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Seeing the tight shoulders of participants slowly relax as they entered the Healing Space reserved explicitly for Black Unitarian Universalist use at General Assembly served as a symbol of effectiveness to Rev. Mykal Slack. The space, he said, nurtured authenticity, acceptance, and belonging in a setting that often feels disproportionately white.
“It's one of the most beautiful things I think I have witnessed as a minister, just watching people sort of let their guard down and not worry about being who they are in their fullness. It’s really special,” said Slack, who is Community Minister for Worship and Spiritual Care for Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU).
Inspired by moments like these, Slack and another Black Unitarian Universalist, Dr. Takiyah Nur Amin, started thinking about ways to maximize a space that “feels like coming home.” The goal was to make it so Black UUs could find those spaces more consistently and locally without having to attend a conference.
Introduced in 2019, BLUUHavens are social groups and safe spaces that offer Black people opportunities to connect, worship, and even organize, if necessary. They allow folks to take a break from the white gaze, which can often hinder how one shows up. People who are part of BLUUHavens meet up in person or online. They go to museums and parks, watch movies, invite guest speakers, or view monthly worship together.
“Ultimately, the idea came out of folks really loving being together as Black people who are also Unitarian Universalists and trying to figure out a way for folks to gather in person that would feel good and meaningful to them.”
“Ultimately, the idea came out of folks really loving being together as Black people who are also Unitarian Universalists and trying to figure out a way for folks to gather in person that would feel good and meaningful to them,” Slack said.
The havens immediately garnered interest in about a dozen areas, including Chicago, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis. The pandemic, which filled many people’s days with isolation and loneliness, only exacerbated the need to connect.
Forming a haven is relatively simple. Slack usually coordinates the application process, which requires there to be at least one coordinator for organizational and planning purposes. The application is also a way to keep track of where havens are, so that interested people can easily be directed to them. There’s no playbook on how each haven must operate. There is, however, an expectation that havens will meet at least quarterly and that at least 50 percent of gatherings are “Black sacred space in their entirety,” Slack said.
Slack added that BLUU intentionally invited the groups to innovate and implement their havens to best serve the communities they are in.
More Black UU Havens and Communities in the Works
In addition to havens, there are also plans to introduce BLUUHarbors, imagined as larger-scale Black UU worship communities that would require predominantly in-person spiritual support. BLUUHarbors weren’t introduced during the pandemic, when in-person meetings were restricted. The harbors would offer regular services and opportunities to study and learn about Unitarian Universalism, supported by skilled-up Black UU leadership and a host congregation.
In the next few years, Slack hopes even more havens will form and that already established ones continue the momentum. With more capacity and fundraising, he can see the benefit of having a designated coordinator to oversee both the havens and the harbors. A coordinator could better streamline the two and create a cross network between them, making it easier to communicate and learn from one another.
Website:
Visit blacklivesuu.org to learn more about BLUUHavens.
BLUU’s Executive Director Lena K. Gardner said the nonprofit will always be an online community, but it seeks different ways to ramp up in-person opportunities. The pandemic caused screen fatigue and burnout. Gardner considers the harbors and havens as yet another progression in BLUU’s development.
Since the Unitarian Universalist Association Board of Trustees committed $5.3 million to fund BLUU in 2016, the group has left a significant footprint on Unitarian Universalism. The group has established itself as a 501(c)(3) and has continually offered worship, pastoral care, in-person gatherings, and organizing support to Black-led organizations across the country. BLUU has launched a housing initiative that will result in helping seventeen Black and Indigenous families become homeowners. And BLUU has developed the frameworks for havens and harbors.
“I really see havens and harbors as the next really critical landscape for growing the BLUU community and growing the connections that people are so deeply longing for and missing in their regular Unitarian Universalist congregations,” Gardner said.
BLUU Havens Cater to Black UU Spiritual Needs
Gardner started the Minneapolis haven, where she says they have held worship watch parties. Together they viewed BLUU’s monthly worship sessions with snacks and often had fellowship afterward. The meetups took a short pause in recent years, but Gardner wants to reinvigorate the group.
Over 400 miles away, near Chicago, LJ Williams was looking for other people of color to connect with. Another member of Unity Temple told her about BLUU. She joined the Chicagoland haven and quickly became a coordinator. Williams grew up as a Pentecostal Christian, but when she shifted her faith, she made it a priority to go somewhere she could bring her whole self.
The Chicagoland haven has had both in-person and online gatherings. Williams said one guest speaker, a farmer, left quite the impression after talking about sustainable farming in Chicago and reconnecting people to the land. The feedback from attendees was inspiring, Williams said, because they felt catered to with the content and even wanted to bring the speaker to their neighborhoods to spread the word. Williams also enjoyed the Kwanzaa gatherings because they collaborated with several other havens to recognize the holiday.
“If I didn’t have this community of BLUU, I’m not so sure that I would feel as at home and safe and cared for within Unitarian Universalist institutions.”
Williams, a third-year student at Starr King School for the Ministry, has since moved out of state, but she still points people in the direction of the group if they are looking, as she was, for a safe space for Black people. Though the haven hasn't met online in several months, Williams is hopeful it will be revived and says coordinators have spoken with Slack about it. She would love to see the haven grow and be a resource of information for people in Chicago.
“If I didn’t have this community of BLUU, I’m not so sure that I would feel as at home and safe and cared for within Unitarian Universalist institutions,” Williams said.