The UU Common Read for 2020-2021 is Imani Perry’s Breathe: A Letter to My Sons:

“Emotionally raw and deeply reflective, Imani Perry issues a challenge to society to see Black children as deserving of humanity. She admits fear and frustration for her African American sons in a society that is increasingly racist and at times seems irredeemable. However, as a mother, feminist, writer, and intellectual, Perry offers an unfettered expression of love—finding beauty and possibility in life—and she exhorts her children and their peers to find the courage to chart their own paths and find steady footing and inspiration in Black tradition. The New York Times calls Breathe “an elixir of history, ancestry and compassion, which, together, become instruction… a parent’s unflinching demand, born of inherited trauma and love, for her children’s right simply to be possible.”

Breathe offers a broader meditation on race, gender, and the meaning of a life well lived and is also an unforgettable lesson in Black resistance and resilience.”

You can purchase the book through the UUA Bookstore, or from an independent bookseller via Bookshop.org, which also offers Breathe as an audiobook on cd or as a digital download. We also encourage you to consider ordering from Boston’s black-owned Frugal Bookstore. 

The discussion of Breathe will kick off a series of conversations about anti-racism and anti-oppression work. Each session will have two dates, one on a Sunday afternoon and one on a Monday evening, for flexible scheduling, and congregants are invited to attend whichever date best suits their needs. We will discuss Breathe on January 10th at noon and January 18th at 7:00 pm.

The following sessions will look at additional resources and possibilities for action, so save these dates:

Session Two: January 24th & February 1st

Session Three: February 7th & 15th

Session Four: February 21st & March 1st

Session Five: March 7 & 15th

Session Six: March 21st & 29th