Report #: 19
Name of Topic: Meaningful Inclusion of Racial and Ethnic Experience in our Work
Name of Leader: Amy Sawyer
Names of Participants: Valeria, Clare, Kathleen, Veronica, Kathy, Chris…Others…
Highlights of Discussion (present story unfolding):
Use what you have to reach out and learn other people’s stories, lives. A flyer inviting someone isn’t just enough.
The issue of developing an open/accessible group often gets tabled.
There is a lot of pain and guilt involved in interacting with different people with purpose
People of Color cannot fully be themselves: Always needing to ask, “If I go here will I be accepted?
In Germany there was a huge education campaign to come to terms with the Holocaust…but in the USA, slavery has never been discussed or reconciled in that way.
Reconciliation with ancestors is important. Not something for one person to do alone – reach out and ask for help.
Racism exists.
Take the power. Teach somebody, make it personal, remove the “they.”
Embrace the desire to do & change & commit to it
Understand that change may be uncomfortable, but the rewards are equally amazing.
Ancestors have good and bad stories…find role models and ask their help, and pray for the ones who were not role models.
Ancestral reverence
Step through fear and feel what is right.
Give orientation to help people learn about new ways to process.
Start with what is close to you & move out in concentric circles.
