Sacred Conversations to End Racism 5-Week Intensive Bi-Annual Institutes
The murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 by Minnesota Police office Derek Chauvin ignited uprisings across the national and globe. Protestors used advocacy and nonviolent direct activism to bring awareness and recognition that state-sanctioned violence would not be tolerated towards people of African descent.
The United Church of Christ Racial Justice Ministries responded with an opportunity for clergy and laypersons to embark on an anti-racism learning journey. Sacred Conversations to End Racism Institutes invited participants to register for a 5-week intensive anti-racism study.
About Sacred Conversations to End Racism 5-Week Intensive
Sacred Conversations to End Racism includes learning tools and resources such as books, videos, documentaries, articles, art, and music. These resources represent cultures and people groups whose lived experiences and perspectives are correctives to the historical and contemporary harm, injury, and trauma enacted upon non-European people groups.
Participants on the 5-Week intensive introductory journey:
- Explore relevant and practical ways to have conversations that are inclusive of diverse cultures and ethnic identities
- Engage with biblical texts regarding equitable treatment of all God’s people
- Gain an understanding of the historical and contemporary myths associated with race
- Participate in active listening and response techniques
- Learn inclusive non-colonial terms for people groups
- Develop strategies to move from conversations to advocacy and activism
The ongoing impact of racism and xenophobia in contemporary society requires participants to commit to a life-long journey of dismantling racism and a commitment to do no harm. People groups of color are impacted by individual and systemic oppression and marginalization. Everyone is invited to be on the journey as a witness and transformative presence with God’s beloved inclusive global community.
Process within Intensive
Anti-racism work involves an inward interrogation of our biases, prejudices, internalized white supremacy and internalized racism, microaggressive insults and assaults, and overt racist behaviors. Sacred Conversations to End Racism assists participants take a deeper look into—our history, socialization, and cultural-ethnic ways of being—and how we continue to practice behaviors consciously and unconsciously.
Restorative racial justice work is internal and external. Our whole being is challenged daily to revert, rebel, and move back into our comfort zones. Spiritual practices are learned and repeated in order to have a deeper sense of God’s presence in our lives. The same goes for dismantling racism within oneself and with people we journey with daily.
Focuses for each week include:
Week 1 – How Did We Get Here…500 Years of Anti-Black Racism
Week 2 – History of the Construction of Race and The Doctrine of Discovery
Week 3 – The Myth of Race – The Reality of Racism and White Nationalism
Week 4 – Dismantling White Christian Traditionalism: Decolonizing Christianity
Week 5 – Do No Harm & Restorative Racial Justice Spiritual Practices
