Fear cannot withstand the light

I’ve resolved to not dwell so much on all the crisis we face. But it is hard to maintain hope with the escalating explosion of threats confronting us.

I’ve been reading CLIMATE SENSE: Changing the Way We Think & Feel About Our Climate in Crisis by Zhiwa Woodbury. He expresses these crises as unacknowledged fears. Fears that can paralyze us. And reminds us fear cannot withstand the light.

Our path to planetary rebirth is paved with fear. …These unacknowledged fears feed our depression, and if allowed to fester in our unconscious mind, they will eventually drown us in a sea of despair. But there is a great secret in all this that makes it a lot less intimidating. Like the darkness which is now consuming our world, fear cannot withstand the light. In this case, the bright light shines forth in the form of simple awareness. In politics, information is power. But when it comes to the climate crisis, awareness is where our power lies. Please do not underestimate it.

Consider that the only power fear has is in its unacknowledged state. As psychologists have appreciated for some time now, our actions are largely controlled by our shadow selves, and our shadow selves are shaped by our unacknowledged fears. By acknowledging, confronting, and processing these fears, through awareness we emerge from the self-imposed darkness, into the warm glow of that light, we human beings can do anything we put our minds to. Thus, in every emergency, there is the potential for emergence into some transformed state of being. That is the latent, unlimited power of awareness.

But paralyzed by fear, we will surely perish.

CLIMATE SENSE: Changing the Way We Think & Feel About Our Climate in Crisis by Zhiwa Woodbury

I look forward to worshiping with my Quaker meeting this morning. We speak of the Inner Light as the expression of the presence of the Spirit in our lives. Knowing this Spirit is in all things, human and nonhuman, helps us value everything. In our silent Quaker meetings, we seek to hear what this Spirit is telling us in the present moment. We have this awareness of the Spirit which can conquer our fears. “By acknowledging, confronting, and processing these fears, through awareness we emerge from the self-imposed darkness, into the warm glow of that light, we human beings can do anything we put our minds to.”

To practice hope is to face hard truths, harder truths than you can face without the practice of hope. You can’t navigate dark places without a light, and hope is that light for humanity’s dark places.
Quinn Norton

Bear Creek Friends

Indigenous, Quaker Mutual Aid

We’re at the intersection of so many things we could once rely on and have no choice but to find different ways to move into the future. We’re bewildered by the collapse of so many things we took for granted. Such as our political, education, healthcare, and economic systems. Our communities, including family, neighborhoods, and faith. Mother Earth herself.

Above I first wrote “find new ways to move into the future”. But part of what follows is about returning to “old ways”. But not as nostalgia.

I’m excited to hear what Quakers will say about work they’re doing at a meeting tonight, which is why I’m praying about this now. This meeting is an invitation to Friends to talk about the history, and current relationships among Quakers and Indigenous peoples.

One part of this will be to research the history of Quaker involvement in the Indian boarding, or residential schools. Quakers were involved in some of these institutions of forced assimilation. We don’t know what individuals did and aren’t judging them. But looking back from here, we are learning of the terrible damage done to native children and their families and nations by these attempts to make children fit into white society. Devastating feelings are triggered as the remains of thousands of children continue to be located on the grounds of those residential schools.

In order for native peoples and Friends to work together, this history must somehow be acknowledged. In my own case, I only raised this with those I was becoming friends with. Then I said, “I know about Quakers’ involvement in the residential schools, and I’m sorry that happened.” And wait for their response. In every case I learned they and their families had been affected by those schools. I’m not sure that was the right way. I’ve since heard such apologies might better be done with more of a ceremony. In my case raising this was important for deepening friendships.

This is also in part the idea behind the title of this article. I’ve become increasingly involved in the work of Des Moines Mutual Aid, a concept I wasn’t aware of. It was a Spirit led meeting that brought my now good friend, Ronnie James, and I together two years ago. Ronnie is an Indigenous organizer and I’m very grateful he has been willing to be my Mutual Aid mentor. Ronnie is also part of the Great Plains Action Society (GPAS) established by another friend of mine, Sikowis Nobiss. Several other Indigenous friends of mine are involved with GPAS.

All that is why I believe the concept of Mutual Aid is the way Friends and Indigenous peoples can work together.

It is a bit confusing when you first learn about Mutual Aid, because it is essentially a framework to return to the ways of life of our grandparents. Communities where the people knew and cared for each other. Communities that were self-sufficient.

The basic concept of Mutual Aid is to remove vertical hierarchies, which by definition removes power structures of dominance and superiority. No matter what you call it, vertical hierarchies cannot exist if Quakers are going to be able to work with Indigenous peoples.

Mutual is the key concept, which is easiest to see in contrast to charity. Charity is not mutual. Resources are given to someone or some organization with no expectation of anything returning to the giver. The recipient never sees the giver.

Mutuality is essential, so there are no separate groups. So there are not, for example, people designated as providers or clients. So there is not a stigma associated with need. Mutual Aid communities teach us we are not in need through our own fault, but because systems have failed us. Those of us distributing food, for example, emphasize we ourselves may need food in the future. This type of political education is part of Mutual Aid.

The other thing that makes Mutual Aid communities so successful is the focus on meeting immediate needs, such as food, shelter or court support. Besides meeting urgent needs, this focus is highly motivating to those involved. This makes for long-term engagement and satisfaction. And attracts people to expand Mutual Aid communities. In the two years I’ve been involved I can’t remember a single instance of conflict among us. When everyone is there, voluntarily, to help, what would there be to complain about?

This is the background for my proposal for Indigenous peoples and Quakers to work together as Mutual Aid communities. Endeavoring to avoid hierarchies and instead facilitate working together on mutual, immediate needs has worked excellently in my experience.

