Telling The Whole Story
Racial Justice
At The United Churches of Olympia, we believe that God created all of humankind in God’s image and calls us into action to create justice in this world. Racism and the ideology of white supremacy directly contradict this vision of God’s kin-dom. We are committed to becoming racial justice advocates within our own church, as well as within our communities.
As a Christian faith community in the United States, we acknowledge our complicit participation in systems of white supremacy and colonialism, both historically and today. We continue to wrestle with the implications of this history, while seeking to disrupt systems of oppression. Through the work of our Uprooting Racism team, we are developing the skills to identify and educate others about injustices, actively advocate with communities of color, and engage in courageous conversations.
Racism must not be accepted in our worship spaces, our community, or our world. We affirm the dignity of all people. Listening for the voice of God, who is still speaking, we strive to work towards a vision of true justice for all.
Uprooting Racism
The United Churches’ Uprooting Racism Committee was formed in 2020 and is actively working to dismantle racist systems and structures within our congregation and the greater community.
The Uprooting Racism Team hosted and facilitated Lunch and Learn sessions focused on books and movies, as well as a number of book group opportunities. There were also post-church gatherings on the 5th Sunday of suitable months. These get-togethers provided opportunities for people to “talk about race” on subjects covering a wide range of topics.
The Uprooting Racism Team has offered two major workshops: the UCC Join the Movement’s Sacred Conversations to End Racism and Courageous Conversations. These offerings presented different ways for United members and participants to learn about, become engaged in, and contribute to what it takes to Uproot Racism.
With the Uprooting Racism Teams’ assistance, United continues to more fully engage the congregation, as well as church committees and groups, to pursue ways to show we are a place where spirituality and justice meet.
United Churches Land Acknowledgement
The church is not a building. But this church has a building. This building is on this land in Olympia, Thurston County, Washington state. And just as we belong to and are a part of this church, we belong to and are a part of this land.
This land is the traditional and current home of the Nisqually, Squaxin Island, and Chehalis people. The surrounding mountains, valleys, shorelines, and waterways are bursting with their living presence, past, present, and emerging.
May we nurture our relationship with our Coast Salish neighbors and our shared responsibilities to this place—their homelands—where we mutually abide.
In the 1930’s, many parcels on this land bore racial restrictive covenants that say this land “shall never be rented, sold, or leased to any Negro, Mulatto, Indian, Chinaman, Japanese or any of the so-called yellow races.”
In the 1940s, this land was a Japanese exclusion area. Japanese people who lived here were moved off this land into an internment camp.
In the 1960s, this is the land where Billy Frank and others held protests to defend their civil rights and the rights to fish in these waters.
This is the land where we and others have defended civil rights for our LGBTQ siblings.
This is where we came with our youth, with posters and chants to draw attention to our changing climate.
Our land is changing. We have breathed air thick with wildfire smoke. We have weathered too many floods, atmospheric rivers, and heat waves. Here on the doorstep of this church, Barnett Moss lost his life during an unprecedented heat dome.
We are the people who can act together to insist to governments and corporations that we break our addiction to fossil fuels and our tolerance for destruction in the name of capitalism, and we prioritize the protection of this place and its inhabitants.
We are the church. We belong to the land, our lives and wellbeing are interconnected with each other, and with the wellbeing of the land, and the plants and animals on it.
May we bring that sense of connection through space and time into our physical and virtual space today.
Telling the Whole Story
The Uprooting Racism Team has drafted, and Council approved, a statement that has been added to the wall beside the Chapel's stained glass windows. The statement provides some history of the windows and an acknowledgement that the depiction of a white, European Jesus is problematic and states our rejection of theologies of white supremacy, manifest destiny and the doctrine of discovery.
The United Churches Statement on our Chapel's Stained Glass Windows
The three main panels of the window were designed and installed in 1910 at The United Churches building on Legion Way and Franklin. The artist of these windows is unknown. They were moved to our current location at 11th and Capitol Way in 1957. In 1979, the windows were moved from the original Chapel (now the library) to this wall and additional panels on each side of the originals were created by Mansion Glass of Olympia.
As The United Churches of Olympia walks the path of becoming an anti-racist church, we dispute the depiction of Jesus with blue eyes, blond hair, and white skin. We acknowledge that these windows reflect a characterization of Jesus that mirrors the time and style of religious art at its making and images of Jesus are portrayed globally to reflect local cultures. However, we understand that ‘white Jesus’ was more than likely created by people who believed in Manifest Destiny and the Doctrine of Discovery, which are based on beliefs that white people are superior to and should be elevated over other groups of people. We reject that narrative and acknowledge that these images do not reflect our journey to become an inclusive and anti-racist church.
We are looking into changing the skin color to reflect more realistic, darker tones. To date, a decision has not been made to alter the windows. Due to the value of the windows as a work of art and their historical value to the church, the windows will remain as is for now. The church is committed to displaying art that reflects our journey to become an inclusive and anti-racist church. In 2025, the church undertook a project to acquire more contemporary art to demonstrate our belief, as followers of Jesus, that all humans are created in the image of God and all humans deserve respect, love, and support. No group of humans is superior to another group. Love is Power.
~ Presented by the Uprooting Racism Team, approved by Council, June 2025
Click the image above for a PDF version of the United Churches Statement - Telling the Whole Story