[saymaListserv] Availability to Lead Workshops on Ending Racism Among Friends

[Bert Skellie]

Dear Friends,

In November I led a weekend workshop on Ending Racism Among Friends at the
invitation of the Birmingham Friends Meeting. I want to let other SAYMA
Friends know that I am open to leading similar workshops in the future. For
more information see below (description of workshop, traveling minute from
Atlanta Meeting, response from Birmingham).

In Peace & Friendship,

Bert
2303 Dancing Fox Road
Decatur, GA 30032
(404) 378-5883

Experiential Workshop on Ending Racism Among Friends

Led by Bert Skellie & Sponsored by
 Birmingham Friends Meeting

Friday 11/4 5:30-8:30 PM; Saturday, 11/5, 8:30 AM - 5 PM
at the Meetinghouse

Would you like to know more about the kinds of racist behavior found among
Friends? Do you want to improve your ability to recognize your own and
others' racist behavior and act effectively against it? If these questions
speak to your condition, please join us on Friday 11/4 and Saturday 11/5 at
the Meetinghouse.

Our focus will be on how white people can work with other whites. On Friday,
after introductions and a brief overview, we will review examples of Friends
' racist behaviors and why the behaviors are racist. On Saturday, we will
start by learning and practicing worshipful accountability for our own
personal racism. We will spend most of the rest of the day role-playing how
to intervene in racist incidents, and how to avoid racist behaviors in
typical situations among Friends.  We will open and close each session with
worship.

Our focus will be on examples from the Religious Society of Friends
(Quakers), but not because Quakers act in more racist ways than do other
majority-white groups. As an active Friend, I am led to work to end racism
within myself and in my religious home.  For the past several years, with
the help of my Atlanta Friends anti-racism support group, I have developed a
list of examples of racist behaviors to help us be clear on what we mean by
racism.  I welcome others who are not Friends to participate if they feel
the workshop will be helpful to them.

We will not spend time debating the existence of racism among Friends or
attempting to all agree on a definition of racism.  Here is part of what I
mean by "racism": "Racism is a combination of prejudice and power, a set of
attitudes and institutional arrangements that maintain the status quo of
inequality. In the United States, racism has its roots in slavery and a
history in all institutions and social patterns. Racism persists because it
maintains advantage and privilege for whites, who benefit daily from their
inaction and avoidance of the topic. Racism causes physical and emotional
death for people of color when white people undermine self-esteem, ignore
ability and achievement, stereotype, and participate in economic oppression.
Racism attacks people of color at many levels, from the interactions of
everyday life to institutional patterns of power and privilege. The
elimination of racism is key to the spiritual growth and development of
everyone. Racism is a deeply destructive, immoral system." (from statement
of the Atlanta Friends Meeting group, Our Roles as Individuals in America's
Racial History (ORAIIARH), 5/11/02).

By the end of the workshop, I hope participants will be more confident in
describing what kinds of behaviors are racist, and how to work effectively
to change these behaviors in themselves and in others.


Text of Bert's AFM traveling minute & response from Birmingham Meeting:

Atlanta Friends Meeting
701 West Howard Avenue
Decatur, Georgia 30030
(404)-377-2474

Tenth month, 19, 2005

To Whom It May Concern:

Please welcome Bert Skellie, of Atlanta Friends Meeting, as he travels under
the weight of a concern to lead an experiential workshop on ending racism
among Friends.

Bert is a long time member of Atlanta Friends Meeting and has offered
similar workshops at Atlanta Friends Meeting, and the yearly meeting of the
Southern Appalachian Yearly Meeting and Association, and at Friends General
Conference in 2004 and 2005.

We commend him to your care.

Sincerely,

Karen Morris
Clerk, Atlanta Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends



To Atlanta Friends Meeting,

 We are grateful for Bert's presence among us this weekend.  His gentle and
yet persistent leadership guided us into - and through - experiences and
feelings of awkwardness and discomfort.  Individually and as a meeting, we
are energized to pursue the topic of white racism further.  Each heart was
moved; we are changed.

In appreciation,

Connie LaMonte, Clerk

11-6-05