This is provided in the event that other congregations may want to consider similar action.
As a peace church with a commitment to social and environmental justice, Doylestown Friends Meeting is called to examine and challenge the thought patterns and practices of white privilege. The distorted sense of superiority among white people has infected this land since first contact over 500 years ago. This systemic racism is perpetuated by generations of complicit silence. We fully support the right of Americans to peacefully protest police brutality and all its consequences. We acknowledge the many burdens of racism on African Americans and other people of color, including: immense inequities in health care, mass incarceration, police violence and shooting, everyday insults small and large, implicit and explicit bias, being unheard or not believed, inferior schools and education experiences… the list goes on and on.
Genocide of Indigenous Peoples and slavery of African Americans have been present since the very beginnings of this nation. It is time for us to examine that toxic history and its current manifestations and deeply reflect on our accountabilities for it. We need to begin the necessary healing process for us to be the country we profess to be. Black and brown people have been crying out for decades for us to right these wrongs, yet the divisions and racism continue. The transformation belongs to white people. We need to understand that racism is not a few bad people who do terrible things, rather a systemic foundation that keeps injustices in place.
We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and embrace the diversity of all peoples and will act to break down institutional racism. Those of us with European heritage must exchange guilt, paralysis and silence for knowledge, thoughtful action and right relationship with those who have been crushed by our lack of understanding. It is incumbent on us to act now.
Doylestown Friends Meeting, 95 E. Oakland Ave, Doylestown, PA 18901
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