Quaker Racism Realism in the now.

One of the things RantWoman has come deeply to admire about many---though sadly not all--Quakers she knows is the surprising backgrounds from which they faithfully serve among people with whom they might not share the same call about how to be present in the world. RantWoman in this case is thinking of a recently deceased former treasurer who charmed RantWoman's heart by delivering financial reports using highly technical accounting terminology such as "peanut-buttering" either costs or income evenly across different time periods. RantWoman did not realize until she read this Friend's memorial minute where he spent the bulk of his career. RantWoman will post links to relevant memorial minutes separately because RantWoman needs to take unexpected reality and blunt realism a different direction, related to the criminal justice system. 

RantWoman, would you PLEASE, pretty please try to get to your point in some kind of linear fashion?

Ummm, please bear with RantWoman lest a conversation veer away from policing into non-euclidean geometry or some other darn place it does not need to go right now.

There is MUCH conversation afoot about a new culture of policing. RantWoman generally thinks the national dialogue that is resulting from the on-camera murder of George Floyd, the countless other people of color, a large percentage of whom are also people with disabilities murdered by police, the police overreaction to nonviolent protest, and other tangled parts of the current national state is critical for our entire nation. And yet, RantWoman has also gotten stuck on some peculiar realism. Please bear with RantWoman on this.

1. A youth of color Irrepressible nephew knew from his old school and his church youth group was shot in a protest on a recent Monday night in the Central District of Seattle. Nephew was nowhere near the situation but is understandably shocked. And the church youth group connection is stuck in RantWoman's head for a different makes one's head explode gun culture reason that gets its own space.

2. Even RantMOM is wading into the national conversation about our country's racist past and present. RantWoman is glad RantMom has a good pastor to help hold conversations. RantWoman is also not sure it has dawned on RantMom that Nephew / grandson is in fact a person of color, definitely color darker than his mom's side of the family. RantWoman recently held her breath while Irrepressible Nephew recounted an encounter with police because of misleading information on, RantWoman thinks, a Google map about where it is legal to shoot off fireworks. Things turned out fine, but....

3. Little Sister has an African American neighbor in her building who is a front-line medical worker. Neighbor has now lost two relatives in the last few weeks to gunfire. One shooting occurred several weeks ago at the protest zone known as The CHOP. The other occurred at the Tuesday vigil for the event on the recent Monday. RantWoman is unclear whether the person who got shot there was the target. The more important point: his relative, Little Sister's neighbor had hoped he was still in jail because she felt he was safer there that whatever his position would be on the street.

4.  In a different conversation about the insurance industry best practice recommendations to do background checks for everyone who works with children, someone mumbled something about "racist criminal justice system." Please excuse RantWoman because RantWoman thinks it would be a good problem to have to decide whether information from someone's background check has to do with a racist criminal injustice system. As RantWoman writes, she realized that a racist criminal justice system could both understate the severity of a white person's offenses and overstate issues for a person of color. But RantWoman originally thought only about the standard white person point of view "of course we would be glad to have more people of color around here." Yikes.

So where is RantWoman going with this post? To what questions is the answer just "more quakers and more quaker discernment?"

RantWoman takes note of without links for:

The local BlackLivesMatter demands

a statement from the fellowship of Friends of African descent urging Quakers to help build educational systems in our cities that promote nonviolence (and counter gun culture)

--Ongoing efforts by Quaker Voice related to Criminal Justice. issues in WA

--A picture of Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant with several leaders for people of color faith communities

RantWoman means to elaborate, but not right now.

In Light and Faithfulness

RantWoman

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PS RantWoman has now reread this entry. RantWoman recognizes that the path from here to there and why the heck RantWoman included the different moments could be clearer. RantWoman may or may not get to a better edit.