Our Journey to Right Relations

At Annual Sessions In 2013, NEYM approved Minute #2013-52 refuting the Doctrine of Discovery:

…We as New England Yearly Meeting repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery. We are beginning a journey to consider the moral and spiritual implications of how we benefit from and have been harmed by the doctrine as individuals and meetings.

…We know that to simply say “we repudiate this doctrine” does not do enough. We need to make amends, we need to learn more and we need to find out how to do more. What would it mean to truly live in a way that acknowledges and works to rectify this terrible injustice? …

With this minute we embarked on the journey to understand how we Quakers have benefitted from the Doctrine of Discovery and how it continues to influence our lives today. This journey has led us to issue the Apology to Native Americans in 2021–22 and the establishment of the Quaker Indigenous Boarding School Research Group in 2022 to uncover New England Quakers’ role in the Federal Indian Boarding Schools in the 19th and 20th centuries.

At NEYM Sessions in August 2024 Friends approved minute 2024-62, which included the following:

5. Consider Financial Reparations. Ask the Right Relationship Resource Group to initiate a conversation and discernment about restorative actions and future financial reparations, inviting local meetings to engage in learning and reflection, and that the Right Relationship Resource Group report back to Sessions with yearly updates. If NEYM becomes clear to make financial reparations, a significant draw from Witness and Ministry Fund and/or the undesignated funds could be used for this purpose.

This fifth recommendation was approved with inclusion of explicit guidance from the Meeting to consider BIPOC communities broadly in any discernment of financial reparations. The Committee affirmed that the Right Relationship Resource Working Group is already seeking out Friends with experience to advise on this, and welcomes the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings to include this in their discernment and recommendations.

The Right Relationship Resource Group (RRRG) wishes to acknowledge the Racial, Social, and Economic Justice Committee and thank the clerk, Rachel Carey Harper, and committee members who brought the Doctrine of Discovery to Sessions in 2013. We follow in your footsteps and are ready to shepherd and support this conversation and discernment.

Any restorative actions/reparations must begin with relationships who have been harmed. We are particularly interested in learning more about what activities monthly meetings are currently engaged in, what you are learning, what resources you have or are looking for or are willing to share with the wider Yearly Meeting.

Is your meeting engaged in building relationships with Indigenous and BIPOC communities?
Has your meeting considered any restorative actions?
What resources—books, readings, websites, organizations, people—have been helpful in your or your meeting’s discernment processes?

Members of the RRRG are available to visit your Meeting for a conversation about restorative actions and reparations.

We also seek additional members, especially those who are actively engaged in building relationships with Indigenous and BIPOC communities and organizations and anti-racism and reparations work.