March 7, 2018
Dear AUUA members,
Last week, our colleague Christina Rivera, Director of Administration and Finance at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church in Charlottesville, VA, was the target of a racist note received in her mailbox. Once again, we are reminded that we have a great deal of work to do within ourselves and our congregations to address individual and systemic racism.
Your AUUA Board recognizes the challenges people of color face in our congregations and as staff. We commit our Association to do what we can to address individual and systemic racism.The theme for our upcoming Pro Days program June 19 and 20 in Kansas City is “Administrators and Racial Justice,” which is now even more timely. We hope many of you will be able to attend.
We stand in solidarity with Christina and other people of color who face overt acts of racism and other microaggressions as they serve our congregations. We call on our congregations and staff teams to hold up our first principle – the worth and dignity of every person – to build right relationships between staff and congregations.
If you would like to read about what happened at the Charlottesville congregation, click here. You may also want to read A Minister’s Musings by Rev. Erik Walker Wikstrom posted after a Wednesday evening service last week, available here. Christina’s blog is available here.
Thank you for your work in these challenging times. Let’s commit ourselves to doing this important personal and collective work to address the racism, sexism, and classism that keeps us from becoming the beloved community we aspire to be.
Your AUUA Board
Rich Sider, President
Robie Evans, Vice President
Debbie Bieber, Treasurer
Sara Deshler, Secretary
Mary Ellen Morgan, Past President
Carol Marks
MaryBeth Hannan
Doug Swaim