by Diane Bowden | Jul 1, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns
… from Waking Up White — and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving, 2014
Author Debby Irving will spend two days at Friends School of Baltimore in September. Over the summer, Trustees and faculty of Friends School, and perhaps also parents and students, will read Waking Up White in anticipation of her visit. The book is divided into 9 parts and 46 short chapters. Titles of some of the parts give a sense of what she covers: “Childhood in white,” “Midlife wake-up calls,” Why didn’t I wake up sooner?” “Inner work,” “Outer work,” and “Reclaiming my humanity.” Each chapter ends with queries to answer or a statement to reflect upon, and she encourages readers to journal their responses and reflections. Here are the queries at the end of chapter 6, “From Confusion to Shock:”
“The late historian Ronald Takaki referred to the history taught in American schools as ‘The Master Narrative,’ the version of history told by Americans of Anglo descent. Think about what you did not study. Did you learn about Lincoln’s views on enslaved black people? Anti-immigration laws of the nineteenth century? America’s laws regarding who could and could not gain citizenship? The Native Americans who had once lived on your town’s or school’s land?”
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday, except July & August, from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. In June 2015, however, it will meet at Adelphi Friends Meeting. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge.
by Diane Bowden | May 19, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
The following article by Wardah Khalid appeared in Salon. Wardah Khalid is a Scoville Fellow in Middle East policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation Education Fund.
It used to be that Israel was the only global player who refused to admit that its settlements in Palestine were illegal under international law. Now there is a danger that Congress could be added to the list. Members of both the House and Senate have recently introduced at least six different pieces of legislation attempting to legitimize these Palestinian land grabs by shielding them from increasing international trade pressure. In doing so, Congress is essentially requiring the U.S. to punish trade partners for adhering to international laws and for the first time in its history, endorse and defend the settlements by treating them as a part of Israel.
The train wreck began when Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the AIPAC-backed United States-Israel Trade Enhancement Act in March. The following month, pro-settlement amendments were added to the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill and the House versions of each bill. In addition, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Reinforcement Act was also introduced with pro-settlement language in both chambers. Congress will be considering these bills in the coming weeks.
The Obama Administration has not commented on these bills and amendments so far, but Senator Portman’s and others’ claims that they will stand against “politically motivated boycotts of Israel” are misleading. It is already against U.S. law to boycott Israel, but settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights are not legally a part of Israel. The European Union’s exclusion clause, one of the main drivers behind these Congressional efforts, limits sanctions to Israeli entities with links to the settlements – not Israeli businesses as a whole. But members who introduced these amendments, such as Rep. Roskam (IL), essentially conflate the two, not even mentioning the word “settlements” in the language, and instead using the phrase “Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories.
It would behoove Congress to seriously consider the ramifications of their actions. These bills are not about countering the diverse Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement or supporting Israel. Rather, they are trying to make it U.S. policy to treat Israel and the territories they occupy as one and the same and penalize trade partners that don’t back that problematic stance. This sets up an extremely dangerous impediment to the peace process, which current and previous administrations have heavily invested in. In fact, it “actually encourages illegal settlement building”, according to Rabbi Joseph Berman, Federal Policy Organizer at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). JVP and several other Jewish American organizations, including some who oppose BDS, have all issued statements urging Congress to reject these alarming pieces of pro-settlement legislation.
Now is the time for Americans who support peace to take a stand on this critical issue and make their voices heard on Capitol Hill. If it is not addressed now, not only do we put the peace process and lives of Palestinians under occupation in further jeopardy, but we also open the door to seeing similar legislation reappear, perhaps in more extreme forms, in the future. Our representatives’ offices should be flooded with calls, emails, and visits demanding statements of opposition before these bills reach the House or Senate floors. And when they are brought to the floor, we should have their guarantee that they will do everything in their power to prevent our country from obstructing the path to peace.
by Diane Bowden | May 19, 2015 | Baltimore Yearly Meeting, Peace and Social Concerns
In March 2015 the Clerks of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and of BYM Interim Meeting announced that the Yearly Meeting had accepted a grant of $250,000 from the Shoemaker Fund to address, in part, “…how can our Meetings at all levels be more inclusive and welcoming to all and build multi-cultural community?” They explained, “What we are contemplating is no less than a profound culture change that will permeate all we do and change us forever.”
The BYM Group on Racism is looking forward to helping all of us in the Yearly Meeting discern how to live up to these commitments. One guide that can be helpful is a chart entitled “Continuum on Becoming an Anti-Racist Multicultural Organization” and developed by the Crossroads Ministry of Chicago, Illinois, https://www.churchpublishing.org/media/5205/ContinuumAnti-Racist.pdf.
That chart describes what an organization looks like at each of six points along that continuum. The chart does not tell us how to move along that continuum. We all must discern that together. It does, however, help us understand where we are now and the changes needed to move us to the next point on the continuum.
