By Louise Reeve

Recently I attended two online events, “Let’s Talk About Race” hosted by the Unitarian General Assembly and “What role does faith play in racial justice?” from the Newcastle Council of Faiths.

Let’s Talk about Race

An online event attended by around 150 Unitarians and fellow travellers via Zoom on 25 June 2020, and featuring four speakers:

Margaret Perry, a senior member of the Rosslyn Hill Chapel, spoke about her experiences growing up in Liverpool, and her horror as a young white woman in her first job, aged 17, learning that the shipping company she worked for had traded in slaves in the past. She spoke of how she had never learned about this, and emphasised the importance of knowing all of our history.

Garry Stewart, director of ‘Recognise Black Heritage and Culture’ spoke about the recent Windrush scandal, where many black British people who had arrived in Britain as children and lived and worked here for decades were accused of being ‘illegal immigrants’. Many lost their jobs and rights to use public services, and some were even imprisoned or deported.

Rev. Winnie Gordon, a black British Unitarian minister (and former recipient of the Herbert Barnes Award), who spoke powerfully about her personal experiences of racism and how it can lead to black, Asian and minority ethnic people feeling they must deny who they are to avoid conflict.

Dr Judy Ryde, author of ‘White Privilege Unmasked’ spoke on how white people do not always recognise their own racism and prejudice. She emphasised that in a structurally racist society, everyone is affected by racism to some degree, and that white people need to be prepared to examine our views and actions, and become ‘antiracist’.

We then went into individual groups to discuss our own views on race and share thoughts on what we’d heard and what we thought we wanted to do next. This was probably the most valuable part of the session, although the speakers were excellent, as it allowed us (a mostly white group) to start some of the consideration Dr Ryde encouraged us to begin. As Liz Slade, Chief Officer of the GA, said in her closing remarks, this event is a beginning, not an end. You can read a full write-up of this event in the 11 July 2020 edition of the Inquirer, and a video of the event is online at: https://tinyurl.com/y8rpogdf.

Newcastle Council of Faiths: “What role does faith play in racial justice?”

A Zoom conference on 14th July organised by the Newcastle Inter Faith Council. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend the entire event, but it was fantastic to see a locally-organised event on tackling racism and looking at the spiritual dimension of this work, and to hear from speakers such as local MP Chi Onwurah, who spoke about her experiences as a black British woman both before and after going into politics. Other speakers included Shumel Rahman (co-chair of Newcastle Unites), Jaswinder Singh (from the North East Sikh Service), and Northumbria Police Superintendent Karl Wilson. Hopefully as Unitarians we will be able to become more involved in our local inter-faith group in future! Find out more by contacting Lesley Hillary at: l.hillary@newcastle.anglican.org