Showing Up for Racial Justice
“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to re-educate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
As Sacred Ground, the Episcopal Church series on race, finishes, and as Black History Month ends, we at JOC are looking at how we can continue to build our awareness and also take action to promote racial equity and be allies to communities of color.
Communities of Color have put out a "call to action" to White Americans, and one answer to that call is Showing Up for Racial Justice. SURJ is a national organization with over 150 chapters and affiliates across the country aimed at mobilizing White people to actively join the fight for racial justice.
Research indicates that we have the greatest impact within our own racial and social in-groups, which is why SURJ uses the change-agent method of "White people calling in other White people" to get more involved and invested in racial justice.
SURJ has a racially diverse advisory group and sees "accountability to People of Color as a core principle central to the work for racial justice and transformative change" and therefore works under the direction and guidance of other racial and social justice groups such as The Movement for Black Lives and many others.
Find out more about SURJ by clicking here.
JOC is also in the process of establishing a relationship with Black Lives Matter, now called Healing Justice SB, now under new leadership.
