Open Invitation for Service on the Racial Equity Task Force
Are you in a place in your life where you can offer your service to help this community break down white supremacy?
Does your spirit resonate with a call to create racial equity?
The Racial Equity Task Force (RETF) of First Unitarian Church of Dallas is looking for new members who can continue and expand upon the RETF’s ongoing work. The RETF exists to transform our church culture from one steeped in white supremacy to one that is actively engaged in justice-making and liberation.
Racial Equity Task Force BASICS
How does the work of the RETF fit into the work of First Unitarian Church of Dallas?
Our church’s mission statement is that Love inspires us to nurture souls, deepen connection, and advance compassion and justice in the world. Church members have also identified “Ends Statements,” which provide specific, measurable goals for creating change in the lives of our congregation and communities. Among these Ends Statements is the commitment to “Widen the circle of inclusivity, commit to racial equity, and ensure that our human diversity in all its many dimensions is reflected in worship, leadership, and the work of our church.” The work of the RETF marches in lockstep with this churchwide commitment.
What specifically does the RETF do?
Since being convened by Senior Minister Daniel Kanter in 2018, most of the RETF’s work has focused on creating discussion around racial equity. This includes book studies, discussion of movies, and documentary series focusing on racial equity. Finally, we began and continue to offer Small Group Discussions on Race, which invite participants to contemplate and discuss the impact of white supremacy on our culture, and the collective and individual roles we play in white supremacy culture. Participants also explore and discuss examples of systemic racism, and what we can do, individually and collectively, to combat it.
The RETF has also partnered with the Social Action Council to create the Racial Justice Action Team. This group seeks to provide opportunities for folks who have already been working on education and introspection around racial equity issues to extend that work to racial justice issues outside of the church.
How is the RETF structured?
The RETF consists of up to nine church members, including a Chair, Vice-Chair, Clerk, and Communications Director. Up to three of the members of the RETF can be high school youth, who serve until they graduate. Adult members generally serve three-year terms in the RETF. Terms begin in August and continue through the following July.
Currently, the RETF has eight members, which includes three youth members who are graduating high school this May. Thus, the RETF expects that four slots will be open for positions starting in August 2024. The RETF hopes that at least two of these open positions will be filled by high school students. But that still means we are looking for up to two new adult members.
Am I qualified to be a member of the RETF?
Membership is open to ALL church members willing to offer their service. We will take into account where you are on your personal racial equity journey, but there are no specific threshold requirements to join, other than church membership.
Because white people built white supremacy, we believe that white people also hold the PRIMARY responsibility for dismantling it. But, we know that white people can only do that with the generous guidance and assistance of Black, Indigenous and Other People of Color (BIPOC), who have suffered from racial inequities. We need both white people and BIPOC folks working together.
OBLIGATIONS AND EXPECTATIONS
The RETF meets once monthly (currently regular meetings occur at 12:30 p.m. on the fourth Sunday of the month), plus occasionally for special meetings. Members of the RETF plan and design programming, and often serve as facilitators for discussion groups and workshops.
DISCERNMENT AND TIMING
Please Pause. Discern. Reflect. If you are feeling this call, we encourage you to compose a letter of interest by May 22 and send it to Steve Jensen (sbjensen@swbell.net). If you have questions or need more time for discernment, please let us know how we can help. We expect to identify new members by the end of June 2024, and those new members will begin their RETF service in August.
