SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR MEETINGS TO HELP THEM LOOK AT AND ADDRESS ISSUES OF RACE
FROM THE 2015 WHITE PRIVILEGE CONFERENCE
The recorder added the word “minoritized” based on comments made by a WPC15 workshop presenter of color, Mike Benitez. He talked about the importance of using language that makes visible the process that “minoritizes” (similar to “racializes”) groups of people who are otherwise simply identified as “minorities.” By making the noun “minority” into a verb—minoritize—Mike shows that there is action taken by the dominant or privileged group: it is not a passive or unintentional process.
- CONNECTION WITH FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS WORKING FOR JUSTICE. For Quaker meetings in the Twin Cities area , there is the faith-based social justice organization ISAIAH. Meetings can talk with and learn from Madison and Milwaukee Meetings about similar meeting-wide relationships they have with larger faith-based organizations. (ISAIAH is affiliated with PICO; WISDOM and MICAH are affiliated with Gamaliel.)
- EXPLORE WHO IN OUR MEETINGS HAVE A REAL SENSE OF URGENCY ABOUT, and/or a personal stake in, SPECIFIC JUSTICE ISSUES. (eg. prison work; living wage; educational disparities; land return; etc)
- FIND SOMETHING SPECIFIC AND LOCAL TO FOCUS ON, SO OUR MEETINGS CAN RESPOND TO “OUR OWN CIRCUMSTANCES.” Large abstract issues can overwhelm us and immobilize us, increasing our sense of despair rather than hope and inspiration. How might our meetings, as individual meetings, begin to address “our own circumstances”; how do we start that conversation “at home”? Are our actions functioning out of a racist/White privileged mindset?
- DO A HONEST, HUMBLE MEETING-WIDE INVENTORY. What barriers (e.g. attitudes, behaviors, processes) are there to people of different backgrounds to be made to feel welcome and accepted into the meeting’s community? Can we look at what prevents us collectively from wanting to be part of events and organizations and communities beyond our own meeting? How do we welcome vulnerability without triggering and/or while moving through guilt or a sense of inadequacy?
- FIND (or make?) OPPORTUNITIES FOR WHITE FRIENDS TO GO OUT INTO COMMUNITIES OF COLOR IN MEANINGFUL WAYS. Learn about local communities of color, their activities, what issues they care about, and what sort of support they need.
- FIND (or make?) OPPORTUNITIES TO RAISE THE AWARENESS/CONSCIOUSNESS ABOUT WHITENESS, WHITE PRIVILEGE, etc. FOR WHITE FRIENDS. Then connect the increased awareness to evaluating community-based activities and the choices Friends make as to whether or not to participate in them. (eg Adult Education sessions and other forums on Whiteness, power, privilege)
- EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT WAYS TO CREATE A GROUP THAT FOCUSES ON RACE/RACISM/WHITE PRIVILEGE. Should the group be “Invitation only” or by self-selection? Should it be a drop-in group or a group that commits to a certain period of time or number of sessions?
- CREATE SPACES WHERE WHITE FRIENDS CAN SHARE WITH THE MEETING THEIR PERSONAL STORIES ABOUT HOW/WHY THEY EACH BECAME INVOLVED IN RACIAL JUSTICE. Stories might include experiences at Beyond Diversity 101, the White Privilege Conference, personal relationships with people/communities of color, etc.
- EXPLORE CREATING MEANINGFUL PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH COMMUNITIES OF COLOR THROUGH A VARIETY OF EXPERIENCES AND ACTIVITIES. Partner with a sister church? Come together on housing issues?
- EXPLORE HOW TO VIEW A TOPIC THAT SEEMS TO ENERGIZE THE MEETING WITH A RACIAL JUSTICE FRAME OR LENS. How do we connect with one another and keep racial justice alive at the same time: Can we do “street theater” in our meetings to stir the pot?
- PULL IN NON-QUAKER CONSULTANTS AND OTHER RESOURCES TO HELP ADDRESS OUR QUESTIONS. Heather Hackman is a trainer at WPC and lives in Minnesota.
- CONSIDER MOVING FROM THE ABSTRACT OR BIG, BROAD ISSUES TO A SPECIFIC OR NARROWER ONE. There are at least two types of meeting-wide “campaigns” to focus energy on: (1) Implementing vehicles to offer conversations that raise consciousness. (2) Building relationships outside of Meeting with communities/organizations that are already doing justice work.
