The View From Here-Friends and Racism
by Joan Broadfield, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

I have often heard Friends articulate the hope for an inclusive, diverse community of Friends who were hospitable and visible, who lived their beliefs. Can we be that community without considering how we respond to racism?

Some Friends, usually white, say: "Why do we have to notice race? Why can't we stop talking about it?" I have sympathy with these statements, because I know that race is a human construct. However, that construct is now so imbedded in the way we interact, if you will in the 'systems' in which we operate, that we cannot simply ignore it. Also, the reality of the differences we all have seems to have required humankind to create the construct of race in the first place. We can resist the pseudoscience that the construct attempted to feed into. We cannot resist the pain that has resulted for people of color-and for people of European descent.

Prejudice is hatred or dislike directed against a racial, religious or national group. We need to talk more about prejudice. Racism is more than simple prejudice. Yet, more often than not, even in the dictionary it is given as a synonym for 'prejudice.' In a more ironic sign of racism, even dictionaries do not seem to want to acknowledge the definition that social activists and people of color have been working with for decades: racism is prejudice that is projected into action through power or privilege. Racism is institutionally driven by privilege and bias that simply exists. The bias and prejudice of privilege is so integrated it is hard to see clearly. Sometimes we do not know what we are assuming.

Do all Friends acknowledge the pain that many honored historical Friends owned slaves? How do we deal with the pain this knowledge causes in us and the pain it causes those whose ancestors were enslaved? Is there a shared sense of wanting to move forward beyond the pain? Do we recognize that our world and our riches have grown with the fruits of the labors of oppressed and enslaved people?

Too often, when those of us who are white hear the word 'racism,' our defenses spring to action. We want it to all go away. We know some of the past, but often this includes just the parts we are proud of-and sometimes we have even exaggerated that. We need to learn a more complete version of the past reality.

So what can we do?

First, learn what racism really is. It requires intentional awareness to recognize, face, and work through its implications. Accept that if you are white, especially if you are also middle class, you have privilege you never asked for. Your life is circumscribed differently from people of color.

Second, recognize that all of us, all colors, are affected by racism. If we are people of color we are very aware of it. If we are white, we may not know what the effects are, perhaps because we are denying the reality of it. But we can begin to notice intentionally the ways we are deprived of equal relationship. It may be the awkwardness we feel around each other, particularly if words we have said suddenly seem to hang in the air. It can be the defensiveness we feel around race issues.

Third, and most important, racism can be addressed through learning about ourselves. We must learn about our own biases and prejudices intentionally. We can look at cultural differences and the assumptions that drive behaviors in ourselves and in our Quaker culture. In the end, we all will require humility, compassion, forgiveness, and transformation. The ultimate resolution of racism will be through use of our spiritual gifts.

Fourth, we white people need to talk with ourselves about us. We need to notice with each other the aspects of privilege, bias, and prejudice and the pain they cause. And we need to celebrate what our ancestors did right, in appropriate ways.

How do we confess our racism? How can we create the space of trust that allows us to open all our wounds? Hurt runs deep and is very personal. No one can truly feel another's hurt. To believe one can is to show an arrogance that makes the hurt run deeper. We can be grateful that God loves us, that we are being brought to awareness. For with our awareness, we can begin to transform ourselves. In all our differences and separateness, the place of unity where we can meet and be connected despite our unhappy differences is in the love of God and one another.

Remember that guilt is not helpful if all we do is feel the shame and do nothing, or deny the shame. Remember, too, that the peaceable kingdom is not the place where we are all perfect; rather, it is the place where we live out the love of God, and where we are working on the problems in our everyday lives as best we can.

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