I am well aware of the notion of, “Breathing While Black.” It’s code language that I have internalized. It’s code language that I have taught my daughter. It’s code language that I will teach my granddaughter. It means that the very color of our skin can get us in deep trouble. It can get us killed.

The other day I heard a new expression, “Walking While Trans.” That gave me pause. I know that my Black siblings are in danger of police brutality when walking while black. In addition to worrying about police brutality, our trans siblings are in danger of physical violence when they walk while trans. 

Within the context of extreme civil unrest in Burundi,  recently the Unitarian Church of Burundi (the Assemble Unitarien Chretian de Burundi) was attacked and ransacked,  withbullets fired into walls and doors and money stolen.  Members of the church were questioned by government officials who visited on a Sunday.  Two days ago the minister of the church, the Rev. Fulgence Ndagijimana,  was arrested from the church at gunpoint, taken into police custody and interrogated severely, regarding the activities of his church. He was threatened with physical harm and death.  At the moment he remains in custody, with other members of the church also being questioned.   The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, along with our member groups and partners around the world, is calling upon the Burundian government to cease these activities immediately, which we interpret as persecution for reasons of faith.

“Is it a boy or a girl?” is the most common question asked of parents-to-be. The answer to the question makes us think we can imagine the child’s life and the experiences the parents will have raising them. We are taught that knowing this will determine what presents to buy, what color to paint the nursery, and what yarn to choose for the baby blanket. In places like the United States since colonization, people have had two gender categories in which to place the people they met: boy or girl, male or female, woman or man. Every day, many of us define people according to a whole host of binaries: If we are male or female; If we are white or a Person of Color; If we are able-bodied or disabled; If we are cisgender or transgender and on and on.

Over the last two weeks, five Black churches in St. Louis County, Missouri have been attacked in incidents of arson. Luckily no one has been physically hurt but these terrifying and violent instances of backlash affirm the urgent need to show up and take action for racial justice today. UU Ministers have written the following letter to the members and friends of the impacted congregations. Click here to add your name and your own message of solidarity. If you would prefer to send your message via US Postal Service, you can send it to Rev. Julie Taylor PO Box 440091, St. Louis, MO 63144 who will deliver your note. The Standing on the Side of Love Campaign is in touch with UU ministers in the St. Louis area and will keep you updated with additional ways to support.

As I lay awake at 3:30am last Friday morning grasping that I am now the closest Unitarian Universalist minister to the headquarters of the National Rifle Association, I realized I would need to revise my sermon on my congregation’s theme “letting go” and write something completely different.  I decided this because of my absolute and total frustration with our country’s obsession with guns and our unbelievable inability to do anything about it. You can listen to the full sermon here.

Dear friends,

After the latest mass shooting in Oregon, I was unable to sleep, wondering like so many others, how many people have to die, how many school shootings have to happen in order for us to let go of this endless stalemate on gun safety.