A beginning query: where would you place your Monthly Meeting now along this continuum?
This column is prepared by the BYM Working Group on Racism (WGR) and sent to the designated liaisons at each Monthly and Preparative Meeting for publication in their newsletter or other means of dissemination. The WGR meets most months on the third Saturday from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, usually at Bethesda Friends Meeting or Friends Meeting of Washington. In May and June 2015, however, it will meet at Adelphi Friends Meeting. If you would like to attend, on a regular or a drop-in basis, contact clerk David Etheridge, david.etheridge@verizon.net.
by Diane Bowden | May 19, 2015 | Peace and Social Concerns
The Richmond Peace Education Center is pleased to announce it has chosen to honor both a special individual and a unique group as its 2015 Peacemakers of the Year.
This year’s Peacemaker award recipients are Dr. John Moeser and The Thrifty Quaker.
Dr. John Moeser is Senior Fellow at the University of Richmond’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement and professor emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University. For the past forty years, his research, teaching, and community engagements have deepened the community’s understanding of race, poverty and urban politics. His work has had a profound influence on the community conversation and the direction of public policy locally. His contributions to the public discourse in metro-Richmond are simply unparalleled.
Dr. Moeser has been a sharp observer of city governance and politics for more than a generation. Over the past decade he has served as senior fellow at the University of Richmond’s Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. He has written dozens of articles on alleviating poverty, regional cooperation, and racial inequality; he served on Mayor Dwight Jones’ Anti-Poverty Commission; and he spent hundreds of hours analyzing data from the 2010 census in order to shed light on the social patterns and divisions that mark our region. He has generously shared this analysis with countless groups working for community change.
In collaboration with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and Hope in the Cities, his data analysis of our region was captured in Unpacking the Census. The video allows educators and facilitators across the region to teach about the persistent, historically-based, structural inequality that continues to damage the social and economic health of metro Richmond. Dr. Moeser’s research also inspired and informed the Richmond Peace Education Center’s own video series on Richmond, Race and Regionalism (available at www.rpec.org).
Recently Dr. Moeser been gathering, analyzing, and mapping data on the spread of poverty into Chesterfield and Henrico Counties. His research and presentations have spurred important conversations about economic inequality, the need for regional cooperation, and the impact of poverty on schools, housing, transportation, and economic opportunity. We honor Dr. Moeser for his countless contributions to community knowledge and to building a more just Richmond region.
Since 1996, The Thrifty Quaker thrift store, created by local Quakers of the Midlothian Friends Meeting, has raised and donated more than $400,000 in monetary grants to peace groups and charities, and an estimated $2.5 million in goods to other thrift stores and individuals in need. Each month, the Peace and Social Action Committee of Midlothian Friends Meeting designates a local nonprofit to receive the monetary grant. Nearly one hundred percent of the store’s net earnings that month go directly to the recipient group, with the remaining portion of the net earnings going to help individuals in crisis. The Richmond Peace Education Center has been a grateful recipient many times over the years, and The Thrifty Quaker gifts have directly and measurably strengthened the center’s capacity, and its work for peace. Countless other worthy peace initiatives and charitable causes have also received vital support from The Thrifty Quaker. Additionally, the store provides employment for a number of workers from the local area, as well as opportunities for volunteering to support a number of mostly local charities through the store’s mission.
Friend$hare, The Thrifty Quaker’s own “inside” charity, has the specific mission of providing emergency funds to individuals in urgent financial crisis that could result in their becoming homeless, jobless, or endangered due to lack of housing, utilities, medical treatment or equipment. Friend$hare provides the monetary resources directly to billing agencies upon the recommendation of Social Services agencies or other trusted sources, as they help individuals become stabilized and functioning in society.
The Thrifty Quaker has been able to promote peace and social justice by working through the store to advertise and promote the charities, collect food to feed the hungry, as well as give donations. The Thrifty Quaker has provided funding to well over a hundred mostly local charities as well as providing education and support to organizations. The store is located at 13567 Midlothian Turnpike in the Midlothian Station Shopping Center in the heart of the village of Midlothian. It’s website is www.thriftyquaker.com.
Dr. Moeser and The Thrifty Quaker will be recognized at both the Peace Center’s Membership Appreciation dinner and at its annual fundraising Auction and Dinner on November 7.
by Diane Bowden | May 1, 2015 | Adult Spiritual Education, Topics, Worship
May 18 at 7:30-8:30 PM in the Meetinghouse
Chanting is a way of centering into awareness of Spirit. We sing short songs out of the silence, and repeat them until the sense of the group ends the chant. Friends will gather into silence in the mode of worship sharing–much like we do at BYM Women’s Retreat. Have some chants in mind, and anyone may start a chant. This is the first time we’ve done this. If it goes well, we’ll do it again–perhaps regularly.