Reflecting on Racism and Privilege Among Friends

Instructions

Print the Understanding Racism & Privilege Among Friends document and facilitate a worship sharing session on one or more of the queries.

The fact that racism, bias, and privilege exist among Friends has been painfully brought forward and acknowledged by Friends of Color and their allies. This is a social condition that affects our spiritual progress both as individuals and as a religious society. It impedes our ability to live out our testimonies of integrity, equality, and community. Acknowledging and naming the seen and unseen racism and privilege that pervade our society is the first step to ending it.

As part of the process of expanding our awareness of the impact of racism and privilege among Friends, we offer these queries for your Spirit-filled consideration:

1. Are we ready to accept the challenge to move out of our area of comfort with regard to awareness of racism?
2. What things do we do or say that continue racism?
3. When dealing with others, do we come from a place of aloneness and separateness, or from our place of connectedness?
4. Taking responsibility is not accepting blame. It is empowering. Do we accept the gift of our responsibility for positive change and racial justice?
5. How do we use our Spirit-given creativity to confront and heal the effects of oppression/racism?
6. Many Friends of Color say that they feel unwelcomed in Quaker Meeting.  What is our response to this? Are we content with our response?
7. What are we as Friends doing to reach others on the subject of racial equality when they don’t think there is a problem?
8. Are we ready to let go of a need to justify and defend ourselves in order to acknowledge the painful experiences of Friends of Color?
9. Can we stop resting on the laurels of our history and grapple with the reality of inequality in the present?
10. Can we take the testimony of equality and write it into our hearts?