About Us
Our Vision
A world where BIPOC members in our UU communities are welcomed and celebrated as fully whole human beings.
We aim to create energy around and inspire BIPOC people to build connections and begin the conversations to create and hold empowering and affirming space. We seek to continually challenge ourselves and one another to rethink, reimagine, and recenter Unitarian Universalist space.
We will be a space for relationship building and spiritual development for UU BIPOC, by covenantally providing safe space for BIPoC individuals to share our stories, share resources, and develop leadership opportunities for members of our community.
- Unitarian Universalist communities affirm and promote seven Principles, which we hold as strong values and moral guides. As a Living Tradition, we also recognize the call to add a 8th principle to further underscore the importance of anti-oppression work.
- Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part;
- The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
- Journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountability dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions;
- Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
- Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
- A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
- The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
- The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
In May of 2020, Pastor AJ Blackwood delivered a message about racial and other justice commitments to PrairieUU. This fired up the congregation to name that there were no coordinated organized UU actions or responses in the Denver Metro to the then current racial uprisings across the nation. They along with members of other local congregations publicly called the local ministers out for their inaction. Immediately the Colorado UUs for Racial Justice Council met to answer the call. The Council began to meet bi-weekly and changed its name to Colorado UUs United for Racial Justice. Quickly it became evident that the newly envisioned organization was in need of a few pertinent key components for successful anti-oppression ministry, specifically anti-racism work. This included a UU community BIPOC needs assessment, community accountability partnerships, deep and meaningful working and personal relationships. Over the summer of 2020, the BIPOC members of the Council including Angela Henderson, Mateo Frisk, Jen Simon and AJ Blackwood offered to become the accountability partners for their white colleagues. Soon the idea of a needs assessment bubbled up with a strategy of having a UU BIPOC speakers series. The Speakers Series was held from September to December 2020. The resulting outcome is The Mountain Top: A UU BIPOC Community.
