It's Time for UUs to Talk About Reparations

BLM2WUU is a collaboration of the 5 Unitarian Universalist churches in Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Ozaukee Counties which came together to facilitate racial justice education within our congregations and to coordinate and amplify the voice of Unitarian Universalists in racial justice work and actions within the greater Milwaukee metro area. The five congregations are: First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee; Lake Country Unitarian Universalist Church in Hartland; Unitarian Church North in Mequon; Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield; and Unitarian University Unity Church in Waukesha.

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The collaboration started in Nov. 2015, in response to the 2015 UU General Assembly Action of Immediate Witness encouraging UU congregations to take action in support of Black Lives Matter and other black led racial justice movements fighting for racial justice against the harsh racist practices to which many black people are subjected. 

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Since Jan. 2016, BLM2WUU has conducted workshops bringing together members of all 5 congregations to learn about Black Lives Matter, white privilege and white supremacy, skills for interacting in multi-racial situations, skills for discussing racism productively, and the roles of whites as allies in the work for racial justice.  We also encouraged members to engage in actions in support of police violence victims, Dontre Hamilton, Jay Anderson, and others; to join in efforts to change the Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, Waukesha and Kenosha police practices;  and to support efforts by the WISDOM organization to reduce mass incarceration in Wisconsin.  In spring 2017, BLM2WUU initiated planning for a conference to bring in Chris Crass, nationally known anti-racist activist and trainer to build our skills for collective action.  We organized 16 local racial justice partner groups to help fund and plan the conference which drew over 260 people on April 1, 2017 and which has resulted in an on-going commitment by the partner groups to continue coordinating and collaborating with each other. In the fall of 2018, we worked with Nurturing Diversity Partners to present 3 public presentations by Reggie Jackson, coordinated with Deeper Dive sessions for BLM2WUU members, aimed at expanding our historical knowledge of the impacts of a legacy of racism and oppression on black Americans, and at building community for racial justice work among area UUs. From 2019, we have been focused on education and advocacy in support of reparations for Black Americans, working in partnership with Black community leaders in the Milwaukee area. In December of 2019, we offered the first Reparations Workshop for local UUs, and in June 2021 will hold a followup workshop.