Of course this requires Friends to build friendships with native people. This is happening more often now, as Indigenous peoples are emerging to reassert their authority and leadership on so many issues. How else can Quakers be guided how to contribute to this work? How else will we be welcome by Indigenous peoples?

I talked with an Indigenous friend of mine who indicated his support for these ideas.

Other articles about Mutual Aid can be found here: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/mutual-aid/

First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March, September 2018

A reckoning on Native boarding schools is long overdue

A reckoning on Native boarding schools is long overdue is the title of a recent article by my friend Bridget Moix, General Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL).

She writes of the sanitized version of the history of this country we white people were taught in school. This has been a deep concern of mine for years. It is jarring that every time I think of my Quaker boarding school, I think of the Indian boarding schools, as they were called. It hurts to realize how difficult it is for native children to hear the white version of history that continues to be taught in most schools today. And the absence of discussion of their history and culture. Forced assimilation continues. It is wonderful that native schools exist.

This is now in the news as the remains of thousands of children are being located on the grounds of those residential schools in this country and Canada. And as Bridget’s excellent article discusses, a reckoning is long overdue.

What are we, white Quakers, called to do in response now?

There are calls for Friends to respond in many ways. To educate ourselves about this history. To seek ways for healing and reparations. To research our own meeting’s history.

I am concerned that many people are not aware of attitudes we could be bringing to this work. In the same the way so many white Quakers have trouble understanding white supremacy and privilege related to racial justice, many are also unaware of how deeply we are immersed in this colonized society. Colonization and white supremacy are the foundation of forced assimilation of native children. And the ideas behind the land theft and genocide of native peoples.

We need to decolonize ourselves. If not, we risk doing more harm than good. We can begin by deeply considering what our motivations are for becoming involved in this work. And educating ourselves to give us more insight into what was done and why. And hopefully avoid the mistakes of the past.

As painful as it can be, we simply cannot create a more just nation without filling in those gaps with the complicated truth of our past.
Bridget Moix

Bridget discusses one thing we can do.

Congress must build upon the work done by the Boarding School Initiative. Lawmakers can do so by swiftly passing the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the U.S. Act (H.R. 5444/S. 2907), which will be marked up this month. If enacted, it would establish the first formal commission in our history to investigate and address the harms committed — and critically, ensure progress isn’t derailed by any change in administrations.

A reckoning on Native boarding schools is long overdue

But the more we learn, the more we see gaping holes between our country’s traditional narrative and the realities of how our nation was built and who paid the costs. As painful as it can be, we simply cannot create a more just nation without filling in those gaps with the complicated truth of our past.

Between 1819 and 1969, across 37 states, there were 408 schools and more than 1,000 other institutions involved in educating Native children, including day schools, orphanages and asylums. These institutions were sponsored by the federal government and administered by a number of Christian denominations, including my current faith community, Quakers.

The “assimilation” tactics employed at the schools were brutal. They included renaming children with English names, cutting their hair, prohibiting the use of Native languages and religions, extensive military drills and manual labor. Abuse was commonplace, including the use of solitary confinement and the withholding of food.

A number of these schools were established and run by the Religious Society of Friends. In an 1869 letter, Edward Shaw, a Friend from Richmond, Indiana, wrote that Quakers aimed “to protect, to Civilize, and to Christianize our Red Brethren.” Charles Eastman, a Lakota physician, described the treatment he experienced at the Santee School, a Quaker-run institution in Nebraska: “We youthful warriors were held up and harassed … until not a semblance of our native dignity and self-respect was left.”

This reckoning must also extend beyond the government. Faith communities, including Quakers, were undeniably complicit in the historic trauma of the boarding school era. We have a moral obligation to share records and accounts of the administration of these schools as investigations continue. In the Quaker community, which does not have a centralized governing body, individual meetings have begun taking on this responsibility.

The truth is we cannot undo the harm caused by these institutions. It is a permanent stain on our history. But by fully acknowledging the sins of the past, we can begin taking steps to chart a more just relationship with Native communities nationwide. It’s time, at long last, to shine a light on this dark chapter of American history and take the next steps toward reckoning and repair.

A reckoning on Native boarding schools is long overdue by Bridget Moix, General Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) (excerpts)

To the future through the past

The consequences of two atrocities in the history of this country continue to impact us today. The institution of slavery, and the genocide of and land theft from Native Americans continue to tear our social fabric because we have not done what is necessary to acknowledge the truth and seek ways for healing.

This book chronicles the efforts of one small group of Friends to achieve some measure of justice for Native people of North America. The Quakers persisted across the centuries, while often realizing-and sometimes denying-that notwithstanding some successes, their goal was fundamentally unattainable. Any justice achieved could only be considered restorative, given that Native peoples’ relationship to their ancestral lands–central to their identity and humanity–was under relentless assault. These activist Friends were guided by the belief, or “testimony” of equality among all humankind.
As They Were Led. Quakerly Steps and Missteps Toward Native Justice 1795-1940 by Martha Claire Catlin, Quaker Heron Press, 2021.

Many questions arise as the remains of thousands of Native children are being located on the grounds of Indian boarding schools.

White Quaker communities are learning about the history of Friends’ involvement in the forced assimilation of Native children. And grappling with questions such as what are the relationships among Quakers and Indigenous peoples today? How do we work to discover and better understand the damage that was done? What can be done to begin to heal? This article by my friend Bobby Trice talks about these questions. Quakers Grapple with Legacy of Indian Boarding Schools by Bobby Trice, FCNL, October 25, 2021.

There are a number of areas of concern.

One is seeing the deep trauma in Native communities as the children’s remains are located. And sometimes returned to their home.

And seeking answers about how this happened. Searching for what Native communities, and White Quakers, can do to act on the truth we find. Discern what healing involves and how we do that. Healing not only for Native peoples, but also for Quakers. Trying to understand what this means for Quakers, past and present. Some of us have relatives who taught in those schools.

