This committee has existed since the late eighties, charged with providing assistance to dioceses, congregations, and agencies of TEC with regard to programs to combat racism. The scope of work for this committee expanded in 2015, when they were also charged to develop anti-racism work as a core component of Christian formation, begin collecting data on provincial anti-racism work, develop criteria for credentialing trainers in anti-racism programming, and monitor compliance of anti-racism legislation from General Convention.
The work of the Committee in this past triennium bears evidence to a refrain I'm beginning to sense is oft-repeated. General Convention charges that some sort of work be done but then there is no budget to do that work. The budget from the 2015 GC gave no programmatic resources to this Committee and so they struggled to meet their mandate. After one year, a key member resigned. Halfway through the triennium the chair became inactive, with a new chair not named until June of 2017. Over the course of the triennium, they had two face-to-face meetings, three meetings via phone and three via web conference.
The committee cited the House of Bishop's pastoral letter "The Sin of Racism: A Call to Covenant" as a theological basis for their work. Given what has happened in our country over these past few years, the Committee expresses their own belief that all clergy and laity need to move beyond "awareness-level" training and get "competency-level" training that would give them the skills and confidence to reconcile and heal the wounds of racism. They are currently working with the Forma Group to find ways to incorporate anti-racism training in all formation efforts across TEC.
Though the 2015 General Convention sought to create criteria and standards for credentialing trainers, the budget did not include the staff person that was support to track and record this. Thus, the oversight falls back upon diocesan level leaders—resulting in significant disparity in practice and effectiveness.
One of the true successes of the triennium has been the launch of the "Becoming Beloved Community" initiative, led by the Presiding Bishop and his staff. The hope is that this toolkit can provide a much needed boost in this work. Further, identifying the difference between awareness, competency, and mastery when it comes to Anti-Racism training (and what is needed to reach each stage), is a big step forward in this work.
Their report also includes a rather exhaustive list of activities on a province-by-province, and then diocese-by-diocese basis. This work demonstrates that our provinces and dioceses are taking General Convention's calls for anti-racism training seriously. It was pretty stunning (if somewhat overwhelming!) to read all that is being done around the church.
Also, despite not having a staff person to help find a way to credential anti-racism trainers, the committee did not give up. Instead, they designed an alternate process that could be accomplished without the benefit of a staff person overseeing the work.
The committee concluded their report with a recommendation for how their work should be continued in the triennium to come.
Reactions to the Report
If this is what they did with no budget, the devil should be terrified of what they would do with a real budget!
Seriously, if the past couple of years have taught us anything as a nation it is is that we are far from "done" with issues surrounding racism. The work that this Committee is doing is important and something the church needs to vigorously support.
We often assume that because the Episcopal Church is generally a more progressive denomination, that we must be better than others when it comes to racism. In my experience, this is far from the case. Though Episcopalians like to laud Jonathan Myrick Daniels and others who were active in the Civil Rights movement, scant attention is paid to the ways in which many Episcopalians supported discrimination and the many leaders of our church who were silent at that moment in our nation's history. Further, talk to the average person of color in TEC, and they will not find it difficult to tell you what racism looks like in our church.
It may be swaddled in white-guilt-do-gooder-notions, but racism is real. I know I was shocked in my own ministry by the racism I experienced at the parish and diocesan level when I sought to launch our Latino ministry initiative. Thankfully, through continued and insistent conversations roadblocks based upon racist ideas and approaches were overcome... but... wow. Yeah, this is a real thing in our church and it is not OK.
In many ways, I think that it is precisely the fact that we are more progressive as a denomination that makes this issue more difficult to tackle. Every Episcopalian thinks they are not the issue.
This is where I think the concept of unintentional bias has been the most helpful in my own continued formation in this area. And, to be honest, this is my one critique of this report. Absent an overarching program and narrative that is broadly shared, a survey of what is being done in our church reveals that many of the programs and approaches are steeped in methodology that contemporary leaders in issues of race and diversity would say are simply not effective.
As much as Becoming the Beloved Community is an important first step, it cannot be our final step as a church. I hope that in the next triennium the committee will be given a real budget that can enable it to develop standards and criteria that are based upon the best contemporary scholarship on issues of race and diversity.
Reaction to the Resolutions
A042 Proposed Name Change for EC Committee on Anti-Racism (full resolution here)
This should be an easy resolution to pass. The very name "anti-racism" ironically brings up all kinds of biases and prejudices in the minds of the hearer. It says that those who are undergoing the training are racist—which, though it may be true, calling people racist has been demonstrably shown to lessen the effectiveness of changing people's perspective. Further, as the committee notes, "opposition of racism and promotion of tolerance is not quite the same the God's call to reconciliation - returning to a right relationship with God calls our neighbor."
A043 Clarify and Update Mandate (full resolution here)
This resolution largely changes the language of the committee's mandate along the line of thinking as the name change (really, these two resolutions should be joined into one). Additionally, this resolution calls for changing the ideals for credentialing trainers given the experience and insight gained in the past triennium.
A044 Establishing an Anti-Racism/Racial Reconciliation Certification Framework: Building Capacity for Becoming Beloved Community (full resolution here)
Given the significant differences in approaches across the church, this resolution seeks to establish clear criteria for what should be seen as effective anti-racism training—noting that is different than just anti-racism programming. This should definitely be approved.
A045 Revision and Reminder of Anti-Racism Training Requirement (full resolution here)
This resolution provides a helpful revision to the requirements for anti-racism training, including how that training is carried out and tracked. It follows largely the insights of the report and should be approved.
A046 Host a Racial Reconciliation Awards Program (full resolution here)
Well, this is an interesting idea. The Committee would like there to be an annual awards ceremony that would "will recognize individuals and organizations for their Racial Reconciliation efforts.' In the explanation they assert, "It is well-known that people tend to exhibit behavior when they see examples. The Committee believes that the Church needs to showcase examples of successful racial reconciliation efforts. Awards programs are a proven way to provide such a showcase."
Given everything else we are trying to do, this particular program seems... not the best use of our time or energy. I doubt that having an annual awards ceremony would change many hearts and minds. I'm inclined not to approve this resolution.
Note: You can click here for a list of all Blue Book Reports & Resolutions that have thus far been reviewed.
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