The Anti-Racism Commission's monthly newsletter goes out to all ARC supporters and training participants. Please forward it to others who might benefit from our resources and workshops. And check out our blog site for past articles, training information and ongoing resources.

Sat. Jun. 24, 2023 from 9 am to noon on Zoom

Fee: $15. Scholarships are available, especially for postulants and

candidates for ordination. Email arc@diopa.org.

This training explores the ways in which racism manifests in America’s educational, employment, entertainment, finance, healthcare, housing, justice, mass media, and religious institutions. Completion of Introduction to Systemic Racism is a prerequisite for this part of the series. The next training will be Introduction to Systemic Racism on Aug. 26.

The Anti-Racism Commission's anti-racism training series is facilitated by Lailah Dunbar-Keeys and designed to help participants understand the historic creation, preservation, and personal and institutional effects of a society built upon ideas of racial difference, which in turn support an unjust, racially based hierarchy. The series repeats annually, and offers the Introduction to Systemic Racism training 3 times a year. Anti-racism trainings are mandatory for clergy and open to all. Completion of all 5 trainings over 2 years meets the initial clergy requirement for anti-racism education. Email arc@diopa.org to obtain a certificate of completion.

Sacred Ground at the It's All About Love Conference

The Episcopal Church is offering FREE registration to all Sacred Ground graduates for the It’s All About Love conference in Baltimore, MD from Sun. Jul. 9 to Wed. Jul. 12. Members of the Diocese of Pennsylvania Anti-Racism Commission are planning to attend the conference. Learn more about the It's All About Love conference and check out their schedule of speakers and activities.

Sacred Ground graduates are also invited to attend a Sacred Ground gathering at the Baltimore Convention Center on Sun. Jul. 9 from 2 to 5 p.m. to connect with one another, reflect, share, envision what comes next for the Sacred Ground Community, celebrate being together, and notice what the Holy Spirit is doing, has done and will do!

If you are interested in volunteering to staff a Sacred Ground table in the exhibition hall, email sacredground@episcopalchurch.org.

Juneteenth and Reconstruction

• The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth by the National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Black Reconstruction in America: Toward a History of the Part Which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880 by W. E. B. Du Bois
• Reconstruction by Frederick Douglass
• "The Southern “Black Codes” of 1865-66" by the Constitutional Rights Foundation
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
• Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
• Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglass Blackmon
• Assimilation Blues: Black Families In White Communities, Who Succeeds And Why by Beverly Daniel Tatum
• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• The Price of a Child by Lorene Cary
• White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson

Eyes on the Prize

• Watch Eyes on the Prize produced by Blackside (113 mins)

The most critically acclaimed documentary on civil rights era in America, Eyes on the Prize tells the definitive story of the civil rights era through contemporary interviews and historical footage - from the 1954 murder of Emmett Till to the 1983 installation of Harold Washington as Chicago's first black mayor.

Liberty and Justice for All

• Watch Amanda Gorman reads inauguration poem, 'The Hill We Climb' (6 mins)

Miami Lakes, FL resident Daily Salinas, who has two children at Bob Graham Education Center, alleges that Amanda Gorman's book, The Hill We Climb, based on her Jan. 20, 2021 inauguration speech, would cause confusion and indoctrinate children, and that the work is "not educational," contains indirect hate speech, and shouldn't be in schools. Read more.

• DeSantis appears to back woman who led Amanda Gorman poem school ban by Richard Luscombe (May 25, 2023, Guardian)
• Moms for Liberty is convening this summer in Philly, a backdrop for the group’s focus on 'preserving American values' (Apr. 28, 2023, Inquirer)
• 1 complaint led a Florida school to restrict access to Amanda Gorman's famous poem by Bill Chappell (May 25, 2023, NPR)
• Moms for Liberty: What it is and who’s behind the group (Jun. 2, 2023, Inquirer)
• American Revolution Museum staffers are fighting to cancel a Moms for Liberty event by by Juliana Feliciano Reyes (Jun. 7, 2023, Inquirer)

Email arc@diopa.org and let us know what resources would help you in your anti-racism work. 

The Anti-Racism Commission was created by diocesan convention resolution in 2005 with the mandate “to affect the systemic and institutional transformation in the diocese away from the sin of racism and toward the fulfillment of the Gospel and the baptismal mandate to strive for justice and respect the dignity of all persons.”

Consisting of 12 members, a mix of clergy and lay and persons of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, the commission aims to increase awareness of the history and legacy of racism in our country and to engage members of the diocese in dismantling its effects.

To learn more about how ARC can help your parish engage in the work of racial justice and repair, contact The Rev. Barbara Ballenger (barbballenger@gmail.com) or The Rev. Ernie Galaz (frernie@christchurchmedia.org), ARC co-chairs.