By Beth Burbank, Eva Hare, and Sarz Maxwell
In January 2019, nine members of Northside Friends in Chicago attended Understanding and Analyzing Systemic Racism, a workshop by CROAR (Chicago Regional Organizing for AntiRacism). CROAR is a regional partner for the Crossroads anti-racism work that Friends General Conference undertook in 2018.
A series of confluent events that we must call Providence converged to become a palpable life-force within our Meeting. A Second Hour presentation by Frank Chapman, co-chair of the Chicago Council to support Civilian Police Accountability, challenged us to confront what we already knew, that Chicago is a city permeated with racism. Attending that event was a Friend from New York who was in town to attend a CROAR training. This Friend spoke eloquently of the impact the training had on them, so it seemed indeed providential when our Treasurer reported that our Meeting reserves, plus a generous gift to the Meeting, resulted in a (to us) substantial surplus of funds. Meeting for Business came rapidly to unity around using a portion of that surplus to support Friends’ attendance at the training that CROAR had scheduled in January 2019.
No Friend who attended the CROAR training was unchanged by the experience. The workshop transformed our understanding of racism in the US in a powerful way. It reframed the concept of ‘white supremacy’ to recognize that white supremacy is more than just marches and hate groups; it is any policy or institution which sees ‘whiteness’ as the norm and which prioritizes the needs and experiences of White people over all others. Deflecting the focus from racist individuals to an understanding of racism as systemic and institutional allows us to recognize how we are all impacted by the societal foundations of white supremacy, and how all our actions either support its furtherance or can work to dismantle it.
Five of us were further led to form the Ad-hoc Committee for Ministry on Racism and develop a plan of ongoing education for Northside. Now we seek not only to deepen our knowledge about white supremacist culture and racism in Chicago, but also to adopt practices which combat systemic racism.
CROAR defines the following as transformative values, as developed by Crossroads
collaboration and cooperation
“both/and” thinking
an abundant world-view, and
transparent communication and decision-making
Our Meeting recognizes these principles as consonant with values expressed in our Quaker Testimonies.
Our Ad-hoc Committee for Ministry on Racism is charged by Meeting for Business to keep these concerns before us, and to remind us of our commitment to the values of a transforming community. We place special emphasis upon transparency in our Meeting decisions and practices, and dedication to an abundant worldview, freely admitting that these two particular values have not always been evident in our interpersonal relationships or in our decision-making as a Meeting.
After a year of consistent reflection within the culture of our Meeting we see these influences on our spirituality:
The Ad-hoc Committee for Ministry on Racism Committee reports monthly to Meeting for Business keeping its activities integrated into the central business of our Meeting’s life. The committee engages in significant interpersonal work exploring the impacts of racism in on ourselves and our culture, and reports on that as well as its more practical work.
This openness has generated greater transparency in Northside’s business and relationships. Friends are encouraged to name conflict when it arises, to speak the truth in love with one another, to consider if business decisions come from a mindset of abundance or scarcity, and to keep working on these concerns in our lives.
We have held several educational programs seeking an understanding of how to be anti-racist in our current culture, including: an exploration of microaggressions; The Case for Reparations for African-Americans (as described by Ta’Nehisi Coates in his essays and his testimony before the US House of Representatives), and a showing of “13” (a documentary regarding the 13th Amendment).
Upcoming programs will focus on CRR19, a project memorializing the Chicago Race Riots of 1919, and a presentation about the Innocence Project with a Quaker who was wrongly incarcerated.
The work of the Ad-hoc Committee for Ministry on Racism has helped Northside find greater common purpose with our hosts, the Japanese American Service Committee. In addition to inviting Friends to some of their programs, a representative from the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) will offer a presentation discussing reparations for those Japanese Americans interned in WWII. We also hope to join our JASC hosts in June when they gather in Washington , DC, with other Japanese Americans for a never again “National Pilgrimage to Close the Camps.”
In the past, Friends have often described Northside as a place of retreat and renewal, where they can take solace from a busy, demanding world and refresh themselves at the well of the Spirit. Our corporate work as a Meeting has mostly focused on this inward aspect, whether exploring our experience of worship, sharing our spiritual journeys, or uncovering and affirming who we are as a community.
Our Ministry on Racism, while still in its early phases, has already begun to influence our perception of Northside and the work of the Spirit in our Meeting. Looking through the lens of abundance rather than scarcity reveals that the Spirit can be a wellspring, a gift which we can share with the wider community. As we set our outward work in motion, the Spirit responds providing deeply gathered meetings for worship and business, as well as a strengthening of our community.
To share our discovery of this spiritual bounty with other Chicagoland Meetings and other interested Friends, the Committee is collaborating with CROAR on a 2½-day workshop, Understanding and Analyzing Systemic Racism, specifically devised to reflect and incorporate Quaker values, testimonies, and leadings. This workshop, cosponsored at this time by Northside and Evanston Meetings, is scheduled for May 28-30, 2020. More detailed information will be quickly forthcoming. If you want to learn more about this program contact beth.burbank@gmail.com or sarzmd@gmail.com.