Living the Truth of Our Testimony of Equality
Originally Written by the Religious Education Committee’s Subcommittee on Ending Racism and Privilege among Friends | Updated by Ministry on Racism Staff on December 12, 2025

Racism, bias, and privilege exist among Friends. Friends of Color and their allies have painfully brought this truth forward. This social condition affects spiritual progress for both individuals and the Religious Society of Friends as a whole. It impedes the ability to live out the Quaker testimonies of integrity, equality, and community.

Acknowledging and naming racism is the first step to ending it. This includes both the seen and unseen racism that pervades society. It also includes the privilege that benefits some Friends while harming others.

Why This Work Matters

The testimony of equality calls Friends to recognize that of God in every person. However, good intentions alone do not create equality. As scholar Ibram X. Kendi explains in How to Be an Antiracist, being “not racist” is not enough. Friends must actively work against racism to live into this testimony.

Many Friends of Color report feeling unwelcome in Quaker meetings. This experience contradicts the testimony of equality. It also reveals a gap between what Friends profess and how they practice their faith. Closing this gap requires honest self-examination and a willingness to change.

Queries for Spirit-Filled Reflection

The Ministry on Racism program encourages Friends to sit with difficult questions. As part of expanding awareness of racism and privilege among Friends, consider these queries:

Awareness and Readiness

• Are we ready to accept the challenge to move out of our comfort zone concerning awareness of racism?
• What things do we do or say that continue racism?
• When dealing with others, do we come from a place of aloneness and separateness, or from our place of connectedness?

Responsibility and Action

• Taking responsibility is not accepting blame. It is empowering. Do we accept the gift of our responsibility for positive change and racial justice?
• How do we use our Spirit-given creativity to confront and heal the effects of oppression and racism?
• Many Friends of Color say that they feel unwelcomed in Quaker Meeting. What is our response to this? Are we content with our response?

Growth and Transformation

• What are we as Friends doing to reach others on the subject of racial equality when they don’t think there is a problem?
• Are we ready to let go of the need to justify and defend ourselves to acknowledge the painful experiences of Friends of Color?
• Can we stop resting on the laurels of our history and grapple with the reality of inequality in the present?
• Can we take the testimony of equality and write it into our hearts?

Using These Queries

These queries work well for individual reflection, small group discussion, or Meeting for Worship for Business. Friends may wish to take one query at a time and sit with it over several weeks. Alternatively, a meeting might use all ten queries as part of a retreat focused on becoming an anti-racist Quaker meeting.

The Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism offers additional resources, including learning experiences, for meetings engaging in this work. Furthermore, the book Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship by Donna McDaniel and Vanessa Julye provides historical context for understanding racism among Friends.

Taking the Next Step

Understanding racism and privilege among Friends requires ongoing commitment. It is not a one-time conversation but a lifelong practice. The FGC anti-racism query offers one tool for sustained engagement:

How does this decision support [our meeting] in its goal to transform into an actively anti-racist faith community?

Asking this question regularly can help Friends keep anti-racism central to meeting life.

Additional Resources

Friends seeking to deepen their understanding may find these resources helpful:

• Beyond Diversity 101 led by Niyonu D Spann: A five-day intensive workshop that helps participants move beyond guilt and blame toward transformation and wholeness
• White Supremacy Culture by Tema Okun: Identifies characteristics of white supremacy culture in organizations
• Racial Equity Tools: A comprehensive collection of resources for racial equity work
• Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad: A 28-day workbook for examining internalized racism

The Ministry on Racism program can connect meetings with facilitators and resources for this work. To learn more, email alician@fgcquaker.org or shainar@fgcquaker.org.