On Earth Peace works to become institutionally anti-racist.

By Kim Stuckey Hissong

At the Fall 2004 board meeting of On Earth Peace, board and staff participated in a training with the General Board's Anti-Racism Team (ART). The training was the next step in a larger effort of On Earth Peace to become an institutionally anti-racist organization. We have been working on this process for almost a year, and decided that it was a good time to get board and staff together for formal training, recognizing that this is just one more step in a longterm process.

Using small group discussion, video, and Bible study, ART members Barbara Cuffie, Torin Eikler, and Sharon Reich led participants on a journey of examining prejudice and stereotypes, exploring white privilege, and envisioning a new Kingdom. While time was spent dealing with institutional racism, many members gained personal insight as well. Board member Eugene Lichty, from McPherson, Kan., said, "Most Brethren have enjoyed few or no close friends of a different race. Being so isolated from those who are different means there are many subtleties of race, involving culture, customs, and conversation of which we are unaware. As a result, we often do and say things which can cause misunderstandings and offenses. Participating in this Anti-Racism Training helped me to avoid at least some of these pitfalls."

Institutional racism is different from personal attitudes and feelings. It goes to the very core of how organizations operate and may, in fact, be an unintentional product of how an organization functions. Board member Dena Lee, from Kent, Ohio, found lots of value in the training. "It seemed that many members of the board and staff became aware of ways in which we limit our resources by applying white privilege to everything from recommendations for employment of staff and nomination of board members to the focus of On Earth Peace programming on peace as opposed to peace and justice."

Spending five hours of a meeting on this topic was a bold move for the board. But as staff member Annie Clark explained, "It is valuable for the church...because we are called to love our neighbors. Loving our neighbors means truly seeing all as equals, seeing their joys as our joys, and doing our best to celebrate together. It also means seeing everyone's needs as our needs, and doing our best to work together for change." ART has been called by the denomination to help congregations and groups figure out how to do that better.

Co-executive director Bob Gross summed up the experience, "I'm very glad that as an organization On Earth Peace is waking up to how we are affected by institutional racism in the church and society. If the church is going to be what God calls it to be, it will need to escape the traps of privilege, power, and prejudice. That does not happen without effort and humility." As the Church of the Brethren seeks to become more multi-cultural and multi-ethnic, it will be training experiences like this one that will help to move along the process.

--On Earth Peace staff member Kim Stuckey Hissong is program coordinator of Peacemaker Formation.

Source: 10/29/2004 Newsline
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