Being White programme
Context and background – why are we running this programme? CollapseHistorically Dioceses have required clergy and some lay leaders to attend a workshop on diversity or unconscious bias, then issued them with a certificate and ticked the equalities box.
However, 2020 proved to be a watershed year in thinking differently about race, both in the Church of England and in wider English society. At General Synod in February 2020, the Archbishop of Canterbury admitted that, “there is no doubt when we look at our own church that we are still deeply institutionally racist”, albeit without spelling out what that meant. The death of George Floyd in May 2020, and the subsequent public protests, often under the ‘Black Lives Matter’ banner, brought issues of racial justice into the foreground in the UK, as much as in the USA.
More recently, the publication in April 2021 of From Lament to Action, the report of the Archbishops’ temporary Anti-Racism Taskforce, highlighted the need for action at all levels within the Church of England. This is being followed up by the Archbishops’ Racial Justice Commission and the Racial Justice Unit, along with regular reports to General Synod. Encouragingly, facing issues of racial justice is now, it seems, unavoidable in the Church of England.
Supported by a host of recent publications and broadcasts, there is also a growing understanding of the systemic nature of racism in English society, and of the need for white people to face issues of their white advantages, white normativity and a culture of whiteness – along with some resistance, within government and wider society. This finds many white people who want to address racial injustice, including those serving in our local churches and wider dioceses, unsure how to proceed.
Why do we believe the Being White programme is needed? ExpandIt is Reconciliation Initiatives’ conviction that work on addressing issues of racial justice needs to be an ongoing inner journey of reflection and deepening understanding, in conjunction with taking practical steps to address the injustices involved. Simply attending a workshop, assenting to the content and getting a certificate can result in just colluding with the status quo. Therefore, members of the Church need to move towards being more pro-actively anti-racist.
RI believes that it is for those among us who are white people to take a closer look in the mirror and accept responsibility for bringing about change, rather than looking to people of colour to do the work for white people, as in the past. These two quotes speak to this belief:
“There is something deeply perverse in expecting those who are oppressed and excluded to be the architects of dismantling that oppression and exclusion.” Elizabeth Henry
Important note Expand“I think that it’s the obligation of the people that have created and perpetuate and benefit from a system of oppression to be the ones that dismantle it.” Joaquin Phoenix
Revelation 7:9 sets out a glorious vision of heaven in which there is a great multitude from every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne of God, joined together in worship. Beginning to realise more of this vision here on earth in today’s Church of England is a complex journey, due to the deeply embedded structures and habits of racism which distort encounters between the white majority and people of global majority heritage (GMH).
Part of the complexity is that those of us who are white can be clumsy in our handling of issues around race, oblivious to our participation in racism and to the prevailing culture of whiteness, and un-receptive in really listening to GMH colleagues’ lived experience.
In order to address this situation, any diocesan strategy to counter racism and promote racial justice is likely to need two different types of work, before bringing white and GMH colleagues together to do joint work.
- For GMH people, historically marginalised in white-majority societies, there is a need to find safe and empowering spaces to develop their voice, bolster their pride and encourage their leadership, without waiting for white people’s ‘permission’ or ’empowerment’. This is work which is best led by experienced GMH facilitators.
- For white people, there is a need for work to raise their awareness, develop greater humility, and increase their receptivity. The Being White programme is geared for this piece of the puzzle, and is only one part of a much wider and more complex ecology within the Church of England, at diocesan and national levels.
- For this reason, the Being White programme, led by white facilitators, is primarily intended for people who would identify racially as white. GMH people are most welcome to participate. They should be aware, however, that this programme, while it refers to the lived-experience of people of global majority heritage, is not primarily exploring this ground.
- Rather, the Being White programme is focussed on enabling those of us who are white to take greater responsibility for addressing the ways we are caught up in a system of white superiority and white advantage in UK society; and for taking action to address this situation, in order to contribute to greater equality and social justice, and welcome and embrace greater diversity as a joyful aspect of the kingdom of heaven.
The Being White programme comprises:
- An initial day-long in-person training workshop (see example outline below);
- Three follow-up online meetings, on the Zoom platform, to discuss issues, thinking, and the next steps which participants plan to take; and
- Some reading or viewing of online videos, in preparation for the follow-up meetings.
The aim is to nurture a peer learning group which is both supportive and challenging.
Typical timings for the programme are:
Initial workshop: Thursday, [month 1], 10:00am – 4:30pm
Follow-up conversations 1, 2 & 3: Thursday, [months 2, 3 & 4], 10:00am – 12:00pm
What are the key learning outcomes and objectives? ExpandThe planned learning outcomes of the Being White programme are that participants will:
- Build their understanding of the systemic nature of racism and key concepts;
- Increase their fluency in considering and discussing issues of race in the UK context;
- Raise their awareness of whiteness and white advantage, and what is needed to work for greater racial justice, in order encourage others in their parish or diocese to this work; and
- Be better resourced to address racism and white privilege/advantage inside their churches, deaneries and diocese.
