Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multi-Cultural Ministries. DRUUMM for short.
This national organization invites Unitarian Universalists who identify as African American or from other parts of the African Diaspora, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander, South Asian and Indian, Native American or from other Indigenous Cultures to come together for mutual support and collective spiritual growth. It is an organization for Unitarian Universalists who identify as other than white.
DRUUMM is one of many organizations in our faith centered on particular identities.
There is an active DRUUMM presence here in the Pacific Northwest and active DRUUMM participation at First Unitarian.
But DRUUMM began at a retreat center in Los Gatos, California, in 1997. I was part of the story of its founding.
The image above is from that first gathering. I am one of the tall folks in the back, the one wearing a tie.
After I ceased resisting the call to ministry and went to seminary at Starr King, I joined the UUA staff. As the highest ranking staff member of color at the time, I helped provide support for UUs of color, though it was not part of my job description. That work had centered on African Americans, and African American ministers specifically. There was an organization for African American lay folks (The Network) but it was not very active. Where the UUA put what little support it offered at that time was into the African American Unitarian Universalist Ministry, AAUUM. That tiny organization (there were 7 of us at my first meeting in 1991), made it possible for me to imagine ministry in this faith when there were only 2 or 3 ministers of color serving UU congregations.
In my first years on the UUA staff, AAUUM grew rapidly, with first 10 then 20 then 30 in attendance at gatherings. But the group was challenged by queer ministers of color who felt their full persons were not recognized, by ministers of color who identified as Black, but also what we now call Latinx, and by those moving into our ministry from Indian, Hispanic and Native American identity spaces…identities other than African American.
So I was a part of the decision to convene a gathering of ministers we would now describe as BIPOC, sponsored by AAUUM, to consider expanding the reach of that organization.
We gathered with a facilitator to help the conversation with hopes of birthing an organization that could serve the whole community of ministers of color.
The conversations were difficult. There were feelings of exclusion that needed to be voiced and heard. There were questions of what, if anything, we had in common. There were questions about the prominence of the African American story. There were questions about whether the UUA was serious in its intention to offer support.
But at the end of that weekend, DRUUMM was born, with new, multi-cultural leadership and grand hopes for leading into a truly multi-cultural and multi-religious future.
Almost 25 years ago.
Today DRUUMM is a vibrant organization, offering not only fellowship for religious professions but leadership by and for lay Unitarian Universalists who identity as Black, Indigenous and Persons of Color. The organization offers programming on a regional basis and is respected as one of the resources, one of the self-created treasures that can help our faith move toward the Beloved Community.
If you identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous or Person of Color) and if you have been yearning for a UU space where your racial or cultural identity could be fully honored, check out the DRUUMM website.
And everyone can enjoy the worship recently (May 19) offered by DRUUMM, Becoming Human, Again and Again with the Reverend Mitra Rahnema.
As First Unitarian moves beyond adopting the 8th Principle, into the real work of imagining pluralistic and accountable multi-racial and multi-cultural religious community, we do not need to re-invent every wheel. Organizations like DRUUMM and BLUU (Black Unitarian Universalists) and TRUUST (Transgender Religious Professional UUs Together) are already laboring in that critical vineyard. They can point the way…if we are willing to follow them and support their ministry.
One of my favorite pieces of hope was written by Leslie Takahashi, Lead Minister of the Mt. Diablo Church in Walnut Creek, CA. It spoke to me the moment I read it and it speaks to me still.
Marginal Wisdom
They teach us to read in black and white.
Truth is this—the rest false.
You are whole—or broken.
Who you love is acceptable—or not.
Life tells its truth in many hues.
We are taught to think in either/or.
To believe the teachings of Jesus—OR Buddha.
To believe in human potential—OR a power beyond a single will.
I am broken OR I am powerful.
Life embraces multiple truths, speaks of both, and of and.
We are taught to see in absolutes.
Good versus evil.
Male versus female,
Old versus young,
Gay versus straight.
Let us see the fractions, the spectrum, the margins.
Let us open our hearts to the complexity of our worlds.
Let us make our lives sanctuaries, to nurture our many identities.
The day is coming when all will know
That the rainbow world is more gorgeous than monochrome,
That a river of identities can ebb and flow over the static, stubborn rocks in its course,
That the margins hold the center.
Blessings,
Bill