Meeting Minutes of April 11, 2022

Present: Mike Betz, Cat McIntyre, Pam Graham, Murray Bennet, Claire Lending

And Rupert Ayton, Naomi Gary, David Curley (Co-Facilitators)

1. Anti-Racism Reflection Minutes

4/24 Michael Betz will speak on the 5/1 C2C/Tulip Workers March Event

5/1 Ask for teams that participated in the January CBC Accountability Process to provide their goals leading up to the next event 5/22

5/8 Same as Above

5/15 Same as Above

5/22 Naomi to invite the congregation to the CBC Accountability event at BUF that afternoon

2. Program Meetings

4/18 Speaker Kristina Michele Martens City Council Member at Large https://cob.org/gov/council/kristina-martens

Naomi to provide details on the 5/25 George Floyd Memorial Garden Event at Fouts Park

5/16 We made a wish list of speakers for future dates and will explore how we may pay speakers a modest honorarium out of respect…

Clyde Ford (local author)

Jason McGill (at NWYS)

Ed Bereal (local activist artist)

TeeJay Morris (Juneteenth Coordinator and local activist)

Demani Johnson (retired WWU professor)

Whatcom Human Rights Taskforce

Flo Simon (Interim COB Police Chief)

Debra Lekanoff (WA State Rep)

WWU Black Student Union representative

3. Reading Group Topics

4/25 The Sum of Us

5/23 undecided at this point

4. Other Topics Discussed

a. Interface with SEJC and Beloved Community

i. Naomi to write the SEJC Quarterly Reports and attend meetings

ii. Pam can help organize a regrouping of the Antiracism and Allyship training attendees

b. Process for knowing the monthly service themes and which services will have an AR reflection

i. David to reach out to Paul to confirm we can do ARs regularly

ii. Create a framework of content and themes for weekly ARs of approximately 3 minutes

c. Process for asking/volunteering to give upcoming AR reflections

d. How to enhance Facebook content

e. Polling the BLM mailing list for suggestions

f. Assembling and organizing anti-racism educational content

g. Linking with other BLM groups in Whatcom or forming a BLM chapter and creating a network map of all BIPOC groups

h. Maintaining a list of possible personal actions such as voting rights and school curriculum

i. Claire to help organize a UU the Vote event at BUF

ii. David to develop Micro Aggression response mini trainings

i. Maintaining a list of Black-owned businesses in Whatcom County

i. Pam saw a list at last year’s Juneteenth Celebration

ii. Claire found an article in the Bellingham Herald

iii. Rupert has an old list

j. Possible community projects—we have noted that Bellingham lacks a documented Black history and plaques memorializing locations of notable events

i. Rupert found resources at the library and at the local Cemetery

5. Social Media

a. Rupert to develop our Blog (especially as a resource of our programs and books)

b. Mike to help with RSS feed and subscription button

c. Rupert to expand our Breeze Mailing List

6. Community Actions

4/12 Covenant of Beloved Community Forum

5/1 Tulip Strike Victory March in Skagit County (volunteers requested)

5/7 Cat’s Going Away Celebration and BBQ at Lake Padden

5/22 All Aboard the CBC Accountability process live at BUF!

5/25 George Floyd Memorial Garden event at Fouts Park

6/4 Roaring 20’s themed Annual Auction Fundraiser for BUF

Next Business Planning Meeting on zoom:  May 9th 

Respectfully submitted

Naomi Gary, Co-Facilitator (naomiwwwgary@gmail.com)

Rupert Ayton, Co-Facilitator (rupertayton@yahoo.com)