January 27, 2025

Introduction

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.

A note on audience: We, the authors and reviewers, recognize that Friends Meetings and organizations vary in racial and ethnic composition, and that some readers may wonder whether these Advices apply to their circumstances. We believe that in the same
way that teachers who teach with all their students in mind, not just the “typical” ones, reach their whole class better, so our
communities are best served when our words and actions reflect a degree of racial/ethnic diversity in the room even if that is so far aspirational. Very few Quaker spaces are majority-BIPOC, and our Advices are designed for this reality. Not knowing who is coming in the door — but acting and speaking as though they have already come in — helps us live more fully into our intentions.

A note on terminology, acronyms, and capitalization: The language we use to talk about race changes over time and varies between groups. We needed to make some choices here — such as whether to capitalize “white” or use acronyms such as
BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) and POC (People of Color), etc. Our choices reflect this moment in time among some U.S.-based Friends involved in the work of uprooting racism among Friends. They are not the only choices we could have made, but they were discussed thoughtfully. Our choices include capitalizing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (as well as using the above acronyms), and not capitalizing “white”. Our reasoning? Capitalizing it would have been consistent with the other terms of racial identity, as well as raising up that “white” is indeed a specific racial identity, not a normative condition. It is often helpful for white people to be reminded of this. On the other hand, white nationalists and white supremacists often use “White” to indicate white racial superiority. Furthermore, capitalizing “white” also perhaps raises up a group of people that does not need raising up in this society. We ultimately found the latter considerations more compelling, but we recognize the validity of other choices for this and other terms.

Navigating this document: We recognize that most people will probably not read these Advices from start to finish. We recommend you start by reading the executive summary, which is basically a detailed table of contents written as a list of “Do this!” statements. Once you have identified the topics that interest you, try reading the brief summary paragraphs on those topics. For more depth, personal stories, and experiences, dive into the quotes following the introductory paragraphs. All quotes are in italics. Note that the lettered section headings in the executive summary are live links to those sections.

Feedback and future versions of these Advices: We are open to the possibility of revising these Advices at some point to correct errors, fill in gaps, and share new learning and insights. If you have thoughts about material that should be revised or added, please contact Kat Griffith at katgriffith@hotmail.com. Include your contact information and a brief summary of changes and/or additions you would like to see so that I may reach out to you if and when we undertake a revised edition.

Thank you for your commitment to anti-racist clerking!

Sincerely,
Kat Griffith, scribe, editor and project coordinator

Authors (bolded names were in the initial group of interviewees, starred names are POC Friends):

• Jean-Marie Barch*
• Euclid Bautista*
• Lauren Brownlee*
• Justin Connor
• Lisa Graustein
• Kat Griffith
• Shel Gross
• Barry Scott*
• Sonia Tuma*
• Marijke van Roojen
• Regina Renee Nyégbeh*

Reviewers:

• Jean-Marie Barch*
• Willie Colon*
• Lauren Brownlee*
• Lisa Graustein
• Shel Gross
• Eppchez Yes*
• The Quaker Coalition for Uprooting Racism Steering Committee (various members discussed the text as a group)