Guest Author for ‘Braver/Wiser’
“My experience at the intersection of these identities has meant a life of intersecting hustles for well-being”
I was invited to write a teeny column for Braver/Wiser, which is a weekly publication out of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Thanks to Rev. Erika Hewitt for her thoughtful editorial support!
It’s not easy to write short pieces, and it takes much longer. I appreciate the practice, though; it really gets me to contend with the onion layers of my ego, and get more precise with my language. The carving can feel arduous, but it always feels worthwhile in the end.
I’ve been in the Unitarian Universalist faith for nearly 17 years now, and have encountered a great deal of love, care, community in UU spaces. I have also dealt with a lot of bias, racism, and white fragility. I have been extremely fortunate to have gotten involved with Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), where Black UUs have spaces where we can be curious, hold our own funds of knowledge, be spiritually vulnerable, and center Blackness. I might have left the faith without these sacred Black spaces. Over the past 6 years, as BLUU has grown, I have grown as a Black UU. The affirming community that I gained within BLUU (particularly with my organizing collective, Team Sankofa), supplied me with the energy to speak about my Blackness in UU spaces with my whole chest (it’s not the speaking out that’s difficult in primarily white spaces, but the exhaustion of trying to maintain relationships with folks who don’t know that they don’t know how to see/treat you).
As a writer I have been intentional about writing my Black UU experience lately. This piece for Braver/Wiser is a little taste of that.
