I’m glad you asked this question, because the version you have heard of what happened is not correct.

The example to which you refer was posed to me, not stated by me, by a person who attended my UU University Class on Stewardship last year. In a written question, someone asked whether I thought it was a good idea to color code nametags according to level of giving. The example they gave, as I remember it was "like red for the top quartile, blue for the second, yellow for the third, and black for the bottom quartile."

I said, in response, I would never make any public reference to levels of giving in my church. What we sought to establish was a culture of generosity, not a hierarchy of publicized levels of giving. I certainly wouldn't color code any levels of giving on nametags and I would never recommend it.

After the meeting I was approached by a member of Allies for Racial Equity who said she thought I had missed a "teachable moment" in that having black as the bottom quartile was highly insensitive and I should have pointed it out. We had a good and open conversation. I told her I had thought the whole question had been insensitive and thought my answer had made my feelings very clear.

I do support the work of the Right Relationship Team at GA 2007 which continues to support our efforts at building the Beloved Community—in spite of the messiness of the work—an effort I hold dear and to which I fully subscribe. I should also mention I have found Jacque James’s work on language very helpful in challenging messages inherent in our everyday language.

The work at my church with Crossroads, with Journey Toward Wholeness, with Visions, with training from the Southern Poverty Law Center, and with my colleagues and friends of color, has continued to teach me ways I 'don't get it,' and how the work continues in and around me. Had I received the question today I would have given the answer I did, and then followed it up to point out that color coding nametags according to level of giving contributes to classism and elitism, just as putting black at the bottom quartile contributes to racism.

Then I would have reiterated my original point: "Don't do it."

Thanks for asking. Laurel Hallman