1215 Thomas Street, Seattle, WA 98109
206-622-1930
Immanuel Lutheran
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The Anti-Racism Team at Immanuel is a group of people who have committed themselves to the work of recognizing, naming, and deconstructing racism in the church, and our world. They are committed to mutual accountability for their own personal growth as are intentional in sharing what they learn with our congregation. They are humble truth-tellers who claim no ultimate authority on this subject, positioning themselves as learners and seekers of justice. The team, with the support of Council, is committed to hosting monthly conversations in the congregation and will respond to invitations beyond the congregation as they become available.

Some of the work we have done together is documented here, not as an authoritative curriculum but rather as a touchpoint of reference and a baseline to give us a common vocabulary. This list is in reverse chronological order with the most recent learnings and resources listed first.

2020

Oct. 11, 2020 Coffee Hour Discussion.
A coffee-hour discussion on Law & Order and also breaking the binary in our thinking about how we communicate.

Universal Income
A coffee-hour discussion on wealth, the Poor People’s Campaign, and universal income

Bail Reform
A discussion of the cash bail structure our country uses

2017

COMING TO WEAVING OUR STRENGTHS
Living into the Call, Challenge and Liberation of Allyship in the Public Square
As people of faith, we are called to stand with the poor and marginalized. It is a holy and sacred calling central to all faith traditions that manifests in a wide variety of ways. While there is no one perfect model for allyship, there are behaviors that are more or less likely to move us toward a destination of Liberation and Equity. Together we will name some of these challenges and find ways to move past them that keep us faithful to our values, calling and the cause of Justice for All.  Presented by Pastor Priscilla Austin

Back to Basics
The team began the 2017-18 academic year with a session intended to ground the community in our various spiritual imperatives, some common vocabulary and illustrations of how that vocabulary manifests in this work.

The Liberating Love of the Decolonize Movement
This retreat workshop was open to sister congregations and faith communities who, having taken seriously the work of deconstructing their own role in systems of power and privilege, are seeking ways to partner with others in action towards positive change.
Rev. Tuhina Rasche (#Decolonize Agitator) and the Rev. Priscilla Paris Austin (#Decolonize Adaptor) will guide a conversation about the #DecolonizeLutheranism that has been happening over past couple years in the ELCA and how it compels us to varied and unique activities in the quest for equity and justice in the church and beyond.

A Conversation on Sanctuary Leaders will share history of the Sanctuary Movement in this country and at ILC while providing context for conversations happening today.

Book Study: Just Mercy  by Bryan Stevenson
http://bryanstevenson.com/

A Lutheran Lens for AntiRacism Work
In this session and throughout the season of Lent we reflect upon what lesson we might learn from the Augsburg Confession for our work while continuing the conversation about what it might mean to be Faithful PROTESTants.

Intersections of Race & _________
A continued conversation of how issues and challenges of racism are manifested in various social systems. Focal areas will be:

  • Art and School
  • Volunteer Service to address poverty
  • LGBTQ
  • Criminal Justice
  • Talking with Family & Friends

Living into life as Faithful PROTESTants
Walking in the footsteps of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we have table conversations about how we are called to put our Faith into Action. Table conversations will be themed around various issues and individuals will self-select an area and an action to which they feel drawn.

2016

Women of the ELCA Bible Study: The Third Slave

Black Lives Matter / Campaign Zero
A session in partnership with the Advocacy Team 

Unpacking white Privilege 
In this session we re-capped previous learnings and went deeper into the thinking that supports systemic racism. After watching the video we had table conversations to reflect on what we have learned and where we may go next

Resources:

Intersectionality: Guest Speaker Rev. Rick Pibbernow – Open Door Ministries 
We discussed the complexity of how –isms overlap particularly as it relates to issues of gender and sexual identity.

Resources:

The history of Whiteness
In the United States of America, there is a specific history behind the lie of “whiteness”. Together we unpack that history and name our own privilege.

Resources:

Anti-Racism as a Spiritual Imperative 
Grounding our conversation is a language of faith we discussed the whys of this work from our perspective as followers of Jesus.

Resources:

When did you learn Your Race? 
Taking time to understand our own social location, this question gives us the starting place for all other conversations. After the group had time to reflect on their own story the Team members shared and opened the space for additional stories