Racial Equity and Equality Presentation Notes, Shield NC
Bryana Clover, Owner 1619 Consulting
Videos:
1619: The First Africans in Virginia and the Making of America (Part 1) The Myth of Race, Debunked in 3 Minutes
Systemic Racism Explained
Resource I referenced (2019 report attached to email):
Equity in the Center
Professor Dafina-Lazarus Stewart, a researcher of diversity, equity, and justice in US higher education. She addresses questions every D&I initiative should ask. Quote:
- Diversity asks, “Who is in the room?”
- Equity responds, “Who is trying to get in the room but can’t? Whose presence in theroom is under constant threat of erasure?”
- Inclusion asks, “Have everyone’s ideas been heard?”
- Justice responds, “Whose ideas won’t be taken as seriously because they aren’t in themajority?”
- Diversity asks, “How many more of [pick any marginalized identity] group do we havethis year than last?”
- Equity responds, “What conditions have we created that maintain certain groups as theperpetual majority here?”
- Inclusion asks, “Is this environment safe for everyone to feel like they belong?”
- Justice challenges: “Whose safety is being sacrificed and minimized to allow others tobe comfortable maintaining dehumanizing views?”
- Questions for Faith Leaders:
- What can we hope for in communities where the story of togetherness began with the oppression of one group by another?
- Do we understand the role of the Church in perpetuating racism then and now?
- How does our perspective and impact change if we understand “reconciliation” to be averb rather than a noun?• •••Jesus sought to reconcile us on the deepest level where reconciliation is a verb…a process that never ends. Not an arriving point, but rather a messy, authentic, inefficient, unprofessional, slow, loving participation in one another’s lives.
Where do I sense God calling me into more authentic cross-cultural relationships?
When is it time to slow down and tend to relational connection, and when is it time to push ahead processes of social or political reform?
What might I need to change about my pace of life to make space and time for reconciling relationships?
What can I learn from Jesus’ relationships with those different from him?