in poorer neighborhoods with mostly non-white students don't have the supplies or books or experienced teachers or nice playgrounds that you would find in wealthier neighborhoods.
Racism and prejudice are very complicated, and involve everything from individuals' personal feelings to huge systems like banks or government agencies. Unfortunately, that means it's very easy to feel discouraged about how we can create a world where everyone is treated fairly, without the color of their skin making any difference.
Sometimes the best place to start is with yourself and your friends. Try visiting some place where people who look or sound like you are in the minority—a church where most members are of a race or culture different than yours, or a neighborhood in a city where most the people seem "different" than you. As you spend time, notice how what you see is different from what you are used to, and how it is the same. Also notice your feelings: do the differences you notice make you feel uncomfortable? excited? confused? How does it feel if you don't understand the language people are speaking around you? How does it feel if they have different religious beliefs than you, or different assumptions about what's noisy or quiet, or ways of eating? There are no right or wrong answers, but noticing how we deal with difference can help us to be more aware of how we might be prejudiced in ways we didn't even know about.
There are also plenty of ways you can stand up for peace and justice, like Dr. King did, at school or with groups of friends such as a soccer team. You can help out someone who's being bullied by standing with them or getting adult help. You can tell people you don't like it if they use words or tell jokes that make fun of a particular group of people. You can make friends with people who seem "different." And if you happen to be part of a family with more than one race or color—either through adoption or through having biological parents who belong to two different races or colors—then you have a special gift for showing people that it's possible to be a part of more than one group, to belong in more than one place. |
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Nurturing Your Spirit
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian minister who practiced non-violent resistance—changing the world without hating or trying to hurt the people whose actions he opposed. King was inspired to this way of non-violence by Mohandas Ghandi, the great Indian leader who used the Hindu idea of ahimsa, non-violence toward all beings, as the foundation of his work for the freedom of the people of India. Most of what we see on TV shows people (especially cartoon characters) using violence—hitting, kicking and weapons, real and imaginary—to fight off forces of evil. But King and Ghandi showed us that good can triumph over evil, that justice can win against prejudice and racism, when gentle warriors choose to speak the truth without hatred. This idea of non-violence, of loving and wishing the best for all beings, shows up in religions around the world. King practiced it as a Christian, Ghandi as a Hindu, and here is a Buddhist meditation/prayer that expresses the same belief. You might want to memorize it as something to say at bedtime or in situations where you are tempted to use violence as a solution:
May all beings be well.
May all beings be happy.
May all be at peace.
May all beings be free from sickness, free from hatred, free from suffering.
May all beings be well.
May all beings be happy.
May all be at peace.
(Parents, you can find a longer version, which makes a nice guided meditation.) |
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Practicing the Principles
Our Unitarian Universalist First Principle of affirming "the inherent worth and dignity of every person" means that we believe that every person is important, regardless of what color their skin might be, or whether they are male or female, rich or poor, or any other category you could put people into. It makes sense that so many UU ministers went to march with Dr. King in Selma because the principles of justice and equality that Martin Luther King was fighting for are the same principles that are at the heart of who we are as Unitarian Universalists.
For a fun way for your family or group to learn about and practice our first principle, play the In-HEREnt Worth Game. |
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