The following summary and cover photo is attributed to the Addressing Racism Collaborative of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.
On February 16, 2026, eight Friends gathered for the Addressing Racism Collaborative meeting. The collaborative sent out an email to all meeting clerks requesting that they set aside time between now and March 31 to answer questions about the state of their meeting’s work on addressing racism. We sincerely thank the PYM staff for formatting and disseminating this email to the PYM body!
As of now, 33 local meetings have responded. Friends shared that they will reach out to their local and Quarterly Meetings to encourage more meetings to participate. Friends will also post on PYM Connect to get the word out. The collaborative will compile its findings and share preliminary reports during Spring Continuing Sessions.
Friends discussed the idea of hosting more events for the yearly meeting, and were open to the idea of an Addressing Racism Thread Gathering. One idea is to host events that share the responses to the queries. Friends shared a number of events happening in the coming days. These include:
- Reparations Salon facilitated by Reparation Works
- SAYMA’s Racial Conflict Transformation Program
- March 21: Rest as Resistance happening at Chester Friends Meeting
Immigration justice was on the hearts and minds of many Friends. Friends are concerned how ICE agents harm, attack, and target immigrant communities in ways that are violent and go against our Quaker testimonies of equality, peace, and integrity.
Suggested Reading:
- The ripples of a First Victory against ICE and Customs and Border Patrol are beginning to ripple across Quakerdom
- Principles of The People’s Institute for Surviving and Beyond
When Friends in our local meetings are resistant to the work of healing racism, these Friends use the binary of addressing racism as being a “political” topic and then assert that this work must be separate from the meeting’s core spiritual life. Collaborative members emphasized that because Friends affirm that human dignity for each person is non-negotiable, working to heal racial wounds is directly connected to the divine calling each of us answers to as Friends.
A collaborative member suggested that we can be explicit in our language to help Friends understand how racist actions contradict our Quaker faith and practice. For example, ICE agents using military uniforms, weapons, and physical, legal, and verbal violence are all a part of the militarism that Quakers have refused to adhere to for centuries. When we are direct in our language, we can help Friends understand the spiritual underpinnings of the work to stop racist actions and heal racial injustices.
Many Friends expressed great excitement at the start of our new General Secretary Chris Mohr’s tenure. Friends appreciate that he has visited a number of local and Quarterly meetings, having just visited Bucks Quarterly Meeting this past Sunday. The collaborative is hopeful that Chris’ prioritization of the Addressing Racism witness along with our yearly meeting governance’s continued support to place the witness front and center, will help our yearly meeting body make important decisions toward healing racism.
Join us: The Philadelphia Yearly Meeting encompasses 100+ meetings and the threads that connect all Friends in PYM are our corporate witnesses of Addressing Racism and Addressing Climate Change.The Addressing Racism Collaborative is formed of Friends representing a wide swath of local and Quarterly meetings. All Friends in PYM are welcome to join! If you’d like to join, please email Community Engagement Coordinator Claire Kinnel at ckinnel@pym.org and she will connect you with the clerk of the collaborative. The collaborative meets on the Third Sundays of each month from 12:30 pm till 2 pm. We are willing to adjust the time we meet to accommodate new members.
