Nurturing conversation in order to create change.

The Racial Justice and Reconciliation Ministry (RJRM) exists to (a) create spaces for members to listen and better understand racism and other forms of oppression, (b) collaborate with allies in Durham in order to understand our collective history of oppression and resistance, and (c) find creative, meaningful, and active ways to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being” (Baptismal Covenant in The Book of Common Prayer, p. 305). This group takes responsibility for developing a variety of conversations about racial injustice wherever it might be found. The committee also works with clergy to include responses to racial violence and oppression during regular or special worship services.

Get Involved

As you might remember, the Racial Justice and Reconciliation Ministry began a Truth-Telling Project in late 2019, with the goal of interviewing parishioners about their experiences related to race at St. Philip’s and in the community. This was put on hold when we could no longer meet with people face to face, but we now have an alternative Zoom strategy.
 
What do we need? We need people who would be willing to be Zoom hosts for the interview. The only requirement is that you have to have or be willing to download a free Zoom account and be willing to learn the simple steps to be the host and record the interview session.
 
What will you get out of it? A chance to hear stories from people you know, or people new to you. A chance to be part of a project about our history that we can all learn from and grow with. An opportunity to be part of taking the idea of Black History Month to a broader level for our parish.
 
If you are willing to do this, or even willing to consider it and want more information, contact Sue Guptill.

Our Recent Work

  • We began the 1619 Project with St. Titus’s during Lent but had to discontinue the meetings with the coming of the pandemic. We hope to resume programming next year.
  • We organized our Truth Telling Project around evaluating how race has shaped our church and how we have been complicit in racism. A manual for interviews was developed and we trained interviewers. We are working on adjusting the process to comply with meeting guidelines and interviews during the pandemic.
  • We organized attendance at Sweet Chariot, sponsored by the Hayti Heritage Center and the Carolina Theatre, in February. The performance included stage readings of oral histories from the 1930 slave narrative project and spirituals.
  • We organized a Zoom planning conversation around our anti-racism work and a prayer vigil after the murder of George Floyd in June.
  • We organized Zoom sessions on becoming an ally and on repentance and reconciliation in July.
  • We all be premiering a new banner lifting up our work in January 2021.
  • We organized a resource page which is up on the parish’s website.
  • • We encouraged the vestry to resolve to do particular anti-racism work which resulted in a resolution shared with the congregation recently.
  • • We supported efforts to lift up the importance of voting which included messages from parishioners doing voter registration work through YouCanVote and from the Episcopal Public Policy Network.
  • • We supported a study of Michael Curry’s new book ‘Love is the Way’ via Zoom.