Friends in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting tested and affirmed the work of our clerks and our elders, since being tasked during Annual Sessions in July 2014, to help discern a way forward in addressing many -isms including-racism, sexism, genderism and classism. Friends also heartily affirmed that as a Yearly Meeting we:
- Commit to increase our consciousness as Friends about the intersection of privilege and race in our culture and spiritual community. We know our knowledge is often limited by our own experiences and that we have much to learn from each other and from outside resources.
- Commit to move forward with our entire community. The yearly meeting is the community of all our individual Friends and monthly meetings and this work needs to be done with the involvement of all of us.
- Commit to integrate this work into what we do in an ongoing way at the yearly meeting level. We want this work to become part of the fabric of what we do whenever we get together as yearly meeting members and attenders.
Share Your Story
Do you have a story to share about how your meeting or group is addressing racism? Please follow the link below to submit your story, and categorize it as “Addressing Racism”. Minutes, agenda and other information about the Called Session on January 10, 2015 on Addressing Racism, where this minute of action was approved, is available to view.
Here are two examples of how this work is manifesting itself in our community.
Resources
A list of resources to help meetings think about where they are and what they may do. These resource lists are annotated bibliographies of books, websites, media and workshops organized along three “levels:” Beginner, Intermediate and “Well Along”.
Undoing Racism Group
The Undoing Racism Group shares a collective vision to address the racism that still persists in our Society. We propose actions which may work to develop the kinds of beloved faith communities we wish for our Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly Meetings, along with other bodies under our care.