Richmond (VA) Friends Meeting

Race and Racism Ad Hoc: Minute and Meeting for Discernment

by WebPost | Nov 20, 2023 | Clerk’s Business, Minuted Decisions

The Ad Hoc Committee on Race and Racism is presenting to the RFM community a Proposed Minute on Race and Racism. The minute has its origins in the following query that the committee had posed to the RFM community: "What should Richmond Friends Meeting do regarding race and racism?” Responses to the query were submitted online, were written and placed in a box at the meetinghouse, or were voiced at listening circles. The committee drafted the Proposed Minute on Race and Racism to encapsulate what was learned from the query responses. The ad hoc committee hopes that RFM will unite with a minute in order to clarify the Meeting's purpose and intention as we move forward into action. We invite reflection on this minute at a Meeting for Discernment on December 2 from 10am to 12 noon at the meetinghouse. We hope you can join us. 

Richmond Friends Meeting - Proposed Minute on Race and Racism

As Friends, our belief that there is ‘that of God’ in everyone grounds our practice of upholding the worth of each human being. Each person is guided by an Inward Teacher toward truth; each has the capacity to experience and be transformed by Spirit. The fullness of our lives – as individuals and as a community – unfolds as we live into these spiritual truths. Just as we value each person, these core beliefs lead us to value the diversity of culture, race, and ethnicity that enrich the human family.  Richmond Friends Meeting commits to being a faith community of deep hospitality for and inclusion of all people.
 
We recognize that inequality and injustice based on race are deeply rooted in our society. Richmond Friends Meeting commits to challenging and repairing racism in ourselves as individuals, within our Meeting, and in our Meeting’s relationship with the wider world. 
 
We embrace these commitments as guides for our personal lives, our life as a community, and our Meeting’s engagement in the wider world. Living more fully into our commitments will require listening, humility, and a willingness to be transformed. We seek to live into our commitments in these ways:
 
·       RFM will make it a clear, strong priority to understand and act on issues related to race and racism.

·       We will be undergirded by our Quaker faith as we embark on this work, seeking to reflect and strengthen our relationship with Spirit. 

·       As expressions of our faith, our commitment to justice — and our testimonies of equality, community, peace, integrity, simplicity and stewardship — will guide our work.

·       Living with integrity means consistency between our actions and our deeply held beliefs. The actions we take will make clear RFM’s stand against racism and will uphold our commitment to nurturing a community inclusive of all people.

·       RFM will research and reflect on our history as a meeting in order to discern atonement for past harm and injustices, as well as to recognize sincere efforts at racial progress and healing.

·       We will seek to understand the history and ongoing realities of systemic racism. This understanding will be fundamental in discerning action.

·       RFM will collaborate with groups and organizations that promote racial healing and seek to dismantle some aspect of structural racism.

·       We will seek to follow the leadership of people of color and that of Quaker organizations that are addressing issues of race and racism.

·       We recognize that this is an ongoing process, and we hold each other in the Light as we seek to learn, to be transformed, and to be of service.

With Thanks, 

Margaret Edds, Allen Lee, co-clerk, Kathleen Morgan, co-clerk, Ruth Morrison, Lynda Perry, Michael Pierce, Monica Shaw, Rita Willet