NTAUUS Notes: January 2012

Mark Coomes
Interim NTAUUS President

On the cusp between the month of January, when we pause to remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the month of February, celebrated as Black History Month, I am reminded of Unitarian Universalist leaders of the civil rights movement of the 1960’s, three of whom paid with their lives. The archived UUA website includes this page archive.uua.org/news/2002/selma/ which announced the installation in Boston of a memorial to Jimmy Lee Jackson, the Rev. James Reeb, and Viola Liuzzo in 2002.

Here are the inscriptions for each of these Unitarian Universalist martyrs:

Jimmy Lee Jackson December 16, 1938 - February 26, 1965
Was beaten and shot by a state trooper as he tried to protect his mother and grandfather during a civil rights march in Marion, Alabama. The march from Selma to Montgomery, called to protest his death, led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Viola Gregg Liuzzo March 11, 1925 - March 25, 1965
A member of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit, went to Selma to assist in the civil rights march. She was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan as she drove along the highway between Selma and Montgomery.

The Rev. James J. Reeb January 1, 1927 - March 11, 1965
Joined many Unitarian Universalist ministers who answered the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, call to come to Selma in the wake of "Bloody Sunday." Beaten on the streets by white assailants, he died two days later. These events prompted President Lyndon Johnson to address a joint session of Congress to call for the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Unitarian Universalists continue on the march to social and racial justice. Ideas for creating worship celebrating the life of Rev. Reeb and the life of Whitney Young, Unitarian Universalist and executive director of the National Urban League, can be found at www.uua.org/worship/holidays/174675.shtml. Another name that comes to mind is that of Mary White Ovington, www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/marywhiteovington.html, Unitarian, suffragette and one of the founders of the NAACP in the early part of the 20th century.

Within the denomination, the march has not always been smooth. “In Their Own Words,” proceedings of a January 2001 historic reunion at Starr King School of the Black Unitarian Universalist Caucus/Black Affairs Council and FULLBAC, their white supporters. Reunion participants were active in the black empowerment controversies of the 1960s and 1970s. A 72-page document available in PDF format is here www.sksm.edu/research/publications/itow.pdf.

So what of today, a century since Ovington et. al., almost five decades since the march on Selma, slightly more than a decade since “In Their Own Words,” and a decade since installation of a memorial? The UUA established the Standing of the Side of Love Campaign in response to the 2008 shooting at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, an event in which I lost a friend who had been a member of the Denton congregation and other former members of the Denton congregation were injured. The Tennessee Valley congregation was targeted because, like many Unitarian Universalist congregations, it welcomes LGBT people and has a liberal stance on many issues. The Standing of the Side of Love Campaign has come to represent more than welcoming LGBT people. The campaign harnesses love’s power to challenging exclusion, oppression and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, race, religion, or any other identity.

My challenge to members and friends of North Texas Area Unitarian Universalist Societies is to learn the movement’s history of involvement in justice work; the good, the bad and the ugly (apology to Clint Eastwood). Constantly commit and recommit to a love that does surpass all understanding. Although appropriate to celebrate these concepts during February, any month, any Sunday, any day during the year is a fine time to reflect on unconditional love and the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

Last, I want to acknowledge all recipients of awards and congregations that received grants at the recent NTAUUS awards luncheon. I especially want to recognize the Rev. Mark Walz for the invocation blessing and the Rev. Patrick Price for the benediction and their words of creating sacred time and sacred place.

In Faith,
Mark Coomes
Interim NTAUUS President

“I do not believe I am naive, but I am proud to say I am not cynical.” - Elliot Richardson.