The Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism is a coalition of six Quaker organizations and Friends who are working together to accelerate the movement for, and capacity to create, racial justice among (and beyond) Friends through the creation of the Quakers Uprooting Racism community of practice program– racial justice changemakers learning and experimenting with actions together.
The QCUR Steering Committee—made up of representatives of the below organizations and Friends—
oversees the care of the Quakers Uprooting Racism community of practice program.
Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism Vision, Mission, & Goal
Getting Involved
Financial– This is a huge need of QCUR as we heavily rely on financial support from meetings to carry forward our work
- For more information on donating and/or getting your meeting to help fund this work please reach out to quakersuprootingracism@gmail.com
- Donate directly via FGC’s Giving page– Under ‘Please use my gift to support:’ select ‘Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism‘
Join the Racial Justice Quarterly Newsletter-
- This newsletter we will send individually to your email adddress. If you or others in your community would like to receive these newsletters, please visit https://groups.google.com/g/qcur-newsletter and click “Ask to join the group.“
Theory of Change:
We see ourselves as a seed reflecting the Quaker community that is not yet, a thriving beloved and loving community that feels like freedom, where our differences are affirmed rather than eradicated. We understand that it is through circles of influence that this growth and transformation can manifest in community. This expansion is dependent on the interconnected relationships within the Religious Society of Friends and beyond.
Our theory of change is built on these assumptions and suggests:
If…
- We bring together a group of racial justice co-conspirators to deepen relationships, teach and learn skills together, and co-activate systems interventions; and
- We center the voices on the margins of the Religious Society of Friends recognizing they often hold the deepest vision for Quaker community (e.g. BIPOC Friends, young Friends, queer Friends, those who are affiliated with Quaker communities but not members);
Then… we can move the Religious Society of Friends forward in becoming a fully transforming, co-creative community which understands that dismantling white supremacy and creating beloved community is an elemental aspect of our faith.
Quakers Uprooting Racism Program
This 9-month hybrid program seeks to be Spirit-led, made up of a wide representation of the Quaker community, co-creative and focused on developing skills, knowledge and experiences to aid in the dismantling of white supremacy within the Religious Society of Friends and beyond.
The through the 9-month Quaker Uprooting Racism Program the community actively practices…
- Building trusting relationships with one another;
- Collectively naming and developing strategies to dismantle white supremacy and foster root level change (meaningful rather than performative change);
- Skill-building toward change strategies and experimenting with them, bringing learnings from those actions back to the group.
Quaker Uprooting Racism Program Format
Share the below flyer with your meeting!
QCUR Statement on Racial Wounding and Racial Justice in Quaker Communities
Every few years there tend to be pain points on a national scale in terms of the impact of white supremacy culture within the US Quaker community. Within the Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism, we understand that these issues are the tip of the iceberg for the patterns of oppression that Friends of Color and of other oppressed identities experience regularly. Using a foundation of the White Supremacy Culture work of Tema Okun, this document explores the expressions of white supremacy culture and oppression that are regularly observed in Quaker spaces and suggests ways that we might work toward the beloved community we seek. We can only start to shift these patterns when we grow in our awareness of them and practice these and similar interventions. The arc of the moral universe
only bends when we help bend it.
Antiracist Clerking Advices (Co-reviewed by QCUR’s Steering Committee)
These Advices are the result of a consultation with a number of Friends of Color and some
white allies with experience in anti-racist clerking. This document honors the voices and
experiences of its authors. It is not a set of “best practices” that has been corporately discerned
— although many of the practices described here have in fact been used successfully in multiple
settings by multiple Friends, and later stages of the project involved group input and discussion.
There are many ways to be anti-racist and to bring anti-racist practices into clerking; here are
some. It is our hope that this rich tapestry of voices will bring useful insights and challenge us to
grow into the blessed community we are called to be. This is an evolving process and an
evolving document as we continue to learn more. — Kat Griffith, scribe, editor and project coordinator
Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism’s:
Catalyzing Communities Newsletter
If you or others in your community would like to receive these newsletters moving forward, please visit https://groups.google.com/g/qcur-newsletter and click “Ask to join the group.”
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Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism’s
Catalyzing Communities Newsletter
The Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism’s Catalyzing Communities Committee creates pathways of connection for people in Quaker communities (including QCUR alumni and cohort participants) to plug in and feel inspired, supported, and sustained in racial justice and liberation work. We hope this seasonal newsletter of offerings and resources can support that effort.
To add an offering to our newsletter please fill out this submission form or email fkreimer@pendlehill.org.
