This petition is to urge you to urge UUA delegates to General Assembly to vote against Jay Kiskel and instead vote for Rev. Sam Trumbore.

Jay Kiskel co-founded the Fifth Principle Project. The Fifth Principle Project says it supports the democratic process, open and robust debate, appeals to reason, and an aversion to personal attacks – in their own words, “play the ball, not the person.” They claim to be especially concerned when people are “cancelled” or “silenced” for reasons that aren’t clear, or when people’s motives are called into question – in other words, they believe in assuming best intentions. In particular they claim to want vigorous, open, and transparent debate around the anti-racism and anti-oppression work at the UUA.

But, if they support open and transparent debate, why are they adamant that their Facebook group stay closed to outsiders?

Indeed, the reality is very different. Fifth Principle Project is fine with personal attacks, questioning people’s motives, limiting debate, and even “cancelling” people as long as the people in control are White or White-supporting people and as long as the people being attacked, questioned, or “cancelled” are people of color or supporting people of color.

The most recent essay on their website shows this double-standard in action. It says that UUs of color are on “a quest for power (and money).” Apparently for Fifth Principle Project, baseless attacks on motives are fine when directed at UUs of color or their supporters – just not at White people.

When UUA Trustee Christina Rivera said the stress caused by racism at the UUA sent her to the hospital with heart trouble, Fifth Principle Project responded: “Questions naturally arise about the cause of the damage to Ms. Rivera’s heart,” adding, “did her doctor determine that it was indeed caused by “white supremacy?”

Saying questions “naturally arise” is an obscenely disingenuous use of passive voice and absurdly inappropriate use of the word “naturally.” Without having any evidence to doubt what Christina Rivera said about her own body, Fifth Principle Project is casting doubt on what she said. Again, this is exactly the sort of unsubstantiated attack that Fifth Principle Project claims to abhor when the target of the attack is a White male.

When confronted with the discrepancy, their response was to threaten to "cancel" the confronter: “Let this post stand as a warning. This will no longer be tolerated," without giving a clear reason why.

Again, “cancelling” people, or “silencing gadflies,” especially without giving any clear reason or providing “due process,” is exactly what Fifth Principle Project says they’re very much against. 

Let’s be clear. Fifth Principle Project is the home of a backlash against the UUA’s anti-racism work. In fact, Fifth Principle Project itself says it was founded in opposition to a UUA statement opposing “White supremacy culture” in our institution, and this is the reason Jay Kiskel gives for why he’s gotten involved in UUA politics. He believes the UUA is being too hard on White people. What animates Fifth Principle Project most isn’t sensible governance reforms but opposition to anti-racist ideas and practices.

While a rigorous debate about the best ways to be anti-racist is a valiant goal, that's not what Fifth Principle Project provides. At Fifth Principle Project, you apparently can’t criticize White people but questions about people of color “naturally arise.” Whether they intend to or not, Fifth Principle Project is using a race-based double-standard.

Please vote against Jay Kiskel and instead vote for Rev. Sam Trumbore.