Since 2014, the PRLC Race and Equity Team has sought to provide anti-racist learning and action opportunities for ending conscious and unconscious patterns of white supremacy in our church, denomination, and country.
Staff Contact: Minister of Outreach Patrick Meagher
Team Members: Jenn Boelter, Alice Gregory, Thaddaeus Gregory, Patty Maier, Tiffany Megargee, Barbara Mockett, Signe Roscoe, Chris Shultz, and Erica Shutes-David
Summer Reading and Book Clubs
The PRLC Race & Equity Team invites you to consider reading one or both of these books and joining us for a discussion Aug 25 and Sept 8. There are two options for book discussions to choose from.
One Life by Megan Rapinoe
This Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women's World Cup champion's book is a thoughtful and unapologetic discussion of social justice and politics, revealing Rapinoe's life both on and off the field. Guided by her personal journey into social justice, brimming with humor, humanity and joy, she urges all of us to ask ourselves – What will you do with your one life? Deeply personal and inspiring, One Life reveals that real, concrete change lies within all of us. Please consider supporting our treasured independent bookstore Phinney Books! To order a book, call them at 206-297-2665. They’ll let you know when it comes in.
Bridges to Heal US: Stories and Strategies for Racial Healing
by Erin Jones
So, you want to do your part to end racism in the United States? Have you been watching racial injustice in our city and across the nation, wondering if there is any hope for peace? Do you want to be part of the healing of our nation but just don’t know if you as an individual can make a difference? In Bridges to Heal US, you will learn from (local) author and 30-year, locally-and-nationally-award-winning educator, Erin Jones, about strategies to help you move your community towards racial justice. This book is not available from Phinney Books, but can be ordered online.
Following is our church’s statement of anti-racism. It reflects months of careful consideration by the Race & Equity Team, Pastoral Staff, and input from many others. As with all declarations, it is only as good as the follow through. We invite you to join us in the work that will put the flesh of real love on the bones of the words of this statement.
Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church Statement of Anti-Racism
Acknowledgment and Lamentation
We, the people of God gathered at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church (PRLC), are called daily to confess the sin of racism and condemn the ideology of white supremacy. We lament our passive and active acceptance of systems that have allowed such harms to continue unabated in the Church and in the world. We ask God to expose our greed which has resulted in exploitative practices, racist policies, and oppressive systems.
Repentance
We repent the ongoing harm to those hurt by colonization, slavery, and genocide. We have perpetuated pain and injustice through our distrust and exclusion of people with whom we have not built deep, loving, and authentic relationships. We plead with God to transform our hearts, minds, and behaviors.
Response
PRLC commits to the work of racial justice, socioeconomic equity, and racial reconciliation. We affirm our identity as an anti-racist congregation. With God’s guidance, we pledge to the ongoing work of becoming a more loving, accepting, and equitable community. We commit to the ongoing practices of listening and learning.
With the Holy Spirit’s help, we vow that our anti-racism commitment will be reflected in the life and culture of PRLC through our policies and ministries, even as we continue to learn. We will advocate for, support, and work toward practices that dismantle systemic racism and ethnic oppression within all aspects of our faith family, community, and society.
The Love Through Justice Project
In our church-wide summer book reading of 2018, Michael Eric Dyson’s told us “Justice is what love sounds like when it speaks in Public.” The following summer, Pastor Lenny Duncan asked our book group, “What would reparations look like in your congregation?” Then, we sold a former Phinney House and reaped a windfall that will benefit the church for generations to come.
What did we do? We decided to contribute a tithe from the sale proceeds in a way that directly addresses the historical injustices of our city, and began relationships with the remarkable organizations below. We also asked the church to contribute additional funds from their personal generational wealth and added these contribution to our tithe. Please read about these organizations here and on their own websites (links below), and perhaps you will choose to support them directly!
The Nehemiah Initiative
The Nehemiah Initiative is a church-led, community-based group whose goal is to empower and expand opportunities for the black community hit hard by gentrification in the Central District. The group was founded by Pastor Garry Tyson of Goodwill Missionary Baptist Church, one of seven remaining historically black churches in the area collectively owning seven acres of undeveloped land. They seek to use these real estate assets to develop affordable mixed-use projects including housing, commercial space, green areas, and renewed church buildings. The Initiative aims to stem the loss of black-owned property in the CD, while providing the essential services that sustain a community.
Real Rent Duwamish
The History of the Duwamish in Seattle is sadly familiar for indigenous communities with broken treaties, violence from settlers, and loss of vital fishing habitat. The Duwamish Tribal Services was established as a 501[c]3 in 1983 in order to “promote the social, cultural, and economic survival of the Duwamish tribe.” The Duwamish do not currently have federal recognition - which would provide them the rights of self-government and entitle them to receive federal benefits, services, and protections.
Despite these challenges, about 600 enrolled tribal members persist to sustain their culture and traditions. Donations to Real Rent Duwamish, run by volunteers at the Duwamish Solidarity Group, provides services directly to the members of the Duwamish tribe as well as contributing to improvements to their longhouse on West Marginal Way which acts as a museum (free to the public), event space, and community center.