Published: Jan. 28, 2022
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Friends,
I'm so excited that North Pacific Yearly Meeting is finally going to directly engage the topic of #LandBack, and get into the Quaker history of modeling and running boarding schools for Indigenous children – which means grappling with what acknowledgement of and accountability for participating in genocide might look like.
When I talked to one of my Lakota friends about this minute, they nearly cried. They spoke about how meaningful it would be for Quakers, whose "good" relationships with Native peoples were instrumental in the creation of the boarding schools, to be the first majority-white faith community in the US to collectively attempt to heal those wounds.
It is past time for white colonizers, and those of us connected to the religions that directly perpetrated this form of genocide (which includes Quakers!) to take up our responsibilities in the healing process.
Feel free to share this minute anywhere you're inspired!
from Mackenzie Barton-Rowledge, University Friends Meeting (1/21/2022)