Glossary

Oppression: There are many definitions but what we are talking about is recognizing power differences that create an imbalance of power in social hierarchies which determine how people are perceived within our culture. These imbalances have an impact on those folx who are lower on the hierarchy than those who are higher. These situations determine who can exercise their power freely and who cannot. Historically the agents of power in our culture are mostly white, middle class folx. The targets of oppression are mostly Black/Brown, poor folx.

Racism: Manifesting from oppression, racism functions on many levels: individual, social, institutional.

Microaggressions: Are actually abuse. They normalize oppression and perpetuate systemic racism. They often happen without warning and perpetuate uncertainty which causes trauma for the targets of microaggressions. Ibram X Kendi uses abuse rather than microaggression because he says the word abuse “accurately describes the action and its effect on people.”

Wounding: Hurt is not conflict. There is no resolution through conversation. When a person is harmed, we must attend to the harm not debate the harm through conflict resolution. We must focus on the harm so we can get better not to punish, not to debate the harm.

Conflict: Conflict is an ordinary everyday occurrence, it should not be conflated with abuse. Disagreements and differences are a normal and healthy part of human life, and with genuine effort and real listening, it’s possible to talk things out. If you are afraid just because someone scares you doesn’t mean they’re actually harmful. White people often experience black people as threatening when in reality that’s just a response from decades of racist social conditioning

Accountability: Requires action for repairing the harm that has occurred

Harm: People who have been harmed cause harm.

Brave space: Ways to be brave - Sit with discomfort, identify how you may knowingly benefit from racism, speak out when you see racism in action, don’t let mistakes deter you from doing better, yield positions of power to those who have been marginalized, educate others how racism harms quaker ministry

Sacred Space: We see our times together as sacred spaces where we experience deep listening. When a conflict occurs it is a time for us to hold spirit and give us an opportunity to deepen our relationships to another level. We will ask everyone to hold the space, especially those who are confused. We are holding this sacred knowing that the spirit will guide us as we listen deeply, center & allow the spirit to unfold. We want to hold Sacred space to build a skill towards reaching a value to support awareness, accountability and tenderness.