Richmond (VA) Friends Meeting

Ad Hoc Committee on Repariations to Indigenous Peoples

by WebPost | Nov 29, 2025 | Race and Racism

The Ad Hoc Committee on Reparations to Indigenous Peoples was formed in February 2025 and charged with recommending a financial contribution of no less than $5,000 as a form of reparations to one or more indigenous tribes. The charge listed multiple items to be considered in the discernment process, among them: RFM’s historic and current connections to Virginia’s tribes, as well as any past harms caused by Quakers to those tribes. Later, RFM added the goal of determining how to live in ongoing, right relationship with Native tribes.

• The committee has reached out to multiple tribes including the Monacan, Chickahominy (eastern division), and the Rappahannock to better understand and learn about any historic relationships between Quakers/RFM and their tribe and about how we might form and/or build upon relationships with these local tribes.
• Some of what the committee has learned:
  • The tribes are eager for non-indigenous people to know that they have survived destructive policies perpetrated over centuries by those in power. They are still fighting for their sovereignty, for their treaty rights, to defend their lands and other natural resources (water, minerals, timber, wild game), to educate and provide housing and healthcare for their tribal members, and for governmental acknowledgment of their continuing tribal existence.
  • Virginia tribes seek non-Indians to partner with them in building a resilient future. They have told the committee about several projects for which they seek volunteer labor and, in some cases, financial assistance.  The tribes are open to financial assistance on projects as varied as the cataloguing and mapping of indigenous plants, teaching and promoting the use of traditional medicine among tribal members, creating a tribal apothecary, indigenous language restoration, and protecting their tribal land base from intrusion and pollution by non-Indian individuals and companies.
• The Committee is evaluating ways to better educate Meeting members and attenders on these topics as it finalizes a recommendation on the distribution of Meeting funds.

Thinking about Race (March 2024)

by WebPost | Feb 29, 2024 | Race and Racism

…[F]requent encounters with White people leave many [people of color (PoC)] feeling like they don’t have the mental capacity to engage with one more White person about racism.  Because when they do try to convey how racism is real it often requires sharing how racism has impacted them and their families.  And each time a PoC shares their stories, they relive a little bit of that experience.  So, whether it is in a workshop or a one-on-one conversation, PoC know there will be an emotional and mental toll they will likely have to pay….  PoC are understandably tired, worn-out, exhausted, fatigued, drained, spent, depleted, sapped and expended from trying to teach White people.  It’s even exhausting writing about it.”

From Inside Out: The Equity Leader’s Guide to Undoing Institutional Racism, p. 109, by Caprice Hollins, New Society Publishers (2022)

This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaison at each local Meeting.  The BYM WGR meets most months on the first Saturday, 10:00 am to 12 noon, currently via Zoom.  If you would like to attend, contact the clerk at david.etheridge@verizon.net.

Thinking About Race (December 2023) — “The Work of Christmas”

by WebPost | Nov 23, 2023 | Race and Racism

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers, To make music in the heart.
This poem by theologian and “friend of Friends,” Howard Thurman, was featured in The Black Quaker Project website in November 2020. https://www.theblackquakerproject.org/post/happy-birthday-howard-Thurman

This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaison at each local Meeting. The BYM WGR meets most months on the first Saturday, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, currently via Zoom. If you would like to attend, contact the clerk at david.etheridge@verizon.net.