Maya Angelou: ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’ Photo: Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
‘Part of that oppression’: Hoonie Feltham describes Oxford Meeting’s approach to resisting racism.
‘A question struck me: “Am I racist?” The inescapable answer was “Yes”.’
As I walked away from my first Black Lives Matter demonstration at South Park in Oxford, a question struck me: ‘Am I racist?’ The inescapable answer was ‘Yes, of course you are’. I admitted for the first time that I react differently as a white person when encountering a black person. Feeling alone in my shame I wondered who I could share my feelings with. Then suddenly I knew – Quakers at our Meeting! I approached two Friends to help me explore my discomfort and help me find a way in which we could share our thoughts and feelings on this important subject. Ellen Bassani, who is blind and a disability equality trainer, and Tas Cooper, who is autistic and a member of the Book of Discipline Revision Committee, helped me put this article together. I felt their experiences would be relevant to exploring attitudes to difference.
