Reddit reviews The Antiracism Trainings

If anyone is interested in serious critiques of anti-racism work, Rev. Thandeka's essay from 1999 is eerily prophetic and has been relegated away from discussion. It remains eerily prescient.

She is an extremely accomplished theologian.

http://revthandeka.org/about-thandeka

Here is her essay:

https://www.meadville.edu/files/resources/thandeka-why-anti-racism-will-fail-447.pdf

It appears we have been having this conversation for 20 years and gotten nowhere. It seems we want to center the voices of POC, just not ones that disagree with the dominant narrative.

"So why have white UU's accepted a doctrine of race theory that is economically
naïve, sociologically counterfactual, and racially damning? The answer is that by
and large we haven't.

In so far as we have, it's because the talk of privilege
inflates some egos.
As we know, Unitarian Universalists are, collectively, the second wealthiest
religious group in this country. Our members are also the most highly educated.
This means that 49.9 per cent of us are college graduates and that our median
annual household income is $34,800.

In other words, members of our association tend to have a big brain and a small
purse. UU's also tend to be politically active, environmentally conscious, natureoriented,
and live in the suburbs. This is not the profile of the power elite. It's the
profile of civil servants, school teachers, small business persons, and middle
managers. In effect, middle America - the group of professionals who keep
America running by training its children, maintaining government, and paying
taxes.
..
Today, most Unitarian Universalists are not
affluent. Yet we seem fond of describing ourselves in this manner.

...

The simple truth is that most middle-class white persons, including UU's, are not
part of the economic ruling elite in this country. They have not amassed structural
power and control. Our UU anti-racist rhetoric, however, claims that they have.
Such a claim seems to produce three kinds or categories of ego responses in
white UU's.
First category. For some, it is an ego boost. Bereft of real power and prestige in
the eyes of America's ruling elite, what a tweak of the ego to have a so-called
person of color tell you that you are all-powerful. Who could resist? Loads.

Thus the second category. Some egos are deflated. The egos of whites who are
not racists, but have sometimes acted in racists ways in order to retain
membership in their own social groups [out of survival].

...

The third category affected by anti-racist rhetoric I will call the silent majority.
These Unitarian Universalists know that the anti-racist rhetoric that pervades our
religious association runs counter to the economic realities of this country and
their own lives. I believe that these persons simply dismiss the rhetoric as
insulting to their intelligence and walk away. This doesn't help us build a strong,
vibrant religious community. Quite the contrary. This is the way in which our
community is broken. One withdrawal at a time.
"

The third is happening more and more and more and will continue to happen. It also turns countless people away who come as visitors and leave because they see this and nope out. This is how our tradition dies and is reborn as a secular, yet orthodox, activist organization.

Edit: there is also a book I haven't read that was apparently published 9 years ago by a former editor of the UU World as a thinly-veiled allegory of the current state of things. I plan to give it a read, but from the gist of it, seemed to predict the events of 2 years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Antiracism-Trainings-David-Reich/dp/193540279X