You are invited to consider participating in the New Garden Friends Meeting Anti-racism working group to guide the Meeting in addressing systems of racism within our community.
But, you may think, we’re Quakers, we have the Equality testimony. New Garden Friends Meeting has many nice white people, who don’t see themselves as racist. And you would be right in thinking that, as a faith community, we’re not intentionally harming to Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). As a community of mostly white people in an historically white faith community, we have some work to do about examining our practices that may be unintentionally harmful to BIPOC folks that we interact with and want to welcome.
And we’ve started that work, with our minute on becoming an Antiracist community, book studies, and first day programming with the 1619 Project. Forming an Antiracism working group is the next step in this process.
- How long is this process?
It’s important to understand that it’s taken generations to get to where we stand in this present moment – hundreds of years. The work of becoming an Antiracist faith community will be generational work, and in this moment, we are creating the foundation for what we are to become. The purpose of the working group is to provide leadership in our community’s effort to live into the Equality testimony
- How do I know if I should participate in the Antiracism working group?
Being willing to guide the Antiracism work within our community is both personal and leadership work. This is something that may take some discernment. Some queries to consider:
- How has my spiritual journey brought me to the place or point of being interested in racial equity?
- What resources do I have – such as time, energy, passion, openness – and what resources may I need to be able to commit to this work?
- What support do I have for spiritual struggles or dilemmas that may arise? Can I ask for help with this if I need it? If you have willingness to explore these queries and consider how racial equity/anti-racist action can be applied within our Meeting, if you want to continue in your journey to live into the Equality testimony and put some effort into helping others in our community do this too, you may have a leading to participate in the working group.
Please contact Presiding Clerk Tim Lindeman if you are interested in participating.