The parish of St. Mary’s Richmond Hill, acknowledges that Anti-Black racism exists in our society and in our Church, and that it and all forms of racism against Black, Indigenous and other racialized people are a sin against God and against our neighbour. We commit ourselves to the recognition, dismantling, and elimination of Anti-Black and other forms of racism in our secular institutions, in our Church, and in ourselves, and to work for the full inclusion, participation and belongingness of Black, Indigenous and other racialized people in all sectors of our common life.
Should you wish to further your understanding of racial prejudice, racism, white privilege etc., we will be passing along resources over the next few months. In addition, we invite you to share materials that you may have found helpful on this topic or any personal experiences that you think your fellow parishioners might benefit from.
I have read the following two books which I found helpful:
White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo; a discussion on white racial discomfort. It’s a short book I found to be well written and very informative in explaining prejudice, discrimination and systemic racism as well as white privilege.
Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah is a novel cleverly written, in a humorous vein, about growing up in South Africa under apartheid. A enjoyable as well as thought provoking read.
In addition, after Vestry one of our congregants shared this CBC broadcast resource, which she found to be eye-opening. Click here to view.
Please contact Lyne Webb if you have any questions or something you would like to share.
