The Third Order has launched a series of videos, poetry, songs and paintings exploring breaking down barriers to racial healing and justice.
We want to take the Walk With Us program we did in March and follow up with some direct talk about the work we white bodies have to do moving forward. We began our racial healing work with the Knee On My Neck series from Masud Ibn Syedullah. Attendance was disappointing and comments afterwards indicated that many thought we didn’t need to do this kind of work. We are assembling Reflections on racism and our Principles into a booklet form for the formation program.
In the summer, we will launch a toolbox created for the National Association of Episcopal Christian Communities, a Toolbox on dismantling racism.
In the 13 weeks now between Walk with Us and Toolbox, we are called to continue building awareness. We want to plow ground and plant seeds in order to maximize the work of the Toolbox once we open it.
George Yancy says it eloquently in his Op-Ed, Being “Anti-Racist” Isn’t Enough. (April 2021, Truthout)
“If Black lives really matter to white people, I would like to see their white rage overflow in the streets of this nation shouting: “My whiteness is a lie! My innocence is the crime!””
We have work to do, my sisters and brothers, and it will take some plowing and seeding.
You can watch the rest of the Breaking Down Barriers videos on the Articles & Videos page of this website.