The Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick Presents its 2019-2020 Working for Justice Series: Many Voices: Widening the Listening Circle
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick launches this year’s Working for Justice Series “Many Voices: Widening the Listening Circle” on Saturday, November 23, 2019 with a free community concert called “Deeper Than the Skin,” a musical presentation on Race in America by Reggie Harris and Greg Greenway. Reggie and Greg have a unique story. Born three days apart, their ancestry flowed through the same portal of history, Richmond, VA. They are on a pilgrimage together – one that began three decades ago. The racial divisions that are the reality of America started them in two different worlds, but the amazing bonds of music, mutual respect, sheer admiration, and shared vision have brought them together as friends and colleagues.
Their stories together form the quintessential American story. The music that flowed from these experiences is powered by unadorned truth, raw and riveting, beautiful and uplifting. Echoing Gandhi, they believe that in telling our truths, we are able to rise up from the past and build bridges to each other and the future. The presentation will be interactive and there will be time at the end for discussion.
Reggie Harris a Woodrow Wilson Scholar and the Co-Chair of the Living Legacy Project of the Unitarian Universalist Association, co-leading tours through the historic sites of the Civil Rights movement in the South. Solo, and in the duo, Kim and Reggie Harris, he has led hundreds of programs on Race and Social Justice. Greg Greenway has been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered, Mountain Stage, and Car Talk. He’s played Carnegie Hall and had the honor for two years of having his song, “Rosa Parks,” play when rosaparks.com was opened. For eight years, he was one-third of the successful Folk Trio Brother Sun. Together and individually, Reggie and Greg have brought the issue of Race before audiences around the world.
The event will be held at 7:00 pm on Saturday, November 23rd at the UU Church of Brunswick at 1 Middle Street in Brunswick. Doors open at 6:30 pm. This event is free and open to the public.
The “Many Voices: Widening the Listening Circle” series will continue:
- February 1, 2020: The Maine-Wabanaki REACH (Reconciliation, Engagement, Advocacy, Change, Healing) workshop Exploring Wabanaki Maine History: an interactive storytelling experience to teach about events in the colonizing history of Wabanaki people and their descendants;
- April 15, 2020: Shay Stewart/Bouley workshop: an interactive workshop combining lecture and small-group work. It allows participants to deepen their knowledge of racism, examine their own biases, and learn techniques for starting conversations on racism and difference in predominantly white spaces. This series is underwritten by a $3,800 Community Building grant from the Maine Community Foundation to engage the community in transformative learning focused on racial, ethnic and cultural discrimination through a series of interactive workshops and programs put on by groups, individuals, or organizations that have experienced such prejudice.
“We at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick are incredibly grateful to receive this grant,” said Cathey Cyrus, member of the church’s Working for Justice Steering Group. “The award will make possible programming to encourage reflection and action within our congregation and the wider community on issues of white privilege, racism, colonization and immigration justice. We understand this learning to be a life-long commitment.”
The mission of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick is to be a spiritual community, to welcome all, to nurture one another, to work for justice, and to care for the earth. The church’s Working for Justice Steering Group works to offer vital social justice programming that is personally transformative for the congregation and contributes to needed change in the larger community.
With offices in Ellsworth and Portland, the Maine Community Foundation works with donors and other partners to improve the quality of life for all Maine people. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.mainecf.org.