[Note: There are objections to calling those institutions of forced assimilation “schools”. And referring to what occurred there as “teaching”.]

I think it is easy, from the place where we are now, to be critical of the attitudes of these Friends. And yet I think we will find that we have much in common with them. I think this research will provide an opening for us to examine ourselves today, and to ask ourselves, “What are we missing in our analysis of the issues of our time? What are blind to? What are the contradictions in our own expression of our religious values? Are we living with integrity in our communities and on the land?”

Well, today, 150 years later, we see the policy of forced assimilation in a very different light. Native people from Australia to Canada and throughout the United States are bearing witness to the damage that was done to generations of Native children, especially in the boarding schools. Whether the children were treated cruelly or kindly, the intention of the schools really was to annihilate Indigenous cultures, to “kill the Indian; save the man.”

Quakers and the Forced Assimilation of Native Americans by Paula Palmer, Western Friend, July-August 2015

From our twenty-first-century vantage point, we know (or can learn) how Native people suffered and continue to suffer the consequences of actions that Friends committed 150 ago with the best of intentions. Can we hold those good intentions tenderly in one hand, and in the other hold the anguish, fear, loss, alienation, and despair borne by generations of Native Americans?

Native organizations are not asking us to judge our Quaker ancestors. They are asking, “Who are Friends today? Knowing what we know now, will Quakers join us in honest dialogue? Will they acknowledge the harm that was done? Will they seek ways to contribute toward healing processes that are desperately needed in Native communities?” These are my questions, too.

Quaker Indian Boarding Schools, Facing Our History and Ourselves by Paula Palmer, Friends Journal, October 1, 2016

The Department of the Interior has released the first volume of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Report. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland first announced the creation of the Initiative last June, with a primary goal of investigating the loss of human life and the lasting consequences of these schools. The report was assembled with the input of tribal governments, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian communities.

FCNL welcomed the release of the first volume of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative’s long-awaited investigative report. Assembled by the Department of the Interior, this report serves as historic documentation of the trauma inflicted by Indian boarding schools. It also underscores the need for further reckoning on this vital issue, both in Congress and in the Quaker and faith communities.

According to the report, between 1819 and 1969, there were 408 schools across 37 states (or then-territories). Quakers managed at least 30 Indian boarding schools, and the conditions at these institutions were often horrific. These schools aimed to “assimilate” Native children through tactics such as renaming children with English names, cutting their hair, prohibiting the use of Native languages and religions, extensive military drills, and manual labor. Abuse ran rampant, including the withholding of food, solitary confinement, and physical punishment.

The investigation also found 53 burial sites at boarding school locations so far. As the Interior Department continues their investigation, they will produce a list of marked and unmarked burial sites and approximate the total amount of federal funding used to support the Indian boarding school system.

“This new report shines a much-needed light on the atrocities committed at Indian boarding schools, some of which were run by Quakers,” said FCNL General Secretary Bridget Moix. “We commend the Department of the Interior for doing this difficult work and we remain committed to doing our part to advance the reckoning and healing process for this dark chapter in American history.”

“Further, we call on the faith community at large to share records and accounts of their administration of these schools. Only through complete honesty and transparency can we begin moving towards a more just future,” she continued.

Quaker Lobby Welcomes Long-Awaited Report on Indian Boarding Schools by Alex Frandsen, Friends Committee on National Legislation, May 12, 2022

“For far too long, the truth of cultural genocide led by European-Americans at Indian boarding schools has remained hidden in secrecy and ignored,” said (past) FCNL General Secretary Diana Randall. “Christian churches, including Quakers, carry this burden of transgression against Indigenous people.”

I believe we must deal with the past, with these transgressions, before we can know how to move into the future.

Where are we now?

Sometimes when it seems the whole world is collapsing, I try to step back, hoping a wider perspective might help me understand. Unfortunately, doing so today just reinforces the global extent of chaos. I picture the world in flames.

I often return to reflecting on the term sensemaking as described by James Allen.

…there remains the most existential risk of them all: our diminishing capacity for collective sensemaking. Sensemaking is the ability to generate an understanding of world around us so that we may decide how to respond effectively to it. When this breaks down within the individual, it creates an ineffective human at best and a dangerous one at worst. At the collective level, a loss of sensemaking erodes shared cultural and value structures and renders us incapable of generating the collective wisdom necessary to solve complex societal problems like those described above. When that happens the centre cannot hold.
Pontoon Archipelago or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Collapse. By James Allen, originally published by Medium, June 18, 2019

I didn’t want to go over the list of disasters we are experiencing yet again. But a number of these are escalating. Recently India had experienced temperatures (124 degrees Fahrenheit) close to the point where humans simply cannot survive. We see the relentless march of severe weather across the land. Fierce wildfires. Water levels sinking below the point where water can be taken in at the Hoover Dam. Electricity cannot be produced, nor agricultural land irrigated.

A political party whose only goal is to gain power. An explosion of gun violence and mass shootings with no end in sight. A broken supply chain that can’t even supply baby formula.

Perhaps most concerning is the accelerating increase in gas prices.

As James Allen also writes in the article cited above, “the jumping-off point for this essay is a regrettable acceptance that a forthcoming energy descent combined with multiple ecological crises will force massive societal transformation this century. It’s hardly a leap to suggest that, with less abundant cheap energy and the collapse of the complex political and economic infrastructure that supports our present way of life, this transformation is likely to include the contraction and relocalisation of some (if not most) aspects our daily lives.”

“The contraction and relocalisation of some (if not most) aspects our daily lives” could be Mutual Aid.

I’ve met a great deal of resistance to the idea of replacing capitalism with Mutual Aid. When I asked a (Mutual Aid) friend why people had so much trouble recognizing the evils of capitalism, he said it was because they hadn’t experienced the failures of capitalism in their own lives, yet.

We are experiencing the failures of capitalism now.

The problems before us are emergent phenomena with a life of their own, and the causes requiring treatment are obscure. They are what systems scientists call wicked problems: problems that harbour so many complex non-linear interdependencies that they not only seem impossible to understand and solve, but tend to resist our attempts to do so. For such wicked problems, our conventional toolkits — advocacy, activism, conscientious consumerism, and ballot casting — are grossly inadequate and their primary utility may be the self-soothing effect it has on the well-meaning souls who use them.
If we are to find a new kind of good life amid the catastrophes these myths have spawned, then we need to radically rethink the stories we tell ourselves. We need to dig deep into old stories and reveal their wisdom, as well as lovingly nurture the emergence of new stories into being.
Pontoon Archipelago or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Collapse. By James Allen, originally published by Medium, June 18, 2019

What does it mean to radically rethink the stories we tell ourselves? This is influenced by who “we” are, what our culture is. But Allen writes of “shared cultural and value structures.”

The reason I have been led to experiences with Native people and my Mutual Aid community is because the stories, the value structures I find there are closer to my values than those of White people in general in this country.

What does it mean to radically rethink the stories we tell ourselves?

I believe that means to search beyond our comfort zone. To stop wasting time advocating for incremental changes in systems that are broken.

Radically rethinking involves searching for the truth of what happened in our history. The land theft, forced assimilation, and genocide of Native peoples. The many atrocities of the institution of slavery. White supremacy today.

And most radical is to change, or return to how we look for and interpret our stories. To embrace spirituality in ourselves and our communities.

Although we rarely speak of it, our shared spirituality is what I have found to be the deepest connection with my Native American and Mutual Aid friends.

This is where I am now.

Social and Economic Justice

One of the things that means the most to me as a Quaker is the practice of considering advices and queries. The queries are sets of questions meant to ask ourselves what we are doing in our own lives, and in the work of our Quaker meetings in the present moment.

This is an example of how Quaker faith is grounded in what is happening in our lives today. And our belief that God, or the Spirit, is present in every being today, human and nonhuman. Can guide us now. The practice in our meeting is for the advice and queries to be read aloud. Then we sit in silent reflection. When we feel we have been given a message to share, we speak.

This helps keep our faith active, rather than passive.

There are twelve sets of queries, each about some part of our lives. The usual practice is for Quaker meetings to reflect on one set, each month. Topics include education, environmental responsibility, outreach, peace and nonviolence. Today at my meeting we will be reflecting on social and economic justice.

Often, I reflect on these queries outside the Quaker meeting gathering. That is why I write so much. Writing is a Spiritual exercise for me. Writing helps me listen for what the Spirit is saying. And helps me organize my thoughts. This is similar to keeping a journal as I did in the 1970’s. It looks like handwriting was a challenge.

Social and economic justice is something I’ve been thinking and praying about a lot lately. Over the past two years I’ve been deeply involved in Des Moines Mutual Aid. I mean Mutual Aid is something I’ve been studying and thinking a lot about outside the actual time spent at our weekly food giveaway.

A recent summary is this blog post, Mutual Aid is the Quaker way of being in the world.

As the advice says below, “we are part of an economic system characterized by inequality and exploitation. Such a society is defended and perpetuated by entrenched power.”

That is exactly what Mutual Aid is about. The capitalist economic system we are living in is designed to be unequal. Those who are skillful, or ruthless enough, accumulate wealth. Fundamentally, everything and everyone is seen as a resource that can be harnessed to create wealth. The result is millions of people trying to survive on subsistent wages. The result is the rape of the resources of Mother Earth. Which has put us on the road to extinction.

The capitalist economic system is enforced by political and criminal justice systems. Systems built on vertical hierarchies of power.

Mutual Aid is just the opposite. We work to maintain a flat or horizontal hierarchy, where everyone is equal.

One query for today is “how are we beneficiaries of inequity and exploitation? How are we victims of inequity and exploitation? In what ways can we address these problems?” I believe the answer involves building Mutual Aid communities.

I wrote my own queries about Mutual Aid

Queries related to Mutual Aid
Do we recognize that vertical hierarchies are about power, supremacy and privilege? What are Quaker hierarchies?
Do we work to prevent vertical hierarchies in our peace and justice work?
What are we doing to meet the survival needs of our wider community?
How are we preparing for disaster relief, both for our community, and for the influx of climate refugees?
Are we examples of a Beloved community? How can we invite our friends and neighbors to join our community?

mutual aid is the new economy. mutual aid is community. it is making sure your elderly neighbor down the street has a ride to their doctor’s appointment. mutual aid is making sure the children in your neighborhood have dinner, or a warm coat for the upcoming winter. mutual aid is planting community gardens.
capitalism has violated the communities of marginalized folks. capitalism is about the value of people, property and the people who own property. those who have wealth and property control the decisions that are made. the government comes second to capitalism when it comes to power.
in the name of liberation, capitalism must be reversed and dismantled. meaning that capitalistic practices must be reprogrammed with mutual aid practices.
Des Moines Black Liberation

Des Moines Mutual Aid is a collective that does outreach for homeless folks in our community, houseless folks in our community. We also assist BLM with their rent relief fund, and most of the work we’ve done is running the bail fund for the protests over the summer. In the course of that work, we have witnessed firsthand the violence that is done upon people of color, Black people specifically, by the white supremacist forces of the state – in this state, in this city, in this county. There is absolutely a state of emergency for people of color and Black people in Iowa. The state of emergency has been a long time coming. We will support – DMMA will absolutely support any and all efforts of this community – BLM, and the people of color community more generally- to keep themselves safe. Power to the people.
Patrick Stahl, Des Moines Mutual Aid

SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Advice and Queries

“For when I was hungry you gave me food, when thirsty you gave me drink, when I was a stranger you took me into your home, when naked you clothed me, when in prison you visited me.” Matthew 25:35‑36

ADVICE

We are part of an economic system characterized by inequality and exploitation. Such a society is defended and perpetuated by entrenched power.

Friends can help relieve social and economic oppression and injustice by first seeking spiritual guidance in our own lives. We envision a system of social and economic justice that ensures the right of every individual to be loved and cared for; to receive a sound education; to find useful employment; to receive appropriate health care; to secure adequate housing; to obtain redress through the legal system; and to live and die in dignity. Friends maintain historic concern for the fair and humane treatment of persons in penal and mental institutions.

Wide disparities in economic and social conditions exist among groups in our society and among nations of the world. While most of us are able to be responsible for our own economic circumstances, we must not overlook the effects of unequal opportunities among people. Friends’ belief in the Divine within everyone leads us to support institutions which meet human needs and to seek to change institutions which fail to meet human needs. We strengthen community when we work with others to help promote justice for all.

QUERY

How are we beneficiaries of inequity and exploitation? How are we victims of inequity and exploitation? In what ways can we address these problems?

What can we do to improve the conditions in our correctional institutions and to address the mental and social problems of those confined there?

How can we improve our understanding of those who are driven to violence by subjection to racial, economic, or political injustice? In what ways do we oppose prejudice and injustice based on gender, sexual orientation, class, race, age, and physical, mental, and emotional conditions? How would individuals benefit from a society that values everyone? How would society benefit?

Faith and Practice

Dearly Beloved Friends, these things we do not lay upon you as a rule or form to walk by, but that all, with the measure of light which is pure and holy, may be guided and so in the light walking and abiding, these may be fulfilled in the spirit, not the letter, for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. Letter from the meeting of Elders at Balby, 1656

We are seekers but we are also the holders of a precious heritage of discoveries. We, like every generation, must find the Light and Life again for ourselves. Only what we have valued and truly made our own, not by assertion but by lives of faithful commitment, can we hand on to the future. Even then we must humbly acknowledge that our vision of truth will again and again be amended. Quaker Faith and Practice of Britain Yearly Meeting, 1994 page 17

Faith and Practice, The Book of Discipline of Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative) is a statement of principles and beliefs by which our society endeavors to learn and express lessons in Christian living. It provides guidance for the conduct of daily life and for carrying on the business of the meeting. Faith and Practice suggests rather than commands, and raises questions or queries rather than giving specific answers. It places upon the individual and corporate conscience, rather than upon external authority, the responsibility for the discipline of the Spirit.

Faith and Practice is based on an earlier document called the Discipline of Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative). It is intended as a handbook and guide for those of the Religious Society of Friends who belong to Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative), also known as Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) or IYM(C). The first written disciplines among Friends appeared in Britain Yearly Meeting in manuscript form in 1718. At about the same period or a little later, in America, minutes of the yearly meetings were gathered in manuscript book form under captions alphabetically listed. The first printed Book of Discipline of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting appeared in 1797. The first Friends settling in Iowa lived under disciplines of Indiana Yearly Meeting and of Ohio Yearly Meeting.

ECONOMIC JUSTICE

May we look upon our treasures, the furniture of our houses, and our garments, and try whether the seeds of war have nourishment in these our possessions. John Woolman, A Word of Remembrance and Caution to the Rich published posthumously, 1793

I will never adjust myself to economic conditions that will take necessities from the many and give luxuries to the few. Martin Luther King, Jr., speaking in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, [St Paul’s Episcopal Church] 1963

Friends’ historical testimony has included the message that all people are equal, and deserve to share equally in the blessings of creation. The world is far from this ideal, and most in Iowa Yearly Meeting (Conservative) have benefited from global and local inequalities, however inadvertently. But we also suffer spiritually and otherwise because of the injustice in which we participate.

Friends believe that we should live in ways that do not “sow seeds of war.” Many are called to act in quiet or public ways to promote lifestyle choices, policies, laws, and treaties that will ensure the basic human rights of all people, including the rights to safe and healthy places to live and work. Historically, Friends have been able to help correct major injustices such as slavery, inhumane conditions for prisoners, and inequality in the treatment of women. The magnitude of current problems caused by economic injustice does not excuse Friends from the struggle against it, but makes obedience to God’s call all the more necessary.

Friends are reminded that there can be no peace without justice, and to live simply, so others may simply live. Many Friends find seeds of war and injustice in their lifestyles. Friends are challenged to participate constructively in the economy by supporting fair trade, choosing investments with attention to their social impact, and purchasing products produced under safe and healthy conditions. What each can do individually may not seem like much, but, guided by the Spirit and added to the efforts of others, it can make a difference.

The Book of Discipline of Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends (Conservative)
Religious Society of Friends

U.S. Indian Boarding Schools

The Department of Interior recently released the first volume of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative’s report. There were 408 schools across 37 states in the United States. 53 burial sites have been found so far.

Quaker Lobby Welcomes Long-Awaited Report on Indian Boarding Schools by Alex Frandsen, Friends Committee on National Legislation, May 12, 2022

Friends Committee on National Legislation
Native American Legislative Update

MAY 2022

The Interior Department also announced the launch of “The Road to Healing,” a year-long tour across the country to allow survivors to share their stories, connect tribal communities with trauma-informed support, and facilitate the collection of a permanent oral history.

Bill Tracker

Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 5444):
On May 12, the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the U.S. held a hearing to receive testimony from boarding school survivors, tribal leaders, and the head of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

FY2023 Budget Hearings:
On May 11, the Senate Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee received testimony from the Indian Health Service (IHS) on its proposal to move IHS funding from discretionary to mandatory funding in fiscal year 2023. If approved, this change would stabilize the tribal healthcare system.

MONTHLY ACTION

Support the Establishment of a Truth and Healing Commission on Boarding Schools

Portia K. Skenandore-Wheelock
Congressional Advocate
Native American Advocacy Program

The following is a searchable list of Indian boarding schools identified by the Department of the Interior as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative. The information is drawn from Appendix A of Volume 1 of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report. It shows the 408 schools were identified in 37 states, including 21 in Alaska and seven in Hawaii. Over time, the schools were located at 431 sites.“The research conducted has resulted in the identification of hundreds of boarding schools that have been considered against four criteria,” the 27-page document reads. “All four criteria must be met for an institution to be considered a FIBS.”

The four criteria follow:

Housing – Institution ever described as providing housing or overnight lodging to attendees on site.
Education – Institution ever described as providing formal academic or vocational training or instruction.
Federal Support – Institution ever described as having federal government funds or other support provided to the institution.
Timeframe – Institution operational at any time prior to 1969.

The schools in Iowa are listed here:

Toledo Industrial Boarding School	Toledo Sanatorium; Sac & Fox Indian Boarding and Mission School; Sac & Fox Sanatorium; Tama School; Tama Sanatorium	Toledo	Iowa
White’s Manual Labor Institute – Iowa	Iowa Boys Training School; Iowa Girls Training School; Indian Boarding School; Home and School for Boys and Girls	Houghton	Iowa
Winnebago Mission School	Yellow River School	Allamakee County	Iowa

List of Federal Indian Boarding Schools as of April 1, 2022, Indianz.Com, May 11, 2022

Quaker Statements on Indigenous Justice and Indian Boarding Schools. Minutes, Statements, and Resources from Quaker Organizations, Friends Committee on National Legislation, May 10, 2022
https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2022-05/quaker-statements-indigenous-justice-and-indian-boarding-schools

Quakers need to step out of their meeting

I’m grasping for anything I can do to reduce the chances of yet another atrocity of violence, another massacre of children. I feel anger and sorrow at the pitifully inadequate legislation being discussed in Washington, DC. Even those measures are unlikely to pass.

I’ve been part of a local Mutual Aid community for almost two years now. And I have experienced how powerful and effective Mutual Aid is in building community and addressing community needs immediately. It is by working in our local communities that we can address community safety, providing alternatives to guns and violence. It is the only way.

My experiences with this type of community justice work strongly supports what José Santos Woss, Director for Justice Reform at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, says in this video, “Quaker Faith in Justice Reform” (below).

In particular, he says “there’s a need for Quakers to step out of their meeting.”

When I was in Indianapolis, North Meadow Circle of Friends were part of the pilot program of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) called Quaker Social Change Ministry (QSCM). The idea was to get Quakers out of the meetinghouse by finding a community near them that was experiencing injustice, and spend time being physically present with that group. Spending a lot of time there by consistently showing up.

QSCM brings a spiritual focus to Quaker justice work by having the Quakers involved reflect on the spirituality of the experiences they were having. QSCM also taught us how important it is to listen deeply to those in the community we were working with. To wait to be asked by the community to do something. To be students, not teachers.

This blog post summarizes what I learned with QSCM. Out of the meetinghouse.

Quakers are pretty white, and that comes with quite a bit of power and privilege. A Quaker in Omaha, Nebraska is going to have probably more weight in what they say to a legislator than a Black Lives Matter activist in Brooklyn, New York. I think there’s a need for Quakers to step out of their meeting and away from a lot of these phenomenal institutions that they’ve created and speak to individuals in an interfaith setting (from Black churches or Black Lives Matter) and have a cross-cultural understanding of what that experience is like because you’ll find that it’s very different, and I think the more we can do of that the more effective we’ll be in addressing these problems. These exchanges and fusion coalitions are what I think it’s going to take, not only for Friends to be effective in dismantling these systems of racism, classism, and white supremacy in American society, but also for all of us to better address these problems in our country.
José Santos Woss, Quaker Faith and Justice Reform, Quakerpeak video

https://youtu.be/aHtmwaCi2PI

White Quakers need to “speak to individuals in an interfaith setting (from Black churches or Black Lives Matter) and have a cross-cultural understanding of what that experience is like because you’ll find that it’s very different.”

That is what we did when North Meadow Friends engaged with the Kheprw Institute, a Black youth mentoring community in Indianapolis. We spent at least one Sunday afternoon a month there, participating in discussing books about justice issues.

When I said a sad goodbye, I told them I felt I had received a graduate degree from them. Alvin said “your diploma is in the mail.”

I began to receive a similar education when I walked and camped for eight days, for ninety four miles with a small group of native and nonnative people along the path of the Dakota Access pipeline.

And it is the education I’m receiving from my work with Des Moines Mutual Aid (as described above).

White Friends cannot receive this education without leaving the meetinghouse. Neither committee meetings, lectures or workshops can do this.

And those in oppressed communities will not listen to what you have to say until you have demonstrated you have experienced and learned these things.

These exchanges and fusion coalitions are what I think it’s going to take, not only for Friends to be effective in dismantling these systems of racism, classism, and white supremacy in American society, but also for all of us to better address these problems in our country.
José Santos Woss, FCNL

One thing we can do is work to promote community violence interruption. Mutual Aid communities are a framework for doing this.

“Trust, credibility, and relationships are core pillars of the Safe Streets Baltimore program and other programs around the country like it,” said Moix. “Local violence interrupters are able to respond quickly to potential incidents and de-escalate the situation, while building relationships and strengthening community resilience over time. These locally-led programs are impactful and cost-effective, and they deserve more federal support and funding from Congress.”
Growing Support for Investing in Community Violence Interruption, FCNL’s General Secretary Bridget Moix, May 23, 2022

Build Safer Communities: Invest in Violence Interrupters

Traditionally, cities have responded to community-level violence by increasing the presence of a militarized police force. This solution has repeatedly failed with sometimes fatal consequences. A new solution, one that comes from within the community itself, offers a new way forward: violence interrupters.

