The hard, but undeniable fact of deeply embedded racism in American society, has come to the fore once again through the known names of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, Christian Cooper, and unfortunately in countless, nameless others that we never will know. Religious communities, including Gables UCC have long struggled with racism in and outside of their church walls. In 2008, under the leadership of Edith Guffey, then the Associate General Minister of the UCC, our congregation began a program called Sacred Conversations on Race. Since that time, Edith has been with as part of our work on White Privilege, Empathy, and the Church and Racism; and, as a church, we have done other work with Racists Anonymous, the Church’s Response to Ferguson, and so much more.
Regrettably, our work and study needs to continue. We invited Edith Guffey back to help lead us as the Body of Christ in addressing racism and our response and witness to the recent occurrences of hatred and violence.
On Tuesday, June 2, we held a time of reflection, processing, and an honest, sacred conversation around race via Zoom with Edith. Edith is now the Conference Minister of the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference of the UCC and continues in the work of anti-racism programs, conversations, and dialogues.
All participants were told that they were being recorded at the beginning of the program.
For a list of anti-racism resources, click here: http://bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES