Philadelphia Yearly Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends

Community Engagement

Addressing Anti-Blackness Thread Gathering

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Co-hosted with Chestnut Hill Meeting

This thread gathering calls us to unlearn and be accountable to our past and present anti-Black ideologies, institutions, and behaviors. Knowing that this journey has no finish line, we bravely and humbly come together to move forward in our journeys with intention to continue to learn and unlearn, through interrogation, conversation and understanding in ourselves, our faith community, and with each other.

Disengaging from Comfort or Decentering Comfort

As Friends, we lean on our understanding that we need discomfort to learn to be present during silence, and this discomfort is a growing relationship with spirit. This discomfort is the same discomfort we are growing with and building a relationship with when we are uprooting oppressive thoughts and behaviors. Racism and white supremacy means some of us are more accustomed to discomfort than others, as well as that what is comfortable for some is dangerous and violent to others. We invite participants to acknowledge and address that tension and imbalance with us.

Schedule

  • 9:00am Optional worship – led by Chestnut Hill Meeting
  • 10:00am Introductions & tech review
  • 10:15am Walking with Anti-Blackness – Oskar Castro
  • 12:00pm Optional communal lunch
  • 12:45pm Interrogating and Weeding out Anti-Blackness – Tenaja Henson and Sarah Willie-LeBreton
  • 2:00pm Resources and Closing

Facilitators

Picture of Oskar Castro

Oskar Pierre Castro is a professional with over twenty-five years of service in the social justice wing of the non-profit sector currently serving as the Director of HR and Inclusion at Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. A 1992 graduate of Rowan University where they majored in law & justice, over the course of their professional life Oskar’s work has supported BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) young adults in navigating the challenges of corporate culture, served as a national resource for activists concerned with the militarization of young people in the U.S. with an emphasis on the “poverty draft”, and conducted intense research to support local labor campaigns for service workers in Philadelphia. Most recently they provided pastoral care to young adults seeking to challenge themselves through a year of service with Quaker Voluntary Service where Oskar served as the Philadelphia City Coordinator and the Director of Equity & Inclusion for the broader organization. A member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, Oskar is also a writer, artist, and anti-racist activist who is married to a like-minded soul and is the parent of two amazing daughters.

Picture of Ten HensonTenaja Henson, known by many as Ten, uses they/them pronouns. Ten grew up in Pennsylvania and is a member of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. As a queer afro-latinx growing up in a predominantly white space, Ten found it hard to find representation and support in a lot of the spaces they showed up in. This pushed them to search for more in the work they pursued. During the time they were pursuing their undergraduate degree from Guilford College, Ten began to fall in love with community healing and facilitation. Their passions helped them to facilitate groups at Guilford College and return to their roots, and has helped PYM work through some of the challenges of reconciling with a racist past and how to move forward with accountability and love on the front lines. Currently Ten still facilitates around the topic of anti-blackness and Quakerism with PYM, and currently resides in North Carolina as the NC Campaign Coordinator for Reproaction, advancing access to abortion and reproductive justice across the state and the country.

Picture of Sarah Willie-LeBreton

Sarah Willie-LeBreton is the provost and dean of the faculty at Swarthmore College, where she has taught sociology and black studies for more than 20 years.  A convinced Quaker, she is a member of Providence Monthly Meeting in Delaware County, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and an alumna of Haverford College.  She writes and speaks on education, equity, and racial justice issues.

 

Registration

Registration for this event is now closed. Check out upcoming Thread Gatherings on The Seasons in the Life of a Meeting (February 6th), Truth and Transformation in Community (February 27th), and Engagement and Fundraising (March 6th).

Let’s Talk with Moore Unity

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Moorestown Friends Meeting’s Anti-Racism Committee sponsors Let’s Talk with Karen Reiner and Meredith Butts, President and Vice President of Moorestown’s MooreUnity, about the group’s efforts “to raise awareness of divisive forces in our community and promote inclusion by building bridges across those divides.” Reiner and Butts formed MooreUnity after KKK materials were distributed in Cinnaminson and a Jewish community center in Cherry Hill received a bomb threat. Their efforts and experience are relevant far beyond Moorestown. To join the conversation, click here, or phone 646-558-8656 and enter meeting ID 815 8781 6369.

Barnegat Quakers invitation to free holiday Zoom concert, Friday, Dec. 11, 8 pm

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The Barnegat Quakers are pleased to announce we are hosting a free holiday concert on Zoom, and you are invited. On Friday, Dec. 11, 2020 at 8 pm, Pennsylvania folk singer Charlie Zahm will perform in a joyous concert, featuring traditional songs of the British Isles & Early America, along with songs of the Holiday Season. Charlie has performed up and down the Mid-Atlantic and across the country in the last 30 years bringing a big bag of songs of love, loss, exploration, immigration , the sea—and the list goes on! Join us for this special virtual Zoom concert, with the music and the histories behind the songs. For more information, contact events@barnegatquakers.org.