The Welcoming Friend Working Group is a Friends General Conference initiative where representative from Meetings across the nation share how we approach and welcome newcomers with a goal of improving outreach efforts. Please join us in discussion to share our Meeting’s insights with the larger FGC working group.

For this month we will be exploring how we welcome visitors from racial and ethnic minorities and how white people and white-majority spaces can, sometimes unknowingly, behave in ways that are hurtful and unwelcoming to people of color.

The Welcoming Friend Working Group offered several topics for discussion and for our Meeting we have chosen to focus on the subject of microaggressions; the unitentional, but pervasive biases that are harmful to people of color. 

Reviewing the following materials on microaggressions will be very helpful for our discussion:
Psychology Today article (with video link) by Derald Wing Sue of Teachers College at Columbia University: Racial Microaggressions in Everyday Life
PBS interview with Derald Wing Sue: Microaggressions PBS Video (7:57)
Worksheet: Examples of microaggressions
Wrap-up questions for each topic have been included to help explore learnings and think about future actions.
Microaggressions Wrap-up Questions

These short videos are not specific to microaggressions, but will be helpful in our conversation on racial bias:
Implicit Bias: Why We’re Awkward (2:41)
Implicit Bias: Make Friends to Tackle Bias (2:08)
Implicit Bias Wrap-up Questions

Materials from alternative Welcoming Friend Working Group topics on racial bias and reconciliation:
Self audit exercise
Self Audit Wrap-up Questions

Lamentation: explanation and reflection exercise
Lamentation example on the subject of border crossings 
Lamentation Wrap-up Questions

White Fragility

Contact Joe Rockey or ”Michael’ Cunningham for more information.
It is helpful, but not required, to  let us know you are attending.
Anything we can do to help you attend? Like childcare or a ride? Let us know by Sunday, March 24 and we will work out accommodations.