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Understanding
Racism On February 22 and 23rd, Pastors and parishioners of several different area churches came together for a weekend workshop to address the issues of racism in our society and in the Lutheran church. The theme of the conference was "understanding racism." The goals of the conference were to help participants to 1) understand personal racism and to become aware of their own racism 2) develop strategies to address racism and encourage diversity at the individual, congregational, and societal level. The conference involved facilitated group discussion and teaching as well as small group interactions. Worship was incorporated into the conference with some traditional music, though provoking readings, and prayer. Quotations were read aloud from several books, including the book "Don't call me a racist!, a treasury of quotes on the past, present and future of the color line in American, selected and arranged by Ella Mazel, 1998 Argonaut press. Many of the song selections were from This far by Faith, 1999 Augsburg Fortress. The first evening of the conference was spent in worship and in small group sessions followed by a social reception. In our small group sessions, we shared stories with each other in an effort to identify racism in our own lives and to develop an understanding of it through open interactions with others. We found that people had a variety of different experiences with racism and that there was a broad spectrum of awareness about and ability to recognize racism. The following day began with worship, followed by a review of the previous evening exercise, large group teaching sessions about personal racism and institutional racism, and another small group exercise, followed by a debriefing session and ended with spiritual reflection and worship. Due to the limited time and the specific goals of this conference, the facilitators chose to focus on "white racism," although they did acknowledge that any person could act in a racially prejudiced manner. They defined racism using several sources as: "Any attitude, action, or structure which subordinates a person or group because of their color. Racism is not just a matter of attitudes: actions and institutional structures can also be a from of racism."(Racism in America and How to combat it, US commission on Civil rights, 1970) AND "Racism is different from racial prejudice, hatred, or discrimination. Racism involves having the power to carry out systematic discriminatory practices through the major institutions of our society." (What Curriculum Leaders Can Do About Racism, Dr. Delmo Della-Dora, New Detroit, Inc. 1970) Some of the issues that arose through our group dialog involved the use of language, mostly in defining racism in a systemic manner and distinguishing it from individual acts of prejudice or discrimination. There was confusion about how to address Blacks/African-Americans with the short answer being, "It's an individual decision, just ask how they would prefer to be called?" There was also discussion of the use of the term "black" as a surrogate for negative and "white" for positive, and how the use of these same words, which come with these implied meanings to describe a race of people has been problematic. During our discussion of personal racism we answered questions to access how we understood and would react to racism. We also discussed mechanisms to address racism in our own lives and our interactions with others. We discussed the issue of white privilege, and recognizing how by just being a member of the race in power comes with certain benefits, many of which most people are unwilling to let go of. Through our discussion of institutionalized racism we identified and explored racist components of education, housing, employment, government and churches, and the inequalities that exist. In the small group session that followed, we further explored these issues and discussed methods for addressing them. Before the conference ended each person filled out a personal covenant for dismantling racism, for the eradication of personal and institutional racism. The conference ended as it has began with worship, prayer, and hope for freeing our hearts, lives, and churches from the bondage of racism. By Julia Diggs, Minister East Liberty
Lutheran Church
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