For the initial workshop, some more specific objectives are:
- To explore how ethnicity and the construct of ‘race’ have impacted on our lives;
- To recognise how international history has shaped our experiences of race today;
- To identify how being white privileges/advantages those of us who are white people;
- To explore how whiteness and white privilege/advantage affect our churches; and
- To develop strategies to enable those of us who are white people to become more effectively self-aware, inclusive and anti-racist.
The follow-up conversations will be developed in dialogue with the participants, but will always include a personal action plan. They may include:
- How to increase our understanding of what it means to be racialised as white;
- How we preach appropriately about issues relating to race; and
- How to address institutional racism within a parish, and the wider diocese.
RI proposes working with a suitable group of clergy and lay leaders within an individual diocese. Each group will ideally be no more than 16 participants, but could be larger. They need to commit to engaging with the programme over a four-month period.
The best participants will be clergy or lay leaders who want to learn and grow in racial justice. People who, metaphorically, are prepared to look more deeply in the mirror, and who are willing to share their learning with others, and encourage them to engage with this work.
It is for each diocese to discern who might be the most appropriate participants in their context. Three different approaches have been taken so far:
- A senior group of staff, who test out the programme, and can then advocate for it within the diocese, when it is subsequently rolled out for other participants;
- A group of participants drawn from each deanery, perhaps suggested by the Area or Rural Dean, along with some central diocesan staff, who collectively can function as leaven within the diocesan system; or
- A planning or delivery group who will take forward a subsequent programme within the diocese, hopefully inspired by this Being White programme.
Other approaches can be taken, and RI would be glad to talk this through with the lead diocesan officer, or a lead member of the bishop’s staff.
Please contact us for more information or for a discussion about getting involved.
A example outline for the in-person workshop ExpandBEING WHITE: An Introduction to Whiteness and its Impact on Our Churches
Example outline for the initial in-person workshop for a Diocesan Group, led by Carey Haslam & Alastair McKay:
9:45 – 10:00am: Arrivals
10:00 – 10:15am: Opening worship
10:15 – 11:30am: Session 1 – Understanding how ‘race’ impacts on our lives
Explores our perceptions of how the construct of ‘race’ has impacted on our lives and experience.
11:30 – 11:50am: Break
11:50 – 1:00pm: Session 2 – Recognising how we’re shaped by our history
Engages participants in exploring an historical perspective on race, and the ways this shapes our national and institutional contexts.
1:00 – 1:45pm: Lunch
1:45 – 3:15pm: Session 3 – Recognising key aspects of ‘being white’
Engages participants in better understanding the role of people racialised as white in colluding with systems that hold racism in place; explores concepts of ‘white privilege/advantage,’ ‘white normativity’ and ‘whiteness’.
3:15 – 3:30pm: Break
3:30 – 4:20pm: Session 4 – Identifying how whiteness affects our churches
Facilitates participants’ in identifying how whiteness and white normativity affect the dynamics within their congregation(s) and the whole life of their church(es) and diocese.
4:20-4:30pm: Reflection and feedback on the day, and a closing prayer.
How do I get involved? ExpandIf you’re interested in exploring whether our Being White programme might be useful in your context, please contact our Racial Justice Lead, Carey Haslam, by emailing her at carey.haslam@reconciliation-initiatives.org
Our programme facilitators
Carey Haslam
Carey is our Racial Justice Lead. An experienced trainer and facilitator in conflict resolution, mediation and diversity. She is also an Associate Consultant and Trainer with enei. Previously she was a Senior Manager and Lead Trainer with Leap Confronting Conflict, and co-authored Leap’s training manual, Playing with Fire.
Carey had always thought of herself as one of the ‘good’ white people but, as she came to understand white privilege and the structural nature of racism, was shocked to find out that she is part of the problem. That learning has led to the co-development of the Being White programme.
Alastair McKay
Alastair is our Executive Director, resourcing clergy and their churches for missional engagement with local communities. He is also a freelance adult educator, and self-supporting minister, and the author of Bridgebuilding: Making peace with conflict in the Church (Canterbury Press, 2019). For nearly 20 years, prior to ordination, he headed up Bridge Builders, which he co-founded in 1995.
Alastair is on a journey of working out what it means to ‘be white’, of recognising the advantages that he has a white person, and of taking responsibility for addressing his privileges and using his power in appropriate ways.
“There is no doubt when we look at our own church that we are still deeply institutionally racist.”The Most Revd Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, at General Synod in February 2020 “I think that it’s the obligation of the people that have created and perpetuate and benefit from a system of oppression to be the ones that dismantle it.”
Joaquin Phoenix “There is something deeply perverse in expecting those who are oppressed and excluded to be the architects of dismantling that oppression and exclusion.”
Elizabeth Henry