Please read Under Our Charge: the Utes and the Unitarians by Ted Fetter, an essay about how the Unitarians became, in effect, agents of the United States Government in its policy toward Native Americans.
After completing the reading, please reflect on the following questions:
- Was this story new to you? What feelings does it bring up for you?
- In what ways does this story confirm, or alter, your previous understanding of UU history and its relation to the history of Indigenous peoples?
- Are there ways in which these agents’ actions might have been shaped by UU principles? In what ways did they run counter to UU principles?
- Do you think that these Unitarian agents were acting as allies to the Ute people? If not, how would a current understanding of solidarity or alliance-building result in actions different from those in which they participated?