Hi – I’m Hank Ohana and I’m a member of the BLM ministry action team. We meet the first and second Monday evenings of each month. Everyone is invited to join us at any time. Perhaps particularly of interest might be the meeting on the 2nd Monday since this is a program meeting where we watch or read or listen to something and then discuss it. Please consider joining us at any of these meetings. No background work is necessary – we are all on this path together.
People have sometimes questioned the point of these anti-racism minutes. Sometimes folks have felt they were too academic. Sometimes too preachy. Sometimes people have felt blamed or shamed. Often the question is, “But what can we DO?”
As a primarily white congregation, it can be very easy for most of us to never talk about race. We don’t feel it effects our every day life. When we start waking up to the variety of ways racism exists in this country we often feel the need to “do” something. However, taking action without understanding some of the deep seated issues related to racism has at times caused us to repeat some of the same types of harm that have happened in the past. So learning and talking ARE important - and ACTIVE - anti-racist work!
Recently a white friend who has been very actively engaged in anti-racism work for some years now was talking to me about the Olympics and some “ah ha’s” she was having around them. Obviously, she said, when the US was in a competition it was clear who to root for. But what about when our country wasn’t a contender? What if the competition was between say the UK and China? Who then? She realized her own internalized racism would have led her to (perhaps unconsciously) root for a European team/individual over an Asian or African one. The good news is, once you start seeing the racism in society and within yourself, you start asking yourself, “How did I not see this before?” That is where change happens.
I am proud to be part of a congregation that has declared that we want to be explicitly anti-racist. It can be a bumpy journey, hurt feelings can happen, unpleasant internal biases and feelings can crop up, but we have committed to staying the course. I want to thank all of you for being on this journey.
