Racial Justice 101: A Sisterhood of Grace

1. Racial Justice 101: Romans 2:11 “For God shows no favoritism.” Missouri Conference United Methodist Women 2016 Legislative Training Event

2. Today’s Agenda PART 1: A Sisterhood of Grace Introductions A Biblical Reflection from the Book of Romans Charter for Racial Justice & Methodist Her-Story Review: Terms and Definitions PART 2: Focusing In: Understanding Institutional Racism Bringing it Home: Addressing Institutional Racism Identifying Skills You Must Build to be Anti-Racist

3. LISTEN ACTIVELY—WITH HEAD AND HEART. • SPEAK FROM YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE. • PARTICIPATE TO YOUR COMFORT LEVEL/PUSH YOUR COMFORT LEVEL. • BE AWARE OF YOUR BODY LANGUAGE. • RESPECT CONFIDENTIALITY. • EXPECT UNFINSHED BUSINESS—BOTH DISCOMFORT AND JOY. A Sisterhood of Grace

4. I am committed to being an anti-racist leader in my community because….

5. 2 Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. 2 You say,“We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.” 3 Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: 7 to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;8 while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no favoritism. Romans 2:1-11: The Righteous Judgment of God

6. Because We Believe: The biblical, moral and Christian foundations of why we must seek a racially just UMW, church and world. We Will: The actions we must take if we are going to fully honor our beliefs. THE CHARTER’S MANDATES

7. 1900s: organize and operate institutions designed to do charitable work in systematic ways (schools and hospitals) 1920s: make commitments to cooperate across racial lines to end lynching and work for racial justice 1930s: mission work begins to include self-help, cooperation, reciprocity 1940s: begin to turn to African American women for self-definition and to understand the nature of systemic oppression 1950s: White women begin to see the cost of racism and begin to share responsibility for the climate of racism and oppression they have created 1960s: begin to implement structural changes so that decision-making, program design, leadership and other powers are shared METHODIST HER-STORY

8. How are we making her-story today for racial justice?

9. Systemic/Structural Racism: Racial bias across institutions and society. It is the cumulative and compounded effects of an array of factors that systematically privilege white people and disadvantage people of color. • Ex.The “racial wealth divide”, where whites have many times the wealth of people of color as a result of generations of discrimination and racial biased and government sanctioned policies and practices.) TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

10. White Supremacy: is a historically based, institutionally perpetuated system of exploitation and oppression of continents, nations, and peoples of color by white peoples and nations of the European continent, for the purpose of maintaining and defending a system of wealth, power, and privilege. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

11. Racial Justice/Racial Equity: is the creation of proactive reinforcement of policies, practices, attitudes and actions that produce equitable power, access, treatment, opportunities and outcomes for all. TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

12. RACIAL JUSTICE/EQUITY

13. Home Owners: In 2012, 74% of Whites, 44% of Blacks and 46% of Latinos owned their homes • Higher Ed: In 2012, 6.3% of Blacks, 5.1% of Latinos and 3.7% of Whites had bachelors degree and were unemployed • Wealth: As of 2010, for every $1 of wealth a median White family had, Black families had $.13 and a median Latino household had $.12. • Drug Offense Incarceration Rates: 5 times as many Whites are usingdrugs as African Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of Whites Race and racism remain determining factors in allmaterialareas of American life

14. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF INSTITUTIONS IN A SOCIETY? To create, produce, manage, and distribute resources.

15. discriminatory treatment, unfair policies and practices & inequitable opportunities and impacts based on race • intentional, legal, overt • intentionally shaping and structuring an institution so that it serves and is accountable to one racial group over another • self-perpetuating: does the same thing over and over and gets the same results • most deeply embedded where the power is! Institutionalized Racism is….

16. There is no way of getting different results in a permeant and ongoing way without redesigning the way something is institutionalized within an institution. • When institutions are not accountable to people of color, they can do as they please without fear of consequences • Because institutions will not ACT DIFFERENTLY until the difference is BUILT IN, until it has a NEW institutional design. • Why is it not enough to pass a law or for white people to earnestly claim they will make changes? The institutional racism of the past controls the present! Fighting Institutionalized Racism is hard…

17. Intentional: Ex. 1939 merger of the Methodist Church creates the segregated Central Jurisdiction for Black churches Legal: Ex. Methodist Church affirms and continues to benefit from the Doctrine of Discovery, which gave Christian explorers the right to claim lands they "discovered" and lay claim to those lands for their Christian Monarchs Overt: Ex. The church’s support of Native American boarding schools, where Native children were removed from their homes in hopes of "civilizing" them Institutional Racism: Within the Life of the Church

18. The Three Most Visible Levels: • Personnel: people who represent the institution and make it function • Programs, Products, or Services: what an institution produces for its constituency • Constituency and Community: the people an institution exists to serve The Two Least Visible Levels: • Organizational Structure: the way an institution is put together and is managed • Mission, Purpose and Identity: the “foundations” of an institution; the formal stated reason the institution exists, along with its history, traditions and culture Levels of an Institution

19. Nancy has been active in United Methodist Women since the Charter for Racial Justice was adopted by the denomination in 1980. When she began, United Methodist Women was an all-white organization in her district and conference in the Midwest. She has seen many changes. During the 1980s, a large number of Southeast Asian immigrants settled in her area, working in a refrigerator factory. In the 1990s, large numbers of Spanish-speaking immigrants came to the area to work on truck farms. Nancy feels that the present situation represents an opportunity for her conference United Methodist Women to step up to meet the challenge of this new demographic reality. She believes that they should reach out to the area’s new residents, try to understand their problems and encourage their participation in United Methodist Women. She feels that this may be difficult because area attitudes toward other racial and ethnic groups have not changed to keep up with its changing demographics. Case Study: Facing New Institutional Realities

20. What skills do you need to build to fight institutional racism?

21. Fellowship of Love: Methodist Women Changing American Racial Attitudes, 1920-1968, by Alice G. Knotts • UMW’s Racial Justice Timeline • UMW Resources for Racial Justice Manual • Understanding and Dismantling Racism (2007) by Joseph Barndt • Becoming an Anti-Racist Church (2011) by Joseph Barndt • Racefoward.org • Colorlines.com RESOURCES