Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Resources

During our called meeting on January 10, 2015, our yearly meeting affirmed a Minute of Action regarding how our faith community intends to address the many facets of “-isms” that confront us and our wider community.

In the time since our called meeting an “extended clerk’s’ team” consisting of the clerk, rising clerk, an elder and a consultant have been focusing on ways to support and encourage all meetings, members, seekers and other people to “Commit to increase our consciousness as Friends about the intersection of privilege and race in our culture and spiritual community” as included in the Minute of Action.

In support of this work, we have prepared 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”.

We commend these resources to your attention and hope that they will help you and your meeting to reflect, consider and act on the issues and opportunities raised during our called meeting and in these resources.

Beginning Resources

BOOKS & FILMS

  • Jeff Hitchcock, Lifting the White Veil
  • Paul Kivel, Uprooting Racism
  • Robin Parker and Pamela Smith Chambers, The Anti-Racist Cookbook (reading only)
  • Ronald Takaki, A Different Mirror
  • PBS documentary series, RACE – The Power of an Illusion

ONLINE RESOURCES & ARTICLES

  • Peggy McIntosh’s white privilege articles

WORKSHOPS & CONFERENCES

  • White Privilege Conference

ACTIVISM

  • ColorofChange.org

GLOSSARY of TERMS

Intermediate Resources

ARTICLES, BOOKS & FILMS

  • Joy Angela Degruy, Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome
  • Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow
  • Thandeka, Learning to Be White
  • Donna McDaniel and Vanessa Julye, Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship
  • The Color of Fear
  • Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
  • Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North
  • What is White Supremacy by Elizabeth ‘Betita’ Martinez

WORKSHOPS & CONFERENCES

  • Training for Change – Whites Confronting Racism
  • Beyond Diversity 101 Associates – Beyond Diversity 101
  • Beyond Diversity Resource Center – Summer Institute – An Immersion Experience on Race
  • Center for the Study of White American Culture – What White People Can Do About Racism

ACTIVISM

  • Robin Parker & Pamela Smith Chambers, The Anti-Racist Cookbook (putting it into practice)

Well Along Resources

ARTICLES, BOOKS & FILMS

  • Bonnie Berman Cushing, et al, Accountability, and White Anti-Racist Organizing
  • Randall Robinson, The Debt
  • “Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing” by Andrea Smith

ONLINE RESOURCES & ARTICLES

  • Challenging White Supremacy Workshop Resources
  • Poverty & Race Research Action Council Resource Library
  • Racial Equity Tools
  • Traces of the Trade Actions of Faith Communities
  • Tema Okun, “White Supremacy Culture”
  • UC-Berkeley, “The Science of Inequality, Volume 1: Addressing Implicit Bias, Racial Anxiety, and Stereotype Threat in Education and Health Care”

WORKSHOPS & CONFERENCES

  • Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond – Undoing Racism TM

These resource lists were compiled by our consultant and reviewed by the clerks of our yearly meeting.

  1. We are only referring resources we are presently familiar with. Over time we may review and consider additional resources.
  2. There are literally thousands of resources available. It is a resource-rich environment. Picking a small list, any small list necessarily requires not listing many worthy candidates.
  3. Other Friends may have different and perhaps favored resources. Sometimes people can be very passionate in their support of the use of a particular resource.
  4. We do not yet have a clear understanding of PYM’s vision, goals, and approach to addressing racism issues. A clearer understanding will inform our choices in the future.
  5. A resource is only as good as its use. In some cases, this means a resource may be used poorly or even counter-productively if not accompanied by discussion and processing led by a person seasoned in anti-racism, ally work, or racial justice (there are multiple possible frames here).
  6. Although we are Quakers from an FGC-affiliated yearly meeting we still have much to learn about the specific settings, people, organizational culture, history and relationships with the wider communities that exist and operate in the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting area.
  7. We only offer our list as a jumping off point. We make no claim to it being comprehensive or appropriate to all occasions that may arise or that our list will speak to the experience of all Friends.

The recommendation and use of resources should be a continuing matter of discussion among PYM Friends and open to suggestion from PYM Friends under the weight of the work.

Useful Statistics

This tab was added to provide a brief overview of useful statistics that Friends may use when studying the various impacts of racism and white supremacy on our society. Below, find a list of resources with useful statistical overviews: