Talking About Race
At Kerith we are passionate about discussing the issues that really matter to us as a community in the light of the Bible. Here we take a look at our Talking About Race Campaign and the report recommendations.
The murder of George Floyd in May 2020 caused people all around the world to engage in conversations about race and racism in a way that I for one had never seen before. That was all very positive, but the danger in that for all of us is that after a few weeks there is another outrage in the world around another issue, and we all move on in a way which means that those conversations are forgotten and nothing actually changes.
To try and make sure that didn’t happen with us as a community we commissioned Natalee Matsekeza to do a research project to find what was really happening on the ground in our church as well as listening to the experiences people have had in society, and come up with a set of proposals on how we can look to bring lasting change.
Below you will find a summary of Natalee’s findings along with a link to the full report. Please take the time to have a look at both.
In her report, Natalee makes a number of proposals. In the short term we are going to implement three of these, which are:
Encourage people to enter information on their ethnicity into our church database so that we can track how we are doing on diversity and inclusion
Provide anti-racism training for all of our staff team
Form a team to support the formation of a diversity, inclusion and belonging strategy for Kerith
We will then look to work on Natalee’s other proposals in 2022 and beyond. My prayer is that this will be transformational, not only for our church community but also that through that we would impact society as a whole.
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! (Amos 5:24)
Simon Benham ( Senior Pastor)
the report…
Below our team have pulled out the key finding from the Talking About Race report. But we encourage you to take the time to read the full report.
Talking about Race is an exploratory research project commissioned by Kerith Community church following the global conversation on systemic racism. The research explores perceptions, attitudes and experiences of race, diversity, and inclusion within Kerith Community Church.
The project, which took place between October 2020 and February 2021, intends to provide Kerith Community Church with insights and tools to better support people who experience racism and enhance efforts, as a community, to become more inclusive.
Participants were encouraged to share their personal experiences and suggestions for areas for improvement. This short report provides a summary of research outcomes and I encourage readers to engage with the extended report which discusses the outcomes and recommendations in depth.
I would like to thank everyone who courageously came forward to share their journeys, past and present. In most cases this meant reliving deeply sensitive and hurtful experiences in order to educate and share light on them.
I hope we can continue to build on our findings and I trust this will open up healthy and meaningful conversations on race and how we can best serve all members of our community.
DEFINITIONS
Racial discrimination - any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin colour, or racial or ethnic origin
Microaggression - Commonplace verbal, behavioural indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate negative prejudicial insults toward any group, particularly culturally marginalised groups.
Systemic racism - Racial prejudice combined with the misuse of power by systems. It refers to the ways in which public policies and institutional practices contribute to inequitable racial outcomes
Antiracism - includes removing barriers and obstacles that prevent the full participation of people who experience racism and changing practices, policies that are exclusionary.
KEY FINDINGS
Below are extracts from the survey of participants who took part in the research. Names and identifying information have been removed to maintain confidentiality. Note many of these experiences we outside of church but give an important insight into the issues many face on a regular basis.
EXPERIENCED MIRCO AGGRESSION
“In the workplace, colleagues acting out stereotypical “black behaviour” and expecting you to relate and find it funny. For example, A white male colleague once said when he gets angered his inner black woman comes out. (Feeding into the stereotype of angry black women). No action was taken as I felt I didn’t have grounds to call it racism because it was a joke."
“I wanted to volunteer with the church’s children's group and the leader said that you cannot volunteer if you have been in trouble with the police, are you sure you want to do a DBS? (with no basis for that presumption).”
“If I am assertive, I am called aggressive.”
WITNESSED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
“I have witnessed some people being spoken to with less patience and in a rude manner because of their race.”
“As a child I witnessed it daily at school, I was too young to have the confidence to stand up for the victims against the masses. I did not join in but have awful memories.”
“My wife was racially targeted in a shop. The experience was awful, and I wanted to confront the person.”
“The worst case I stumbled across was where Black African applications were filed without action by a White European administrator."
“In my last company I worked closely with a team in India. Others in my team were often less than polite about them. I am pleased to say that I stood up for those in the Indian team.”
EXPERIENCED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
“Job applications that I didn't get responses to with my first name. I had to use an English name before I began receiving call backs.”
“I have been told several times I need to go back to Africa where they can understand my accent as they cannot hear a word of what I am saying here.”
“I have been told to go back where I came from a few times. Monkey chants in the gym, by drive by cars, mockery of my accent. Too many to count.”
WHERE IS KERITH DOING WELL
“I think this research project is an excellent idea and I applaud your work in trying to think deeply about these issues in an attempt to create lasting and fundamental understanding and then change in both our community and our personal lives, and then to have an impact outward on the people we know and communities we are part of.”
A racist incident happened in the youth. We were grateful for how they handled the situation well. This gave us confidence in issues being handled well.”
“I’m really grateful for being connected with people very early on”.
"The staff team described a positive, values-led and emotionally healthy work culture"
Leaders have always made the effort to speak with people, know who you are and get on with them”.
“We have started to go through the book in our small group and it has been very insightful. I would really recommend other small groups to do the same.”
AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
“I would want to feel people can be open about prejudices they have faced within the church, but I feel people cannot be open because they don't want to rock the boat, sour relationships or are afraid/concerned about causing offence. Being vocal about such issues within any setting makes people think you are the problem and a difficult person.”
BELONGING
“It is and has been very easy to join the church but anything further than that is hard. I accept that Kerith is a big church and you have to belong to a house group if you want to feel like you belong but yet at the same time, I feel that church should not be like this.”
REPRESENTATION
“Including a diverse range of ethnicities more than just black or white, such as mixed race or Asian or Arab etc too.”
WORSHIP
“There needs to be more open discussion about different styles of church that come from different cultures, so we understand and celebrate them as one family.”
LEADERSHIP
” Having read Ben Lindsey’s book “We need to talk about race” I’m so aware more than ever that the vast majority of our leaders at Kerith are white and British. Both on the office team and eldership."
SUNDAYS
“I am satisfied with our racial representation on Sundays from the platform/camera. I do think we could improve on our preachers as they are mainly white.”
INTEGRATION
“I think all of us could walk across the room better' we tend to gather with people that look like us. It is across all ethnic groups etc. You would see it after church different ethnic groups chatting together.”
TRAINING
When opening the discussion, talk about the unacknowledged biases we have, language to use, the extent of our white privilege. Let it always be an ongoing conversation that we are never finished with. Talk about race from scripture, challenge western perspectives that might inherently be there. How parents can help address this and teach our kids well.”
