Teasing Apart Quakerism's White Cocoon

APPROXIMATE PERCENTAGES OF TIME:
Worship/worship-sharing 30; Lecture 0; Dialogue 10; Experiential (including journaling) 60

CONTENT
Which of the Quaker values and practices common in our meetings are essential to our particular branch of Quakerism and which are completely dependent upon the race and class of the mainstream in our meetings? This is a query, posed not for discernment of an answer, but for opening the silence that lies among us about race and class privilege in our Quaker communities. Any two individuals are about as similar to each other in some ways, as they are different from each other in other ways, but a given Quaker culture, just as any other culture, places values on some qualities at the expense of devaluing others.
Most of us who did not grow up in Quaker meetings initially felt an immediate comfort and rightness about liberal Quaker faith and practice: unprogrammed worship, the gentle ways people behave towards each other in business and social occasions attached to meeting, and valuing that of God in everyone.
Yet many of us also feel that we must leave a lot of ourselves at the door when we come into meeting and that what we leave behind in this way is still just as right for us as what we bring inside the meeting house. Ways of being and acting that seem a “natural” choice for those in a meeting's mainstream but involve assimilation for others can create a sense that alternative ways of being are not welcomed. Attitudes toward dress and other aspects of appearance, and approaches to conflict transformation are two, among many, possible areas of difference where certain choices are devalued. Loving nurturance of a person's spiritual growth can be difficult if this devaluation is felt.

During the past decade, Friends General Conference has made the reduction of racism in Quaker institutions a priority. The Committee on Ministry on Racism (CMR) has been an important element in this work, especially through its offerings at the Gathering. CMR received a request last year to assemble a set of “what canst thou say” writings on people's experience and values around race and class, as it pertains to the communities of their monthly or yearly meetings, or FGC-sponsored events. The publication this year (2009) of Donna McDaniel and Vanessa Julye's massive project on American Quakers' relationships, through the years, with people of African descent, FIT FOR FREEDOM NOT FOR FRIENDSHIP, heralds an excellent opportunity to extend dialogue about race and class and systemic racism and classism in the Religious Society of Friends into our mainstream.

EXPECTATIONS
Both people of color and Euro-Americans will write their individual experiences as ways to frame them and share them with others are enabled by the safe community for sharing we will build in the workshop.
We will practice tools that Tory and I have developed for safe Meeting Community Inreach to communicate our experience of race and class privilege in worship sharing, story-telling, journal writing, and heart-opening exercises. Nonviolent Communication and Niyonu Spann's “Beyond Diversity 101” have provided some of the exercises we use.
We expect participation from everyone present, on the whole. However, people are free not to address any particular request that comes before the group, without having to defend themselves.

OBJECTIVES
First and foremost we desire to open the silence about this topic that still exists in many Quaker communities. We attempt to
*impart tools to the participants that have proved fruitful for meeting inreach
*practice Quaker tools of deep listening, plainly speaking about our experiences, and holding a conversation in prayer in a small group of three or four
*practice intentional self-empathy and empathy for others
*become more deeply aware of similarities and differences of our experiences in living Quakerism from different race and class perspectives
*practice writing about these experiences in an accessible manner
*contribute to care and counsel around dialogues about race and class in their home meetings on their return
Secondly, at the end of the workshop participants should have a draft of what they would like to make public about their experience of privilege in their Quaker Communities. The leaders will collect and edit these offerings in consultation with the participants for publication .

PREPARATION:
If possible, participants should read Brian Drayton’s MEMBERS OF ONE ANOTHER, PHP 373 beforehand, and/or expect to read it in the course of the week
Members should bring their journals, or a means of writing they find congenial.
Some familiarity with Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication Model is helpful, but not required. Participants who wish to do so may consult NONVIOLENT COMMUNICATION by Rosenberg.