Learn about the new Anti-Black Racism Task Force in the Diocese of Montreal by Edward Yankie (published in the Anglican Montreal March 2021)
(Edward Yankie is a member of Christ Church Cathedral and, along with Dion Lewis, the co-chair of the Diocesan Anti-Racism Task Force)
Sometimes history reaches a breaking point, and something like A Way of Transformation takes place because things can't go on like before. In addition to other uproars, including a pandemic, there is now such a breaking point—a saturation of too much bloodshed of Black people. Too many people who know the weight of oppression and can't breathe because they have knees on their necks. Along with this comes a great deal of denial, apathy, self-righteousness, and blindness in Canada and Quebec regarding our own history of slavery, racial oppression, and violence. No systemic racism in Quebec? (OK!) Say what you want against the idea of being woke, but in the face of a statement such as this, wokeness can't be all bad.
In response to this other ugly pandemic of denial (an obvious sin of wilful blindness as Covid continues to lay our structural inequalities bare), Christ Church Cathedral hung a Black Lives Matter banner facing Saint Catherine Street. As statements go, it's pretty basic. You could even call it humble. But many white people still can't bring themselves to say it without a qualification. And hate groups still want to tear it down and burn it. Yes, here in Canada too.
The banner was certainly not intended as an announcement that we, as a religious community, had arrived at our perfect utopia. It is generally recognized that we - especially those of us who are not Black - have to try to live up to it. To see more--to listen, understand, and support more.
In the midst of this growing awareness, a number of people from various churches within the diocese all came up with the same idea at pretty much the same time: What if we were to address anti-Black racism on a diocesan level? How would we go about doing that? How could we make things better in our diocese, in our city, our province, and in the wider world?
So, we reached out to folks, both clergy and laity, to form a group from all over the diocese, and met regularly to share stories, voice ideas, and figure out the best way to present our ideas to Synod. Much time and effort was put into this, and our hearts were a hundred percent involved, especially as the stories began to flow.
The Rev Deborah Meister devoted a tireless energy to our group, and, with the help of the Rev Deborah Noonan-Zink, worked to bring us all together. Dean Bertrand Olivier met with us and gave support, though he was recovering from surgery from a nasty bike accident. Bishop Mary also listened with her whole being, and gave kind and encouraging words. But people in our group with more experience than I still worried that the motion to create Diocesan Anti-Black Racism Task Force would not pass at Synod, and no doubt with good reason.
Fast forward to Synod, when the reverend James Pratt, Dion Lewis, and Camille Isaacs-Morell spoke powerfully and convincingly and the members voted overwhelmingly to approve the creation of the Task Force. There was much rejoicing. Dion and his partner Chris Grocholski hugged each other with an instantaneous, passionate embrace. Private messages were passed among the group that said: “Yes!” “Hallelujah!” “Thanks be to God!” It's no exaggeration to say that the Spirit descended upon
all of us. We exhaled deep sighs of joy and relief that our time and effort had not been in vain.
Now, of course, as 2021 continues with all its challenges, hardships, promise, and drama, we are brainstorming our next moves, and rolling up our sleeves, literally and metaphorically, to get to work. An old Zen saying comes to mind. “After the ecstatic experience comes needing to do the laundry.”
The task force is still being assembled, and is growing. Most of the original group are still involved, though new faces and names are showing up, for which we are grateful. We are still a mix of Black and White, Canadian born and immigrant, English and French, which, for the work we have to do, is important.
A survey has gone out to all the church leaders to determine where we are on this issue as a diocese, what people are thinking, feeling, and doing. And workshops are being planned, so that we can figure out how to be on the same page as a diocese.
Following the advice of Socrates, we are hoping to understand together and agree on what systemic racism is before we begin to have a dialogue about it and work on the problem. History will be discussed. Definitions will hopefully be agreed upon. And training for church leaders, and for the laity, and for all who wish it, will ensue. This is just the beginning.
Many people still think that racism is simply about having bigoted feelings, or being prejudiced against dark skin or otherness. But we often don't see or understand how deeply inequality is forged into the very fabric and make-up of our society. So there is still a lack of understanding for the need for systemic change. To cite a solitary glaring example of injustice, many families within the Haitian community are being separated, even children from their parents, by deportation practices that are nothing short of cruel. This we need to look into, and not away from. As James Baldwin said,
