“Thank you for keeping the work alive in our Meeting!” This is just one statement of appreciation expressed to the Race & Class Working Group (RCWG) at Mount Toby Monthly Meeting (Leverett, Massachusetts). RCWG has continually invited people to engage with the work by providing consistent opportunities over many years. Ruth Hazzard, current clerk of RCWG, explains that “offering programs again and again helps people keep their concern around racism and bias and all the connected issues, alive and active.” This work has been growing steadily over many years. With the recent events in our country along with the Yearly Meeting's call to action, Mt Toby’s racial justice work is deepening and growing outward in expanding circles of engagement within the meeting, and beyond.
The Race & Class Working Group began meeting in 2013 in response to a letter from a Friend of color to Mt. Toby Friends Meeting, speaking out about the grip that white supremacy and classism has on the life of their meeting. This moment served as a catalyst and their own meeting’s call to action. Gathering nearly monthly since that time, the RCWG has created many opportunities for learning, growth, and commitment to change including the following:
- Organized and led monthly and retreat programming exploring classism and racism
- Established a race and class email list, which offers a forum for sharing ideas and resources
- Hosted a joint program with Northampton Meeting facilitated by Dr. Amanda Kemp and entitled ‘Say the Wrong Thing: Stories and Strategies for Racial Justice and Authentic Communication’
- Wrote a minute for Mt Toby to support changing the racist imagery of violence toward Indigenous people on our state flag, which was adopted at the July 2019 meeting for business
- Invited Mt Toby to support Soul Fire Farm, a Black/Indigenous/People of Color (BIPOC)-led farm dedicated to ending racism in the food system
- Actively supported the Standing Together: Restoring Goodwin campaign in fall 2019, which raised funds to support Goodwin Memorial AME Zion Church of Amherst
- Joined in planning the 400 Years: Truth & Healing for the Next Seven Generations project, which took place October 18, 2020, brought a minute (approved July 2020) for Mt Toby to co-host the event and hosted a community read of the novel, The Mourning Road to Thanksgiving by Larry Spotted Crow Mann
- Collaborated with the Yearly Challenging White Supremacy Working Group and the Yearly Meeting Noticing Patterns of Oppression and Faithfulness Group
- Since early 2018, established a monthly meeting of a core group of committed Friends to plan and implement our actions and support each other in our journeys.
Ruth explains that the working group’s programming and initiatives have provided space for people to take in and process difficult information. The sense of safety is fostered by always giving time to share in pairs or small groups.
As their work evolved, RCWG was mentioned as meaningful and important to the meeting as a whole in their State of Society Report. Yet the working group felt led to reach out beyond the regular attenders at their programs. As Ruth explains, they desired to “reach out to another circle and then another circle within the Meeting. So that we all know that this is our work together and that there’s a lot of people who are engaged in working, really thinking, and exploring how to act.”
In October 2020, the working group brought a minute to neeting for business that outlined RCWG’s work to date along with a statement of meeting-wide commitment to the work of addressing racism and classism. The minute also called for “establishing a formal, explicit relationship between the Working Group and Mt Toby, which we feel is timely and essential to our ongoing work.”
Here’s a short excerpt from the minute:
Ruth reflects on how affirming it was for the group members: "It shifted our sense of ourselves. The Meeting really has affirmed that this is our commitment. That feels different.”
Since this shift occurred in October 2020, the work at the corporate level has continued. Specifically, just in the past couple of months, RCWG brought a minute in support of the Yearly Meeting Letter of Apology to Native Americans, as well as a minute of land acknowledgement regarding the land the Mt Toby meetinghouse stands on. The meeting united around the intent of both minutes. They also came to unity around donating money to the Black Quaker Project as a way of affirming its work of lifting up the lives and contributions of Quakers of color.
Additionally, RCWG recently focused an adult education hour on the the Outgoing Epistle of the 2020 Virtual Pre-Gathering of Friends of Color and their Families. One of Ruth’s hopes in bringing this for reflection was to help white folks at Mt Toby “take in the reality of the experience of Friends of color that ‘we can’t breathe’.” Ruth asks: “What is happening in our meeting that makes it white centered? What are the patterns that are consistently unwelcoming?” She goes on to explain that “We know from listening to BIPOC Friends in our Meeting that unwelcoming and hurtful patterns are still happening, and we also hear from Friends how other forms of oppression besides racism are present.”
There is of course much more to the story of this growing commitment at Mt Toby Meeting. There are the individuals who raised questions and the many who felt led in different ways to plan, lead, invite-in, challenge, reflect, learn, grow, and continue to hold the vision of much-needed transformation.
And still work continues. In April, members of the working group taught three sessions of Noticing Patterns of Oppression and Faithfulness curriculum to the Mt Toby community. Each session looked at specific scenarios which actually took place among New England Friends. “We learned how tender exploring different kinds of group identities can be, and the hurt that can happen in seemingly simple interactions.” Some people in the workshops really had a difficult time saying “I’m white.” Each session looked at specific scenarios which actually took place among New England Friends. All three sessions were really different and, Ruth notes, “people are really ready to think about this, and to look at the next step of how to interrupt and ‘call-in’ when we notice patterns of oppression.”
“I feel like there’s some really key steps we need to make about de-centering whiteness. I’m open to some new visions of that.” Ruth cites the teachings of Dr. Amanda Kemp, both to use our imaginations and to understand that we are the instruments of transformation and so must be fully grounded in our bodies. Ruth summarizes: “Let’s use our imaginations, reach for something different. If we can imagine it, we can be it. We can all open our hearts. We can all be grounded in love. We must do the work in grounding ourselves in self care and self love. We have to do that because that’s the way we can hold the energy to do this work.”
Ruth wants to be sure she and RCWG are inviting people into the work. “This isn’t just about another thing that is wrong with us. This is about expanding our awareness, being in our hearts and letting ourselves be transformed. Beyond the challenges, there is joy and freedom.”