Seeking Racial & Ethnic Diversity

Welcoming People of Color

The Committee for Ministry on Racism of Friends General Conference has called on Friends everywhere to be agents of change, moving us toward greater racial and ethnic diversity. Many Friends fervently wish their meetings included more People of Color, but feel at a loss about how to make this happen.

With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, meetings can take steps toward ending this racial and ethnic isolation. Meetings can consciously plan activities and events that direct them toward greater racial and ethnic diversity; find new ways to publicize meeting activities; become better informed about Friends of Color, and focus meeting resources on fostering racial and ethnic diversity.

Voices of Friends of Color:

To be a Friend of Color is like being an American. On the one hand we are one; on the other, we seek recognition and acceptance.
David Yamamoto, Michigan / Ann Arbor Friends Meeting

Being a Quaker for me is living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And being true to the testimonies is the struggle and the pathway of God.
Ernestine Buscemi, New York/ Morningside Friends Meeting

As a member of the Religious Society of Friends, I have been asked many times to take leaps I did not feel ready to do. But when I've done that I've been held and I have been an agent for God in ways I never could have been if I didn't trust and take that leap. I am the type of person who likes a very clear path, so one of my challenges with God is that many times I don't get one. And that's when it really, really calls for me to trust and listen very hard.
Jean-Marie P. Barch, PA / Schuylkill Friends Meeting

In sharing our stories, People of Color have found that we are not alone-that this Quaker faith is our faith, too. Coming into our own power is important because it calls us to speak truth about who we are. When that truth is marginalized and devalued, we turn to our Inner Teacher to give us strength and grace and to help us speak our truth a little louder.
      Our work toward diversity cannot just happen at Friends General Conference Gathering or a workshop at yearly meeting; it has to be at the core of everything we do as Friends.
A Call for Racial Justice Among Friends, Paul Ricketts, Indiana / Ohio Valley Yearly Meeting

I have been intensely thinking about my place in Quakerism. I feel quite lonely out there, and so do others. If we as a Society started listening again to the charge to love each other spiritually, and live our lives in a true spiritual manner, those inside will feel welcomed, and those of Color outside will hopefully find a home here.
Tracy Parham, New Jersey / Plainfield Friends Meeting

My attraction to Quakerism centers around my meeting. / My meeting is / a place where I find God with people who are on the same spiritual journey / yet none look like me. / A place of comfort and pain / a place where my difference as a Woman of Color is honored, yet gently erased / a place of joy / a place of loneliness.
Minerva Carmen Velez-Glidden, North Carolina / Wilmington Friends Meeting

1. Achieve a Truly Welcoming Environment in Your Meeting

• Review the meeting's procedures for greeting and orienting newcomers to insure that all visitors are welcomed equally warmly (neither coldly nor effusively) whatever their ethnic or racial background.
• Be sure that all greeters are aware of meeting's desire to welcome People of Color to worship with the meeting.
• Remind Friends to enter into worship always leaving room for newcomers to be seated easily.
• Caution all Friends in meeting to avoid excessive attention to People of Color or approaches that might be seen as patronizing; simple respect is all that is necessary.
• Invite the Person of Color, as you would any newcomer, to return in the future to worship with Friends and to sign the guest book.
• Finally, encourage meeting members and attenders to invite People of Color to attend your meeting. Research shows that most people who attend a new church or religious group for the first time do so because a friend or acquaintance invited them. There is no better way to demonstrate that your meeting welcomes People of Color.

2. Learn More About the Challenge of Achieving Racial and Ethnic Diversity among Friends and Help Your Meeting Become Better Informed

• Remember that around the world, about 70 percent of Friends are People of Color. Also, be aware that while Friends have a history of supporting greater racial justice, there is also a history of discrimination within the Religious Society of Friends that has left deep scars. While we have achieved diversity in other areas, full racial and ethnic diversity continues to elude us.
• Learn what Friends of Color, past and present, have contributed to the Religious Society of Friends .
• Keep in mind that the number of People of Color in many unprogrammed meetings is beginning to grow.
• Remember that the People of Color who are likely to be interested in your meeting are a lot like your current members in many respects.
• Learn more about the Fellowship of Friends of African Descent (FFAD) and other support groups; display the FFAD brochure on the literature rack in your meeting.
• Be sure your meeting library and your First Day school resource shelf include books about Friends of Color. Check the catalog of QuakerBooks of FGC (www.QuakerBooks.org) and the Fellowship of Friends of African Descent bibliography at ffad.quaker.org for ideas.

3. Foster Unity and Focus Meeting Resources on Racial and Ethnic Diversity Concerns

• Invite a knowledgeable, trained Friend to give a workshop on racism at your meeting. (For assistance in finding a workshop leader, check first with your yearly meeting. If the yearly meeting is unable to recommend workshop resources, contact FGC.)
• Organize worship sharing sessions around this concern. Ask committees to take racial and ethnic diversity into account in their membership and planning of meeting events and publicity.
• Use visuals that proclaim your meeting as welcoming to all People of Color; use real life examples to reflect the racial and ethnic diversity of the Religious Society of Friends on meeting bulletin boards and in meeting publications.
• Establish a racial concerns committee to explore ways to help Friends of Color who are attending your meeting and may at times feel isolated if there are few other attenders of Color; foster the establishment of a yearly meeting Racial Concerns Committee.
• Envision your meeting as a racially/ethnically diverse community and find ways to realize that vision.
• Be sensitive to language usage that may be offensive to members of particular racial/ethnic groups.
• Make racial/ethnic diversity a priority of your meeting's Membership or Outreach Committee.

4. Find Ways for Your Meeting to Participate in Activities with People of Color

• Invite another house of worship for visits to meeting, including meeting for worship and potluck meals.
• Join a community service project or other community activities led by People of Color. Attend events or lectures sponsored by organizations of Color.
• Invite speakers of Color to address the meeting on topics including those that may not be related to diversity.
• Organize programs or events on topics of mutual interest to Friends and Communities of Color and publicize widely. Attend similar programs organized by Communities of Color.
• Honor and possibly participate in Kwanzaa or Ramadan and other festivals and holy days.
• Review your First Day school curriculum. Incorporate lessons, images and activities throughout that support ethnic and racial diversity. Remember that diversity is not just a topic for study but a way of life.
• Read about the People and Communities of Color in your local area; read novels and other writings by and about People of Color to get their perspective on issues; encourage meeting members to seek social opportunities to interact with People of Color.

5. Find Ways to Publicize Your Meeting and Its Activities among People of Color

• List your meeting for worship and advertise meeting events in newspapers circulated to Communities of Color.
• Post or distribute flyers announcing an upcoming meeting event in communities and organizations with racially and ethnically diverse membership.
• Include photos or sketches of People of Color in meeting publicity, as appropriate, to send the message that you welcome People of Color.
• Consider setting up a table at fairs or other events in Communities of Color.<
• Stay abreast of programming for and by People of Color on your local radio and cable TV stations to see whether someone from your meeting might appropriately appear as a guest on a public affairs forum.

6. Encourage Each Individual in Your Meeting to Seek Diversity in His or Her Own Life. Use Prayer and Personal Callings of the Holy Spirit to Provide Guidance.

We invite Friends to contact us at Friends General Conference to tell us about their experiences, successes, frustrations or failures, so that we can all learn from them.

Produced by the Advancement & Outreach Committee and the Committee for Ministry on Racism of Friends General Conference. Photographs taken or organized by Vanessa Julye.