Pastors of the Pacific Southwest Region,
The Committee on Ministry is excited to announce LEVEL 2 Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation Trainings. It is our sincere prayer that as each of us continue to faithfully engage issues of racism and injustice in our world, we will see growing impact in our churches and all across our region. See below for a description of the training, or click HERE to be directed to the Clergy Training webpage for training dates/times. Please contact Michel Johnson at mjohnson@docpswr.org with any questions.
Level 2 training is for clergy who have taken the Level 1 training in the Pacific Southwest Region and need to renew their Anti-Racism training requirements as established by the Committee on Ministry. Sandhya Jha and David Bell will provide both training and coaching for the social-historical analysis of racism. (Bios below)
Level 2 training will help participants hone their analysis of institutional racism and look at their own organizations' governing documents to dream of how those documents can be more intentionally anti-racist. Participants will need to bring with them their own church or nonprofit's governing documents (bylaws), since the majority of the day will be practical application of anti-racism analysis. Please note that a review of institutional racism will be included at the beginning of the training, so it's okay if it's been a while since you covered that part of the content.
Rev. David Bell is the Minister for Indigenous Justice of Yakama Christian Mission. David and his partner Belinda lives in the Toppenish Creek Valley of the Yakama Nation. As minister of YCM for the last nineteen summers, David has transformed the mission’s patriarchal structure to one which recognizes its racist/colonist roots. This recognition brought about the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Repudiation of the Christian Doctrine of Discovery in 2017 along with a call for action-based Indigenous justice. For the better part of two decades David has led anti-racism trainings and promoted earth and indigenous justice.
Sandhya Jha serves as founder and director of the Oakland Peace Center, a collective of 40 organizations creating access, equity, and dignity for all in Oakland and the Bay Area.
Raised in an interracial and multi-faith family and witness to the sometimes subtle (and sometimes obvious) ways that racism and xenophobia show up in our society, it is not surprising that Sandhya’s career has been marked by work to effect public policy change (working in the office of Congressman Thomas C. Sawyer from Akron, Ohio), religious liberty and an alternative voice to the religious right (at
The Interfaith Alliance) and around the issues of housing for all (at East Bay Housing Organizations) as well as her work to build what Dr. Martin Luther King called Beloved Community (at the Oakland Peace Center).
ANTI-RACISM TRAINING BACKGROUND: Fifteen years as an anti-oppression trainer and consultant, primarily with non-profits, youth organizing groups, universities and faith/interfaith organizations.
My most recent book, Transforming Communities: How People Like You are Healing Their Neighborhoods is being taught in community colleges, universities, seminaries and graduate programs for social justice, social work, criminal justice and urban planning.
HOW I UNDERSTAND ANTI-OPPRESSION: Some consultants in the arena of cultural competence or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are committed to fostering healthier interpersonal relations. I believe that is important. The reason I engage in anti-oppression is that I believe our individual and interpersonal work best thrives in an environment where institutional and systemic justice are explicit goals of the organization. In other words, justice creates the best container for kindness, compassion, and empathy. Therefore, my work with any organization will prioritize and support institutional/organizational practices and policies of anti-oppression, while also including cultural humility, anti-bias, and community issues.