Clerk’s report for Representatives Committee

February 2-4, 2018 - Tempe Friends Meeting

Prepared by Molly Wingate, IMYM Presiding Clerk

  1. I want to thank Tempe Meeting for their hospitality in all its forms. You’ve made those of us travelling from afar feel quite comfortable, and you’ve set us up for a productive meeting.
  2. Thanks, too, to Penny Thronweber, our clerk, for bringing us together with purpose.
  3. This year’s annual gathering will be held at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico starting on June 10 and ending June 17, 2018. I am excited for you will hear about our speaker and the inventive program for this year from Pelican Lee, our Arrangements Committee clerk.
  4. Our Finance Committee will tell you about its preparations for funding our annual gathering using Pay as Led. As this group recommended last year, IMYM adopted a new way of thinking about charging participants for attending the annual gathering. I am equal parts nervous and excited about bringing this Spirit-led method into practice.
  5. My task for this meeting is to read and report on our monthly meetings’ responses to the Fall Queries that this group devised. For the first time, I was able to send out a newsletter with the queries to everyone on our IMYM mailing list. We had responses from 12 monthly meetings, one preparatory meeting, and two individuals whose meetings didn’t send in responses. We heard from monthly meetings in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Texas.

Query #1: How is your Meeting engaging with issues of racism and white privilege? What is the best thing you’ve done so far. We hope to catalogue best practices.

Only a few meetings stated the best thing they had done to engage issues of racism and white privilege. For two meetingsthe best thing was to introduce the ideas and agree to be uncomfortable with cultural racism and Whiteness.

Several meetings expressed their concern about the whiteness of their meetings and their desire to find direction on this issue. In that spirit, I have listed three types of responses monthly meetings reported for engaging racism and white privilege: Committees and Working Groups, Educational Programs in the Meeting, and Meeting Activities in the Community. I don’t think we have a list of best practices, but these lists will provide some ideas for each monthly meeting. They also show the range of activities Monthly Meetings are engaged in.

Committees of various Monthly Meetings especially focused on racism and white privilege:

  • Dismantling Our Racism working group raises awareness
  • A portion of every business meeting includes the issues of White Privilege
  • Formed a Whiteness Committee to give our considerations direction
  • Indigenous Peoples’ Concerns Committee
  • Issues of Race Working Group
  • Migration Action Committee

Educational programs held by Monthly Meetings:

  • Black Lives Matter discussions
  • Paula Palmer giving presentation on Native Americans and the Doctrine of Discovery
  • Hosting a six-week course by White Awake Santa Fe “Exploring Whiteness: Unlearning Racism and Understanding Privilege
  • Study group of Fit for Freedom, Not for Friendship learning the underbelly of Friends’ history with racism.
  • Classes on racism and white privilege by Adult Spiritual Development Committee
  • Showing the film, I am Not Your Negro
  • Program Hours after worship on racism and related issues
  • Study and book groups
  • Art exhibit,"39 Questions for White People," available from AFSC, with discussion of the questions even when they were uncomfortable.
  • Colorado Regional sessions on White Privilege
  • Mini workshop with Quaker presenters, Deborah Marks of Strawberry Creek Meeting sharing information from a Ben Lomond seminar on these issues, and Thandi Seagraves of Santa Fe Meeting about her experience at the Gathering of Friends of African Descent.
  • Themed Pop-up dinners for adults to consider these issues
  • Worship Sharing afternoon on White Privilege for entire meeting. Organized by Peace and Social Concerns Committee of the meeting.

Activities of Monthly Meeting:

  • Support Mike Gray’s work with indigenous people in the US and Mexico
  • Provide a site for other groups to meet and discuss these issues
  • Held joint worship with AME Church after the Charleston Church massacre
  • Outreach to the Muslim community
  • Participate in the Iskashitaa Refugee Network dinner
  • Participate in the sanctuary movement (4 meetings)
  • March in local marches with Quaker banners
  • Cosponsored a forum on immigration

For queries #2 and #3, we asked questions that lent themselves to yes or no answers. I have tallied the responses so we can see something about the prevalence of a response, but this is not intended to be a record of a vote. As we consider how to answer FGC or what to recommend to IMYM, I hope this format will be helpful.

Query #2 FGC has asked that IMYM consider hosting the FGC Gathering in 2019 or beyond. Does your meeting support hosting? How would people in your meeting participate?

Nine monthly meetingsare in support of hosting the FGC Gathering in our area and eight offered to help with the planning. One meeting was opposed and three had strong reservations about hosting. Below I have listed the Friends’ positive comments and the concerns raised by those in support and those opposed. The number in parentheses refers to the number of meetings reporting this comment.

Positive Comments:

  • We have had good experiences at FGC, enjoyed the gathering at Greeley, and a few members have said they would volunteer to help host. (5)
  • We are willing to help (3)
  • It is a good way to keep Young Friends involved (2)
  • It is good to have FGC nearby, easier to participate (2)

Concerns

  • Can we collectively summon the resources to do a good job? (in various ways, this question came up 3 times)
  • Hard to find volunteers(3)
  • We can’t say more than a few would come and help(3)
  • Need more information(2)
  • It is difficult for any in our meeting to stay or travel too far (1)
  • We should consider curtailing IMYM that year if we do host (1)
  • Not in the hot part of the west (1)
  • Not the same year we move – too taxing on IMYM annual gathering (1)
  • When are we hosting FWCC? (1)

Query #3 Does IMYM wish to affiliate with Quaker Earthcare Witness?

Ten meetings reported that they supported IMYM affiliating with Quaker Earthcare Witness (QEW). Three meetings were opposed to affiliating and one had concerns. Below, I have listed the positive comments, the negative comments and the concerns. The number in parentheses indicate how many times the comments arose.

Positive Comments

  • Willing to donate to QEW (4)
  • Positive attitude toward QEW and have had positive experiences (4)
  • In keeping with our concerns with racism, indigenous peoples and women’s issues. (3)
  • In line with our values (2)
  • QEW has been around for 30 years and was one of the first groups bringing attention to the environment (2)
  • We are logical affiliates given the effects of climate change on our region and the effects of the oil and gas industry. (1)
  • Supports the Kabarak Call (1)

Negative Comments

  • Duplicates effective Quaker work already in place (3)
  • Their processes and decision making are not Quaker-based, not sure that joining a group to change it is the way to go (1)
  • Concerned about how reliable QEW has been in gathering and using science-based knowledge (1)

Concerns

  • Concerned about financing our affiliation because we have difficulty with our existing affiliations. (1)
  • We can send delegates as we can afford to. (1)