This booklet was written as a hand-out for a workshop at GA 2000. I knew too many UU young adults who would not be able to attend the GA workshop, and too many topics that we would not have time to cover in the time given. I wrote the booklet for these "absent friends." Please read it as it was written: a transcript of a conversational workshop, a workshop intended to spark further conversations after its limited time is over.
I am again reprinting the current draft, despite its somewhat untidy and unfinished condition, in response to requests from UUYANers that I cannot refuse. My gratitude to all of you who continue to care so much about UU Bridgers and the issues that they raise for all of us. My gratitude also to all of you who continue to send me feedback and corrections.
Children of a Different Tribe was written with hopes of contributing to a process of community change. As I prepare to reprint it now, in January of 2001, I am excited by the changes that I now see. The UUYAN movement is blossoming, widening, deepening. Visions are catching fire; institutions are strengthening, consolidating and multiplying. The Cliff, while still real, looms a little bit less steep, less deadly. The narrow and perilous Bridge is being widened, strand by strand, by the determined will of many who walk and guard its path. In January of 2001, I feel real hope. Some day I may be able to declare that certain sections of this paper no longer apply, are no longer needed, that they name problems that have been solved, or insights too obvious to mention. That would be sweet.
A word to certain of the elders who took the time to read and offer feedback on Children of a Different Tribe, and felt the need to raise questions about its possible conflicts with our values of universality. The title of this booklet claims that UUs can benefit from exploring the idea of UUism as an ethnicity, as a minority culture. Is my promotion of this idea an act of exclusiveness? Against, for example, Christians, or against young adults not raised UU? My experience and belief says, no. But I will also say this: these questions of identity vs. universality are valid concerns, are important. The challenge of seeking a truthful balance between values of identity and universality is an inherent and necessary part of the ethical landscape of every minority group. Only the dominant group can choose to pretend that its own particularity is irrelevant or safely ignored. As we seek to move our UU community from a white/dominant-culture center to a more truly multicultural/ international UU center, I am glad to be part of a process by which we begin to own and acknowledge these kinds of questions as our own. The debate itself will deepen our understanding of what it means to be a people with a culture.
Finally I want to say that I draw tremendous hope from the growing spirit and presence of UU Young Adults of Color in our community, from the beautiful bouquet of voices I heard speaking at GA, OPUS/ConCentric, and United Voices during the past year. May we protect the still-small flame of this joyful presence among us. May our anger and our love bring us the strength to move together in the sharing of our dreams.
Yours for the Spirit,
Sharon Hwang Colligan
January 2001