Antiracism Ministry Update

The St. Luke's Antiracism Ministry invites you to attend the next monthly meeting at St. Luke's on February 16 from 12:15 PM to 1:45 PM. Subsequent meetings will be held on March 22nd, April 19th, and May 17th.For St. Luke's to understand and dismantle institutional racism, it is important for us to critically review and apply an antiracist perspective to the ways in which we operate as a congregation and as a church. On January 19, we read and thoughtfully discussed the welcome statement included in the weekly St. Luke's worship program. Prior to our next meeting, we will each analyze our welcome statement further so that we can resume our discussion on February 16.Iván A Pérez introduced the concept of intentional conversations, so that individual members of the Ministry and of St. Luke's in general can start to purposefully engage each other to build relationships and understand our unique interests in joining this antiracism work. While the amount of time needed for a meaningful conversation can vary, he reviewed the importance of the following:*Prepare and understand purpose of meeting*Always meet face to face*Always convene a planned and not impromptu meeting*The inviting person is to listen more than talk*Afterward, summarize the conversation for the other personFinally, we discussed Chapter 4 of "White Fragility" by Robin DiAngelo, which addressed the ways in which race shapes the lives of white people. On February 16, we plan to discuss Chapter 5, as well as any other topics that you wish to raise. We encourage you to read Chapter 5 before the meeting, considering the below questions as you read. However, please join us even if you do not have an opportunity to complete the reading in advance.Below are questions from Chapter 5 for consideration as you read:*What does it mean to say that racism is “a structure, not an event”?*What do you think and how do you feel when the author challenges the idea that we are all unique and therefore cannot be generalized? What is the effect of these thoughts and feelings?February 16th Tentative Agenda:*Welcome: Name, Pronouns, and Check In (Ivan)*Review of Welcome Statement (Ivan)*"White Fragility" Discussion - Chapter 5: "The Good/Bad Binary" (Grant)*Action Items (Grant)*Plan to Start Intentional 1:1 Conversations (Ivan)*Overview of Congregational Roadmap (Ivan)*Plan to Attend Analyzing and Understanding Systemic Racism Workshop(Grant)*Closing Prayer