Julie Earnest
Written in the first week of June 2024 to the Executive Team and Board of Trustees.
My name is Julie Earnest, born in Boston but grew up in Berkeley.
I have been a lifelong UU, was active in RE and in music at the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, where my father was the head of the Music Committee and where later I became active in RE and sang with the choir.
I moved here in January 2008 and became a member of this church, singing in Chalice choir with Mark Slegers. I had several years of only sporadic activity with this church, but in 2019 when I re-joined the choir I became a major donor.
I have been in the Spirit Choir, Harmony Choir, Radiance Choir, Parker Bells, and yes, I also occasionally played flute with Amity Choir, whenever John Boelling asked.
I was also the head of the music library, along with my colleague and friend Lynn Fendler. The volunteer work I have done for the music library alone has enabled me to donate more than $4000 to the music program by virtue of the matching grants provided by the Foundation I work for.
I give you these credentials because the culture of our church community seems to value these sorts of things, and I want my voice to be heard.
Knowing how deeply I care about social justice and musical excellence, some friends recommended that I look up DeReau and consider singing for him.
My online research brought me to DeReau’s Testimony from words he spoke early in his career with this church. Maybe you’ve seen it? Whether you have or not, I recommend you watch it again: https://vimeo.com/392511373
He spoke about his strong ethical principles regarding the origin of music – in this case, music from the Black tradition that had been arranged by white composers. He was NEVER one to shy away from speaking his truth about matters of oppression. His words were so prescient. Speaking to the largely white congregation, he said,
“When you ask me what white privilege is, it is this power you have to not notice.
When you ask me what white supremacy is, I would say it is this power you have to be angry when I notice.”
THIS. This is what drew me back to this church – I wanted to sing with and learn from DeReau. I was granted a spot in the Harmony Choir, and soon expanded my participation to the other choirs and handbells. What I have learned from DeReau musically is beyond compare. What I have learned from him as a role model of outspoken integrity has been priceless.
The weekly homilies delivered to the choir by DeReau as we circled together prior to our Sunday service provided profound inspirational and spiritual groundedness for the theme of the day's service. My understanding is that a small handful of complaints regarding some of the spiritual references he made brought those homilies to an end this spring. This is shameful. Whatever happened to "Unitarian Universalists assert no creed, but instead are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth" ? And what is the basis for giving credence to a few discomfited voices, unless it was simply a way of "justifying" an action the ET intended all along - to remove DeReau K. Farrar because he was "disruptive"?
DeReau is a brilliant, wise, gracious, compassionate, incredibly talented, and unapologetically Black and Queer person with a deeply counter-oppressive lens who isn’t afraid to use his voice. He has been taken down by a blatant white supremacist system and by individuals who seem to be incapable of approaching the situation with any measure of humility, decency, understanding of privilege, or professionalism, all the while preaching about many of these things each week. He noticed your white privilege, he called it out, and you're angry.
By this action you have shattered my spiritual and musical world. By the actions I have witnessed during the recent weeks of our peaceful protests - from the ET, from congregants, and from our regional UUA representatives - I have lost faith in my denomination as a whole. I intend to remain a member to exert what little power each of us individually has to hold leadership accountable, but I will no longer be a participant, a volunteer, or a major donor. And as painful as it is, I no longer consider myself a Unitarian Universalist.
