Keeping up with Friends

Quakers condemn systemic racism, commit to act
In response to horrific acts of police violence against Black people and Indigenous people in the US and Canada, CFSC was part of two statements condemning systemic racism and calling for major changes: https://quakerservice.ca/racism and https://quakerservice.ca/policeviolence

Webinars on right relationship with Indigenous peoples
We have been part of planning a series of webinars hosted by Pendle Hill. The five remaining sessions are:

  1. Implementing the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples With Sheryl Lightfoot and CFSC’s Jennifer Preston
  2. Cultural Appreciation vs. Appropriation/Misappropriation With Dan and Mary Lou Smoke, Freida Jacques, and the Rev. Dr. J.R. Norwood
  3. Solidarity, Guidance for Engagement With Kenneth Deer and Chief Dennis Coker
  4. Healing from Intergenerational Trauma With Elicia Goodsoldier and Cante’ Waste Win (Good Hearted Woman)
  5. Truth and Healing With Marie Wilson, Denise Altvater, Esther Anne, and Penthea Burns

For more information and to register vist https://pendlehill.org/learn/fall-conference-2020

Ban facial recognition
CFSC joined a large open letter calling for a ban on facial recognition by Canada’s federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The letter also calls for meaningful public consultations and clear policies and laws regulating the use of facial recognition technology. The letter explains how “Facial recognition surveillance presents grave risks to the fundamental rights of Canadians and people in Canada by allowing for the mass, indiscriminate, disproportionate, unnecessary, warrantless search of innocent people.” Other serious concerns are noted as well, including that facial recognition generates many more false positive matches for people with darker skin, potentially exacerbating racism in law enforcement: https://quakerservice.ca/facialrecognition

Indigenous voices on reconciliation
In the last edition of Quaker Concern you read about our project sharing the responses that our Indigenous friends and partners gave us to difficult questions like: “Is reconciliation dead?” and “If you had to choose one thing you wished every person knew about reconciliation, what would that be?”

These one to two minute video responses to common reconciliation questions are now online! You can watch them on our website or on YouTube.

Building bridges
CFSC continues to share bridge-building perspectives on controversial topics via a blog for Psychology Today. Find the latest posts on “cancel culture,” the polarizing impacts of COVID-19, the psychology explaining reactions to mass protests, and more: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/are-we-done-fighting

We also wrote an article for openDemocracy highlighting both the usefulness and drawbacks of the anti-racist approach advocated by the popular book White Fragility, and some other options that are worth considering as well: https://bit.ly/openDemocracyArticle

Summer 2020 /