Violence interrupters work within their communities to deescalate violence before it happens, without police intervention. These evidence-based programs are tailored to the unique needs of the neighborhoods they serve and lay the groundwork for lasting communal change.

Urge Congress to make our communities safer by dedicating federal funding to violence interrupters programs.

Use this button to send this message to your Congressional representatives.

Build Safer Communities: Invest in Violence Interrupters

“It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity – it’s inhumanity.”
Amanda Gorman

Wet’suwet’en emergency

Last night I attended the online Wet’suwet’en organizing call, along with eight hundred others. We heard from Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), Chief Woos and Chief Na’ Moks, all of whom I’ve seen in videos and read their writings over the past several years. Below are ways you can support the Wet’suwet’en.

There is great urgency now to #KKillTheDrill, referring to Coastal GasLink’s preparations to start drilling under the Wedzin Kwa, the sacred headwaters of the Wet’suwet’en.

This is a link to my posts related to the Wet’suwet’en

"If we don’t stop the drilling, we risk losing our water, land, and way of life. The liberation of my people and the realization of our self-determination is a path towards healing the planet." – Chief Woos, Gidimt'en Clan, Wet'suwet'en – LIVE NOW https://t.co/ecelREaq5U pic.twitter.com/29u6cRLlbX
— Indigenous Climate Action (@Indigenous_ca) May 26, 2022

Why do we need your help to #KillTheDrill?

After a decade of fierce resistance, Coastal GasLink is currently preparing the site to start drilling under the Wedzin Kwa, the sacred headwaters of the Wet’suwet’en since time immemorial. Now is the time to come together and demand drilling stop.

The Coastal Gaslink pipeline and associated LNG terminal is the largest private fracked gas investment in Canadian history. The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have been resisting the construction of the fracked gas pipeline on their territories for more than a decade, and the hereditary chiefs of all five Wet’suwet’en clans have refused to give their consent to the project.

In late April, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Descrimination (CERD) issued Canada a third letter urging Canada to end their colonial violence on the territory. CERD urged Canada to cease construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, as well as the TMX pipeline, until free, and prior informed consent was received from the Wet’suwet’en and Secwepemc people (respectively); engage in negotiations with these impacted communities; and end forced evictions from traditional territories.

And yet, key decision makers continue to ignore these recommendations, continue construction on Coastal GasLink, and condone violence against the Wet’suwet’en on their traditional lands. In late November 2021, the world watched as RCMP conducted militarized raids against Wet’suwet’en Land Protectors at Gidimt’en Checkpoint. Shocking images of assault rifles being pointed at unarmed protectors and doors being hacked down circulated widely, as did reports of humiliating treatment and abuse by RCMP. Now, tensions are rising as drilling beneath the sacred headwaters of the Wedzin Kwa river edges closer.

The Big Picture: How do we stop the drilling?

The UN is once again calling out Canada for their colonial violence, and it’s time to strike while there is international attention. So who are those key players? The contractors on the ground, the government officials who condone RCMP harassment and break their own promises of title negotiations and reconciliation, and the funders behind the scenes.

Taking action during key moments when an issue is in the news cycle or on people’s news feeds can be very impactful in building momentum on a campaign. It helps bring people along who care about the issue but aren’t sure where or how to start. Digital actions are also a great way to mobilize people to take more action in the future!

Contractors:

Name	Key people	Socials
OJ Pipelines (Annual General Meeting May 27th 2022, 8am)	Russell Keller, President, Linkedin Blaine Collet, Senior Director of Indigenous Relations and Community Relations, Linkedin,	Phone: 1 780 955 3900 Fax: 1 780 955 3518
Parent Company: Quanta Services	Steve Sousa, Managing Director and Chief commercial officer, Linkedin	Twitter: @Quanta_Services, Instagram: @Quantaservices, Facebook: Quanta Services

Below are a list of financial institutions in the USA involved in the financing of the CGL pipeline.

Name of investor/bank	Twitter handle	Email address
USA
JP Morgan Chase	@jpmorgan	CEO jamie.dimon@jpmchase.com
Bank of America	@BankofAmerica	CEO brian.t.moynihan@bankofamerica.com
Citi	@Citi	CEO jane.fraser@citi.com CEO North America sunil.garg@citi.com Chief of staff margo.pilic@citi.com Chief risk officer zdenek.turek@citicorp.com General counsel rohan.weerasinghe@citigroup.com
Truist	@TruistNews
Fluor Corp	@FluorCorp

Sample tweet

I stand with Wet’suwet’en and demand your immediate divestment + withdrawal of financing for Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada @jpmorgan @BankofAmerica @Citi @TruistNews @FluorCorp @KKR_Co. Stop financing climate chaos and Indigenous rights violation. #WetsuwetenStrong

Government targets:

Names	Key Locations	Socials
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister	80 Wellington StreetOttawa, ON K1A 0A2Fax: 613-941-6900	@JustinTrudeau
John Horgan, Premier of BC	BC Legislative Building: 501 Belleville St, Victoria, BC V8V 2L8 Community office, 122 – 2806 Jacklin RoadVictoria, BC V9B 5A4 john.horgan.mla@leg.bc.ca.Telephone: 250-391-2801 Fax: 250-391-2804	@jjhorgan
David Eby, BC Attorney General	MLA David Eby’s Community Office 2909 West Broadway (at Bayswater, two blocks west of MacDonald) Vancouver, BC V6K 2G6Phone: 604-660-1297Email: david.eby.mla@leg.bc.ca	@Dave_Eby
Mike Farnworth BC Minister of Public Safety	MLA Consultancy office: 107A – 2748 Lougheed HwyPort Coquitlam, BC V3B 6P2	@mikefarnworthbc
Marc Miller, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations	Main office – Montréal3175 Saint-Jacques Street, Montréal, Quebec, H4C 1G7Telephone: 514-496-4885Fax: 514-496-8097 Marc.Miller@parl.gc.ca	@MarcMillerVM

January, 2020, Bear Creek Friends (Quaker) meeting sent the following letter to British Columbia Premier, John Horgan.

