Living the Pledge to End Racism Program
(Formerly the Nashville Pledge Program)
Our next session of this 12-hour program is Mondays, Feb. 1, 8, and 15 and Mar. 1, 8, and 15, 6:30-8:30 p.m. via Zoom (with a mid-session break on Feb. 22). The 6-session program has limited participation. And all slots are now full.
Participation: Participants are asked to commit to being present at all sessions, and do assignments before sessions which may take two-three hours.
Who’s this Program For? For people who have engaged in other anti-racism/multiculturalism training, this program is designed to take your understanding and your competency to a deeper level. If you’ve never taken a class about racism, this program will challenge you to invest in and deepen your learning so you can put yourself on the road to intercultural competence.
Living the Pledge to End Racism Program (formerly the Nashville Pledge Program).
Since 2017, we have conducted four workshops reaching more than 70 people. In those sessions, we learned about and discussed race-related issues, and considered making a commitment to anti-racism work. Those days were intense and exciting. We have the pledge hanging on the wall in the FUUN social hall signed by those who have graduated from this program. Each person was engaged and open – sharing and listening, and planning next steps. Ask any of them what they think.
Where Does Racism Start and Stop? Racism can be both systemic and individualistic. It is in the past, the present and will be in the foreseeable future unless individually and collectively, we stand-up against its existence and its proliferation. The Living the Pledge Program provides a place to stand-up both individually and collectively against racism.
The primary goal of the program is to develop confidence in our abilities to:
• Integrate the Pledge into our daily lives*
• Recognize and challenge systemic racism
• Confront racism and bias in our everyday lives, and
• Take leadership in ending racism in our community, our culture, and our lives
As part of the workshop, participants develop a community of support and an understanding of how to use support in deepening our work in building a just and equitable multicultural world.
The workshop, of course, is just the beginning. This year, past participants in the workshop have been meeting regularly in person and now virtually to support each other in continuing efforts to live the pledge to eliminate racial injustice. In the past, workshop participants have also traveled together to Montgomery, Alabama, to visit The Legacy Museum and taken a walking tour of Civil Rights sites in Nashville offered by United Street Tours.
Living the Pledge to End Racism Program History
Beloved Community: what comes to mind when you hear that phrase? You may think of our church community. You may think of some other community in your life. Martin Luther King, Jr. used the phrase often and for him, it had a specific meaning: the community of all people that may be created when our nation fully overcomes its history of racial oppression and injustice. The name of our “Beloved Community Committee” comes from MLK’s vision in using this phrase.
The Beloved Community committee sponsors iterations of the Living the Pledge to End Racism program (formerly the Nashville Pledge Program). The program stems from the Birmingham Pledge, composed in 1997 by Jim Rotch, as part of an effort to “eliminate racism and prejudice in the Birmingham community and in the world, one person at a time.” In 2014, members of the First UU Church in Richmond, Virginia, made this pledge the starting point for their Living the Pledge workshop, a program designed to help participants move beyond simply giving lip service to a desire for racial equality and help them act more confidently in talking about and confronting racism when they encounter it.
Our Living the Pledge to End Racism program grows directly out of the Richmond program, with some adaptations to make it fit our community more closely.
Or contact Tom Surface, Jennie Wolff, Cindy Wood, or Nancy Ledbetter at beloved@thefuun.org.
*The Pledge to End Racism
I BELIEVE that every person has worth as an individual.
- I BELIEVE that every person is entitled to dignity and respect, regardless of race or color.
- I BELIEVE that every thought and every act of racial prejudice is harmful; if it is my thought or act, then it is harmful to me as well as to others.
Therefore, from this day forward:
- I WILL strive daily to eliminate racial prejudice from my thoughts and actions.
- I WILL discourage racial prejudice by others at every opportunity.
- I WILL treat all people with dignity and respect.
- I WILL commit to working with others to transform this community into a place that treats people of all races, ethnicities, and cultures with justice, equity, and compassion, and
- I WILL strive daily to honor this pledge, knowing that the world will be a better place because of my efforts.
Photos of previous sessions:
