New Pastor at UU Church Working on Racial Justice

Last year, along with most other Unitarian Universalist churches in the US, North Shore Unitarian Church in Deerfield began a conversation on the meaning and effects of white supremacy on our society. This Friday night, October 13th, that conversation will be joined again as the church presents a screening and discussion of the film “13th,” an exploration into the US prison system and its ties to our history of racial inequality and discrimination.

NSUC has always been very active in social justice issues, particularly poverty, hunger and homelessness, and it was one of the first things that new minister Lucas Hergert discovered on his arrival in July. But delving into racial issues is as new for the local church as it is for the national denomination. “I know that racial justice is something that’s on people’s minds,” Hergert said, “and last year the youth group started things rolling.”

Hergert recently transferred here from Livermore, CA, where his church focused on issues from immigration to hunger to social justice concerning water, but the conversation about racial matters is only now starting to take form. “We’re seeing this throughout the church, in the General Assemblies and individual churches, brought on by Black Lives Matter and by the shootings of young African American people.”

The irony, though, of an ultra-liberal denomination such as Unitarian Universalists having somehow missed the boat on the most overwhelmingly significant social issue in our country’s history doesn’t escape him.

“UU has historically had good intentions, but we’ve had bad failings, moments when we could have done something to step up to the plate and done something to make a change but backed away at the last minute.”

True enough: back in the 1970s, the UU General Assembly voted to allot $5 million to an African American UU organization that was dedicated to creating that change, but at the last minute the money was pulled out with no explanation. “The people who were working around that,” said Hergert, “just left the denomination. We’ve got a lot of work to do to repair these things and move forward.”

Moving forward, he says, is “about showing up” and listening carefully because this predominantly white denomination needs “to have some humility in what we do” as we try to make a difference in matters of race. “We need to show our passion for the same sort of justice issues that impact groups that are facing discrimination, and we can see as our youth lead the way a new movement in that direction in the church,” Hergert said, noting that a youth member is even going to be leading the conversation on Friday after the film.

After Charlottesville, Hergert said, he got to see his new congregation at their best. “About thirty of them showed up spontaneously for a march in Highland Park; the passion I’m seeing it spark in people who just want to promote basic decent values of tolerance and acceptance has gone pretty deep.” He will be holding an all-ages service around the topic of white supremacy later this month.

Holly Kerr, the lay leader of NSUC’s Social Action Committee, echoed Hergert’s reactions. "Hopefully with more insights into how our society- and each of us individually- have played a role in bringing about the devastating situation that now exists, we can begin to remedy it. It is only through new insights that we can make the kinds of difficult personal changes we need to make to remedy conditions that have worked to the benefit of many of us and to the horrible detriment of others.”

Written by Karen Topham