United Church Publications

Product Information

Ending Racial Harassment: Creating Healthy Congregations

Format:

Softcover

Product #:

CH10488

Price:

$3.50 each; 25-49, $3.00 each; 50 plus, $2.75 each

• Available from UCRDstore

Ending Racial Harassment: Creating Healthy Congregations (2008) offers guidelines to help church members, ministers, and congregational committees recognize, understand, and stop racial harassment.

It aims

• to explain racial harassment and The United Church of Canada’s commitment to anti-racism
• to invite readers to note their personal response to situations of racial harassment, in order to identify and analyze their context and starting point for combatting racial harassment
• to share suggestions about what is helpful in various situations, based on learning in the church and in the world

A workshop outline is included to facilitate group study. Groups are encouraged to develop action plans including personal steps, steps taken as a congregation or community, and a close look committee or group meetings.

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Excerpt

What do you think of when you hear the word racism?

North American popular culture often associates racism with things like slavery and British colonialism, South African apartheid, or White supremacist groups and racial slurs. Canadians may associate racism with the Indian Residential Schools or the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.

Racism today is often more subtle in its presentation, yet just as damaging in its impact. It is easy to dismiss racism if we see it as something perpetrated only by White supremacists, or as a historic system, now ended, that was put in place by bad or ignorant people. We may find it’s easy to blame White people in the past for being part of old systems. Undoubtedly, it’s harder to consider how the cultural, social, and economic legacy of racism continues to affect all of us today.

The church’s policy work about racism and this resource about racial harassment came out of the learning that racism happens on three levels: systemic, cultural, and individual.

Systemic (or institutional) racism refers to structural policies that target groups of people, directly or indirectly, on the basis of race, colour, or ethnic background.

Cultural racism refers to a system of values that supports one group above others on the basis of race, colour, or ethnic background.

Individual racism refers to individual behaviours that reflect racist attitudes. A person may express individual racism in his or her comments or behaviours even though he or she is not intentionally trying to diminish or disrespect people.

The three kinds of racism have one thing in common—they all maintain White privilege, systems of power that benefit and favour “White” people over racialized people. White privilege is unearned power enjoyed by White people, giving them economic, political, social, and cultural advantages.

Thus, although we may not consider ourselves racist, through our unquestioning—often oblivious—participation in racist systems, we contribute to and maintain these systems of power.

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This booklet can be ordered from UCRD or downloaded. [PDF: 24 pp/267 KB]

Contact Information

For more information on using this booklet or on the United Church’s anti-racism work, or to share your ideas for ending racial harassment and creating healthy congregations, please contact Alcris Limongi.