John Horgan.
PO BOX 9041 STN PROV GOVT
VICTORIA, BC V8W 9E1.
Email premier@gov.bc.ca

John Horgan,

We’re concerned that you are not honoring the tribal rights and unceded Wet’suwet’en territories and are threatening a raid instead.
We ask you to de-escalate the militarized police presence, meet with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, and hear their demands:
That the province cease construction of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline project and suspend permits.
That the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and tribal rights to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) are respected by the state and RCMP.
That the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and associated security and policing services be withdrawn from Wet’suwet’en lands, in agreement with the most recent letter provided by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimiation’s (CERD) request.
That the provincial and federal government, RCMP and private industry employed by Coastal GasLink (CGL) respect Wet’suwet’en laws and governance system, and refrain from using any force to access tribal lands or remove people.

Bear Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers)
19186 Bear Creek Road, Earlham, Iowa, 50072

Gidimt’en social media accounts

Instagram: @yintah_access, @RCMPoffyintah
Facebook: facebook.com/wetsuwetenstrong
Twitter: @Gidimten @RCMPoffyintah

Tiktok: Mention @RCMPoffyintah in your caption!

#KillTheDrill #WetsuwetenStrong #AllOutForWedzinKwa

What would it mean to reckon with our past complicity with harm?

As the world falls apart, I wonder where faith communities are? Where are White Christians, White Quakers?

As my friend Lucy Duncan writes, “we as White Quakers like to think of ourselves as ahead or better than dominant culture, but we have been complicit in a system and mindset that are ubiquitous.”

Recognizing the White dominant culture is fundamental for White people to understand. How we learn what we must change. White people must first change ourselves before we will be accepted in communities suffering injustice.

As Lucy writes below, “What would it mean to reckon with our past complicity with harm?” Lucy speaks about slavery and racism.

I tell the stories of early White Quaker relationships to slavery because slavery was never really abolished. If we can reckon with the full truth of our connection to slavery and its afterlives, perhaps we can begin the healing necessary to fulfill the promise of the Religious Society of Friends of Truth.
We as White Quakers like to think of ourselves as ahead or better than dominant culture, but we have been complicit in a system and mindset that are ubiquitous. Claiming the full truth of our history and committing to repair the harms done are deeply spiritual acts of healing our own wounds of disconnection. I would argue it is the pathway upon which we can, perhaps for the first time, discover and invigorate our faith with its full promise.
What would it mean for us to take seriously and collectively as a Religious Society a call to finish the work of abolition, hand in hand and side by side with those affected and their loved ones? What would it mean for us to stand fully with the calls to abolish the police and fully fund community needs instead? What would it mean to reckon with our past complicity with harm and fully dedicate ourselves to the creation of a liberating Quaker faith that commits to build the revolutionary and healing faith we long to see come to fruition? What would it look like to finally and fully abolish slavery?
A Quaker Call to Abolition and Creation by Lucy Duncan, Friends Journal, April 1, 2021

I ask these same questions regarding our past and present complicity with harms to Indigenous peoples. I speak from my own experiences with Indigenous friends. (One place I share some of these experiences are at the website I created about the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March https://firstnationfarmer.com/ )

Two interrelated developments are finally bringing attention to Indigenous peoples, forced assimilation, and those who ran those residential schools.

One is the search and finding of the remains of Indigenous children on the grounds of Indian Boarding Schools in Canada and the US.
The second is the release of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report about what happened in those schools

What would it mean to reckon with our past complicity with harm to Indigenous peoples?

White people need to imagine what it would take to dismantle the White dominant culture. We cannot begin to reckon with our complicity in harm until we have the humility and prayers to recognize the history of those harms, and how we continue to do harm now. We cannot make authentic connections with Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) until we unlearn our attitudes and actions of dominance.

How do we do that? We look for any kind of vertical hierarchy, and reject it. Vertical hierarchies are how dominance is enforced. Are the structures used throughout our society and government.

We should instead act in ways of horizontal, or no hierarchy. Dismantling vertical hierarchies is the path to reducing or eliminating dominance.

Eliminating vertical hierarchies is the core concept of Mutual Aid. My participation in a Mutual Aid community these past two years has been a real education. A deeply spiritual experience. Mutual Aid is how I’ve been learning to reject vertical hierarchies. Some of my experiences with Mutual Aid can be found here: https://quakersandreligioussocialism.com/mutual-aid/

Recognizing White dominant culture makes it possible for us to look at the past and recognize our complicity with what happened then. And helps us envision how to stop the ongoing harms of White dominance now.

By asking the question where are faith communities (above) I’m implying where should faith communities be? I believe white faith communities should be working on their structures, actions, and attitudes of dominance. Learning about and embracing Mutual Aid is a way to do that.

Queries related to Mutual Aid
Do we recognize that vertical hierarchies are about power, supremacy and privilege? What are Quaker hierarchies?
Do we work to prevent vertical hierarchies in our peace and justice work?
What are we doing to meet the survival needs of our wider community?
How are we preparing for disaster relief, both for our community, and for the influx of climate refugees?
Are we examples of a Beloved community? How can we invite our friends and neighbors to join our community? A Hierarchy Resister

I’ve been working on this diagram to show the structures of injustice, and concepts to address them. This is a work in progress. Relevant to today’s discussion is White supremacy and the way forward via Mutual Aid.