Baltimore Yearly Meeting Working Group on Racism
The current version of the Mission Statement of the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Working Group on Racism (WGR) is reaching its 10-year anniversary. This anniversary, plus our current moment in time in this country, prompts us to share it with you once again.
Please review the 2015 Mission Statement below and the suggestions for how our Meeting might want to assess or enhance our own efforts. Please consider, and let BYM know, whether our Meeting:
- would like to be in touch with WGR members who could suggest resources for our Meeting
- would consider organizing its own book (or movie) discussion group.
Please send any feedback to the WGR Clerk, Beth. Please contact the Stony Run Office for more information.
MISSION OF THE BYM WORKING GROUP ON RACISM
Revisions under consideration February 2025
The Baltimore Yearly Meeting Working Group on Racism realizes that racism is a barrier to Friends’ relationship with the Divine because it limits our ability to see that of God in all people. Because the larger society privileges white people over people of color, we must deliberately find ways to build Quaker communities that are welcoming to all. We also must strive to extend our vision of equality and justice into our local communities and the wider society. Therefore, the Group seeks to:
Support Friends in our ability to see that of God in people across racial, ethnic, and cultural differences and to deepen our understanding and appreciation of ways in which Friends Meetings are both enriched and challenged by diversity.
One indicator of success will be Monthly Meetings that welcome diversity, adopt ways to be inclusively welcoming, and may become more diverse.
Raise the awareness of BYM Friends regarding the realities of racial and ethnic discrimination and oppression in America, including institutional and cultural racism, and the ways these phenomena affect all of us.
One indicator of success will be BYM Meetings and individual Friends reading and discussing material on race and racism.1
Support action challenging structural racism, both as individuals and as meetings.
The indicators of success will be engagement within and across Meetings, Quaker organizations, and broader coalitions seeking changes in laws, policies and practices - private, commercial, religious, governmental - that perpetuate structural racism.
Continue to raise awareness of the problems of white privilege and the continued use of coded or colorblind language in our own meetings, in the Yearly Meeting, and in the broader community.
One indicator of success will be Friends who are enthusiastic in regard to learning about and discussing racism.
Develop and share outreach approaches for attracting a diversity of people to our Meetings and supporting diverse Meeting communities.
The indicator of success will be the production and distribution of material and discussion with monthly meetings on making our meetings more diverse.