My White Supremacy ProblemAs with many in the United States, I rely heavily upon my religious tradition for moral guidance. That reliance is compounded for me. As clergy leader for the Ethical Culture Society of Westchester, I am expected to pursue avenues for social justice and living compassionately and encourage our congregation to do so as […]
The Black Lives Matter to AEU statement to reaffirm past resolutions for racial justice was approved by the Assembly of the American Ethical Union and is now available on the aeu.org website. The reaffirmation calls for action on a number of fronts and this week I’d like to focus on a particular action that I believe fits both the […]
What do the words “white supremacist” evoke in you? It’s hard for me to see those words and not think of hate spewing, Ku Klux Klan hooded, Swastika wearing, angry white men gathered around a burning cross. My response is a visceral one—I immediately feel tense with a mix of fear and anger. More than […]
I got a good bit of positive feedback on my last entry on “othering.” I’d written: Othering is, I believe, a necessary precursor to oppression. “Othering” involves what the sociologist Yiannis Gabriel has described as “casting a group, an individual or an object into the role of the ‘other’ and establishing one’s own identity through […]
The American Ethical Union 105th Assembly will be online using Zoom. • July 11-27 – AEU will host discussion sessions to review agenda items.• July 28-31 – AEU will share educational programming.• Saturday, August 1 – AEU Assembly Business Meeting.• Sunday, August 2 – AEU special platform welcoming Jé Hooper as a new Ethical Culture […]
Othering is, I believe, a necessary precursor to oppression. “Othering” involves what the sociologist Yiannis Gabriel has described as “casting a group, an individual or an object into the role of the ‘other’ and establishing one’s own identity through opposition to and, frequently, vilification of this Other.” It has two parts: setting one apart from […]
I’ve gotten a good amount of feedback on last week’s blog message which ended with a call to “cut off the blood supply” of structural racism by personally taking steps to demand accountability from the institutions that support it. I wrote: A good place to start is with your local police department. The police are […]
A friend and I had a frank phone conversation last week. She’d read the AEU’s statement on George Floyd and the Aftermath and my blog message and offered the feedback that they were not strong enough. I agree with her. And I appreciate her direct communication and her expectation that I (and we) have the capacity do better. The […]
The time for action is now, people are taking to the streets, flooding social media, calling local officials and demanding justice for those who have been killed by the police all over the county and now is the time to join them. The Movement For Black Lives, and organizers mobilizing across the country, invite you to […]
Some deaths are especially personal. Recently the Ethical Movement lost one of its own longtime members, Bob Gordon, who succumbed to cancer on May 2 of this year. Bob’s son, Gregg, sent in a beautiful obituary the family put together which I urge you to read. Bob led a rich and colorful life: he flew planes for […]