Hello friends,  We had a productive and rich discussion in our Badge of Courage meeting on 5/29.

The process of wearing a badge with the image of an American Flag that said, “One Nation, Where Black Lives Matter Too” was illuminating for people who took up the challenge.  We experienced a variety of responses from people who saw the badges and had a variety of internal experiences as wearers of the badge.  Of note: what it was like to wear an image of an American Flag, what it was like to wear language that people might react to in different ways, and the choices we made regarding when and how long each of us wore the badge.  The experience was uncomfortable for many of us and prompted us to have conversations we ordinarily would not have had. This effort was a concrete collective action that is larger and more meaningful than the simple act of wearing a badge.  It was an action in which we were willing to be both agents of change and to change ourselves in the process.

The recent racist mass shooting in Buffalo seems to have put an exclamation point on the fact that we are called to examine our own beliefs and practices and to take a stand against racism in our community.  In light of how beneficial this project has been for us, many of us would like to call the rest to the Buffalo Quakers to re-join us in considering:

What collective actions are we willing to take together to fight racism in ourselves, our families and our communities?

Is there something we can do on a group-wide level?

It has been very helpful to have a concrete specific action such as wearing a badge because the concreteness of the action pushes us to actually do it or gives us information when we don’t do it.  Is there something like this we would do together?

To discuss this, we strongly encourage everyone to join us for the Second Hour on 7/10.  See you there!