Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario is the Founder and Executive Director of Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE). Growing up in southern California, Marissa first became active with the Unitarian Universalist Association in the Pacific Southwest District.
My journey as a Unitarian Universalist has not been a straightforward one. It has had its ups and downs, to say the least. Perhaps it is more accurate to consider it as a path of sharp curves and broken trails that lead to nowhere. But out of the rubble, a new path would somehow magically emerge, reconnecting me with a faith that I have been involved with for over 15 years.
In 2005, directly out of college, after several years of participation as a UU youth involved in the Pacific Southwest District, I served as a Youth Ministry Specialist with what was then the Youth Office of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Boston, Massachusetts. While there, I worked with an incredible team to support the leadership of young Unitarian Universalists across the country. Working within that office, I met UUs and social justice activists who continue to inspire me to this very day.
Yet after my year of service in 2005, I found myself very disconnected from, and in some ways angry, with the faith. Angry that multicultural organizing efforts within Unitarian Universalism weren’t supported more fully, angry that I was a person of color in a predominately white faith where few folks understood or were willing to talk about their privilege, and angry that I could not do more within the faith to address the human rights violations that I felt were all around me.
Leaving my one-year position, I decided to return to Mexico for half a year to work on a documentary film focusing on the labor rights violations of gas station attendants in Mexico City. Though I had been a UU since age 15, given my frustrating experience over the course of the year I was determined to not interact with the UUA as an institution anymore. I was convinced that we needed to separate for the time being – for how long, I didn’t know.
Yet, life’s surprises emerge in very unexpected ways. Through community connections, a family had offered to let me stay with them over the course of my time in Mexico as I worked on my film. To this day, the family remains an important part of my life. I will never forget the feeling of surprise that came over me when the mother of the family told me that they were actually Unitarian Universalists, and asked if I had ever heard of them in the United States. I immediately started laughing, because the coincidence was almost unbelievable.
That was over 12 years ago, yet recently another experience occurred in my life that has similarly shaken me. I happened to be in Edmonton, Canada for the week at an international human rights conference at MacEwan University and I was assigned housing in a local resident’s home for the duration of my stay. A woman in her late 70s had generously offered her home to me during the conference.
As I looked around at her home, I noticed a very familiar object on her bookshelf — a business card with a chalice on it. I inquired about this and asked if she was a UU. Not only was she a UU, she was an incredibly active UU who organized at her congregation on the weekends and attended anti-racism rallies in her community.
I share both stories because it is a reminder of why I stay with the faith – a reminder of the hospitality of folks who have opened up their doors and their hearts to me throughout the years. Like any relationship, a relationship with a faith is a difficult one. As previously mentioned, I have been frustrated as a UU; I have been angry, I have questioned my beliefs. In fact, I think it is healthy to do so. Yet, I stay committed because UUs are dedicated to social justice in ways that are true to their principles as a faith.
Instead of writing an article of how UUs can strengthen our commitment to social justice and can do better, which I believe that we will, I’ll share why I stay committed to the faith, after all these years:
Involvement in the Civil Rights Movement: The 50th Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act was a reminder to me of the UUs who supported and were involved in the civil rights movement, who risked their lives for racial justice. For example, there are the UUs who have been permanently memorialized in the Civil Rights Memorial in Alabama because of their commitment to racial justice in the United States.
Commitment to Human Rights: In 1940, what is now known as the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) was established, an organization that “advances human rights through grassroots collaboration.” The College of Social Justice (CSJ) was later created as a collaboration between the UUA and the UUSC to “inspire and sustain effective and spiritually grounded activism for justice.” I think this work is one way of putting our UU “faith into action” and for this reason, I have served and continue to serve as a Program Leader through the College of Social Justice.
Black Lives UU: Through the initiative of a group of Black UU leaders, the Black Lives UU Organizing Collective continues to provide support and resources for black UUs across the denomination. Through their leading efforts and the efforts of folks across the UUA, UUs are affirming their commitment to the Movement for Black Lives and the Movement for Racial Justice, truly living our faith in action.
For all these reasons, I stay committed to this work. I am grateful to the people of color within the UU faith who continue this work within the movement, including DRUUMM, which I was part of growing up. I am grateful to the white folks who risked their lives to support the movements led by people of color. I am grateful for the people who stood on the right side of history and continue to stand there.
Over the years, I have come to realize that it is my faith that has helped shape my own personal commitment to social justice. I do this through my work with Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE), an organization that uses the visual arts to amplify the voices of young people for human rights change. In this work, I have felt the support of UUs – who believe in it just as strongly as I do. For this reason, I am honored to begin my service as the Vice President of Recruitment and Outreach for the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation. I am excited to continue my work within this faith and I now realize my continuing commitment to the faith is not one which is of mere coincidence, but rather the path I choose to be on, regardless of the rocky bumps that my lay ahead.
Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario is the Founder and Executive Director of Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE). Growing up in southern California, Marissa first became active with the Unitarian Universalist Association in the Pacific Southwest District. Marissa currently serves as a Program Leader and as a member of the Advisory Board for the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice. Marissa also serves as the Vice President of Recruitment and Outreach for the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation.
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