- BREAK THE UNSPOKEN MYTH THAT SAYS, “SINCE WE HAVE A GROUP (OR AN ACTIVE INDIVIDUAL) ALREADY WORKING ON THIS, WE DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING AS A MEETING or as individuals.” Dismantling racism and making Whiteness conscious is work that is in everything, so all committees of our monthly and yearly meetings should view its work through the lens of race/privilege.
- DO OUR INTERNAL CORPORATE WORK AS A MEETING BEFORE WE GET INVOLVED IN COMMUNITIES OF COLOR. Talk about all of our identities and the privileges we have as a result. Change the narrative. For example, have the starting question be about IDENTITY, not about only racial justice/racism.
- PLAN TO HAVE INDIVIDUALS FROM COMMUNITIES OF COLOR INVOLVED FROM THE START OF ANY ALLIANCE BUILDING. For example, take time to learn directly from communities of color about how *they* see and experience the issue; how it impacts *them,* and how White Quakers might be able to support *their* work. (more of a listening mode).
- PRACTICE HUMILITY. Listen to communities of color in order to *learn,* not in order to “fix” or share our “expertise,” and not in order to “prove” that Quakers aren’t racist.
- INREACH AROUND ISSUES OF RACE, RACISM, AND PRIVILEGE. Strengthen relationships within the meeting and with each other to deepen/strengthen our connections so we can move forward together in the struggle to dismantle systemic racism.
- CREATE ‘INCLUSION TEAMS’ IN OUR MEETINGS. These teams would function like a committee but with an eye toward looking at what barriers to inclusion exist in the meeting, how they got put into place, how to remove/transform them, etc. (The concept of Inclusion Teams comes from a Creating Social Justice in Organizations resource)
- PRAY. Hold in prayer the weighty questions we have as to how to go about this work, how to move forward, what to bring to Meetings for Worship for Business, etc.
- CHALLENGE/REQUEST ALL OF OUR COMMITTEES TO CONSIDER EQUITY IN OUR WORK.
- USE AN ‘EMAIL BARRAGE’ TO THE MEETING OR FREQUENTLY PUBLISH SNIPPETS IN OUR NEWSLETTERS TO KEEP THE CONCERN ALIVE.
- LEARN ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF RACE AND CLASS.
- EXPLORE TOGETHER WHAT THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS LOOKS LIKE AND SOUNDS LIKE (eg How do White people learn that they are White?).
- EXPLORE AND LEARN HOW TO SOCIALIZE OUR CHILDREN AND YOUTH TO BE AWARE OF PRIVILEGE BASED ON SKIN COLOR. How do we socialize our kids to be anti-racist as they grow up?
- EXPLORE HOW OUR QUAKER PROCESSES AND BUSINESS/COMMITTEE PROCESS ARE SET UP TO DRAW ON WHITE MIDDLE CLASS IDEALS. Consider our collective tolerance (or lack thereof) for certain types of emotion and expression of emotion; our expectations around turn-taking; etc. Explore what behaviors and structures might be more welcoming to historically oppressed groups.
- MAKE EXPLICIT THE WHITE MIDDLE CLASS NORMS THAT WE OPERATE FROM, ESPECIALLY DURING BUSINESS SESSIONS. Get accustomed to seeing, questioning, and naming the behaviors that impose previously unexamined standards of Whiteness and the middle class onto visitors and worshipers among us who might not naturally conform to those standards—or who have been traumatized by being forced or coerced to conform.
- EXPLORE HOW YOUR MEETING PERPETUATES A CERTAIN FORM OR STYLE OF LEADERSHIP, ALONG WITH “POWER OF THE PURSE.” Does it need changing?
- LEARN ABOUT AND CONNECT WITH THE ANTI-RACISM WORK THAT IS GOING ON INSTITUTIONALLY AT THE AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE. How did they get “buy in” from the staff? How are they engaging local Quakers in the work?
- BECOME RESPONSIBLE AND ACCOUNTABLE FOR YOUR OWN INDIVIDUAL LEARNING ABOUT A CONCEPT, ISSUE, HISTORICAL EVENT, etc. THAT HAS TO DO WITH RACE/RACISM/PRIVILEGE. Take one new thing you’ve learned; explore it more deeply and reflect on it. Have a forum for individual Friends to share what they’ve learned. Identify what else to look into.