Winter 2024-2025 Events
As we move into this long weekend and long winter, we encourage Friends to consult the many resources of Toward Right Relationship with Native Peoples, a program of Friends Peace Teams, along with the upcoming events below:
Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism Worship and Worship Sharing, QCUR
Tuesday, December 3, 7:00-8:00 pm ET
Share worship and worship sharing to nourish Friends’ commitment to antiracism and provide space to feel inspired, supported, and sustained in racial justice and liberation work.
Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation – A Book Talk, Pendle Hill
Wednesday, December 4, 7:00-8:45pm ET
Join the book’s authors, including Buddhist-Quaker Dharma teacher Valerie Brown, in sharing readings and practices from this new offering, in conversation with the audience.
So, You’ve Written a Minute on Gaza, What Now?, FCNL
Wednesday, December 11, 6:30-7:30pm ET
Join FCNL’s Quaker Changemaker Event on Wednesday, December 11 to learn how Quaker communities are continuing their advocacy in support of peace in Israel, Palestine, and across the Middle East.
Shifting the Narrative to Restore UNRWA Aid, FCNL
Tuesday, December 17, 6:00-7:30pm ET
Together, we will examine some of the accusations against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), review the facts of its work, and discuss how to advocate for its vital mission.
Silent No More: The Two-Spirit Journey, Towards Right Relationship
Sunday, January 19, 4:00-6:00 pm ET
Leaders share about their ancestral history, expose the harm of today’s political climate, and help participants learn how to change our future.
Online Gathering: A Spring Whose Waters Never Fail, FGC
February 1-9, 2025
Plenary speakers including racial justice leaders, including David Bucura speaking on “Good Leadership after genocide, unity and reconciliation, restorative justice (Gacaca Justice) and forgiveness.”
Black History Month First Monday Lecture, Pendle Hill
Monday, February 3, 2025, 7:30-9:00pm ET
Join Dr. Harold D. (Hal) Weaver, Jr. and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, building on themes emerging from the FWCC World Plenary in South Africa last summer.
Implementing the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Towards Right Relationship
Tuesday, February 4, 2025, 8:00-9:30pm ET
Professor Kristen A. Carpenter will highlight the challenges and the strategies for implementing the U.N. Declaration in the U.S.
Conversations with our Children: Anti-Racism, Woodbrooke
Tuesday, February 18, 2025, 3:30-4:30pm ET
This session is designed to explore how to engage our children and young people in meaningful discussions about racism and anti-racism.
Reading Group on Mary Watkin’s Hypocrisy, Racism, and Self-Interest on the Path to Reparations: Quaker Complicity with Slavery (1657-1776) and White Supremacy, Pendle Hill
Tuesday, February 18, 2025, 7:00-8:30pm ET
Join in an interactive conversation of this recent Pendle Hill Pamphlet.
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Ongoing Offerings & Resources
FGC’s Ministry on Racism has been offering ongoing virtual spaces for people of color and white Friends confronting racism to worship and find fellowship.
Worship for People of Color (Wednesdays weekly, 1 PM ET; Wednesdays biweekly, 8 PM ET; third Sunday of each month, 8 PM ET.)
Worship Sharing for People of Color (Wednesdays biweekly, 8 PM ET)
BIPOC Women’s Space (First Monday, 3 PM ET and first Thursday, 8 PM ET of each month)
Worship for White Friends Confronting Racism (Thursdays, 8 PM ET)
Friends Council on Education
Community Conversations on Race
Equity and Justice Resources
Woodbrooke’s Peace and Social Justice Course Offerings
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Addressing Patterns of Racial Wounding and Racial Justice in Quaker Communities
Lauren Brownlee & Zenaida Peterson
Using a foundation of the White Supremacy Culture work of Tema Okun, this document explores the expressions of white supremacy culture and oppression that are regularly observed in Quaker spaces and suggests ways that we might work toward the beloved community we seek. Written Document
Pendle Hill First Monday Lecture Recording
Woolman Hill Anti-Racism Remonstrance
Michael Levi, White Supremacy Culture in My Clerking, Friends Journal (August 1, 2024)
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Gaza & Israel
The organizations that make up QCUR are all dedicated to racial justice as a form of peacebuilding and understand the peacebuilding needed in this moment is an extension of QCUR’s work.
AFSC’s Emergency Response Resources
FCNL Resources: The War in Israel-Palestine
AFSC Weekly Action Hour for Ceasefire, Fridays at noon ET
Meetings for Worship
QVS Worship with Attention to Gaza, Tuesdays & Thursdays at noon ET
AFSC Worship with Attention to Peace in Palestine & Israel, Thursdays at 5:30 pm ET