Anti-Racism Ministry

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TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING

[We decided early on that our key role for some time would be to help all of the members of our congregation get a better understanding of racism, how it operates in our society today, how we’ve all been affected by it, and how as individuals and as a congregation we might play a role in ending it.  This process of “transformative learning” has been central in all that we’ve done.

We want to all become more skilled in:

  • Recognizing racism
  • Responding to racism
  • Initiating conversations about race, and
  • Develop greater comfort in talking about race and racism

We are finding that more than skill-building is involved here - that we are all called to a process of healing and personal growth.  A number of members of the congregation have been experiencing some challenging conversations and deeper reflections around race, which are often awkward, sometimes painful, sometimes confusing, but ultimately growthful.  We are grateful for courage and the presence of the Spirit that move us forward as we engage with each other and with the world around us.]

 

  • Our “recent” church process around anti-racism began in 2008 with Sacred Conversations both within and outside of Sunday morning worship services.  We used resources from the UCC and found this process a key starting place.
  • The majority of our congregation then read White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, by Tim Wise (2008, Soft Skull Press).  We organized people into discussion groups which met three times to talk about the book and then had an all-church potluck evening to come together to reflect on the ideas and challenges we’d encountered.  Not everyone agreed with everything in the book, but it did get us talking and thinking.

 

  • Over the last few years we’ve used video to further our learning.  We’ve shown the following (sometimes more than once) and recommend them:
    • Traces of the Trade –about northern slave trading, etc.
    • Race: The Power of an Illusion – 3 part PBS documentary
    • Tim Wise on White Privilege: Racism, White Denial & the Costs of Inequality – speech by Tim Wise
    • Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick – from California Newsreel, multiple segments about racial and socioeconomic inequities in health
    • Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity – speech by Tim Wise in 2010

 

  • We’ve had adult education sessions on Sunday mornings before worship:
    • Racism today – examples – both institutional/systemic and personal
    • We’re all part of the system/institutions – we are both innocent and responsible
    • Action steps – both individual and collective
    • Talking with other white people about race and racism
    • White privilege
    • Immigration and Arizona SB1070
    • How to respond when we hear racist comments or comments that might be rooted in racism
    • Interactions between race and socioeconomic class – in conjuction with Class Action
    • Race and the foreclosure crisis, especially in Springfield, MA – presented by “No One Leaves”

We are currently offering a Sunday morning transformative learning session every other month and occasional film showings to continue our learning.