Racial Reconciliation, Healing, and Justice-making
Responding to Racist Violence
LEARN, PRAY, ACT: Resources for Addressing Racist Violence and Police Brutality
From OGR: 9 actions you can take today to learn about and address police violence in your communities
Reparations
The work of promoting and fostering racial justice and healing often involves advocacy that includes concern for care of the environment, immigration, foreign assistance, and anti-poverty programs. Discussion about reparations raised foundational issues about justice, reconciliation, healing, and advocacy.
The Episcopal Church believes the discussion about reparations involves repairing the legacy of slavery and racism that remains present across public policies. A complex web of public policies, at every level of government, is directly and indirectly responsible for creating and sustaining a system of segregation from the nation’s founding. This reality informs The Episcopal Church’s call for a national commission to study, uncover, and propose solutions to this system. Doing so will require social, economic, and moral changes in order to bring the nation closer to its ideals and to the loving, liberating, and life-giving God intends for us.
Learn more about Episcopal Church initiatives: Virginia Theological Seminary, Diocese of Georgia, Diocese of New York, Memorial Episcopal Church, and others in Maryland
Indigenous Issues
Indigenous issues encapsulate many areas including land rights, sovereignty, healthcare, environmental issues, racial justice, education, and much more. This set of issues cannot neatly fit under a single title, though it is often grouped together with racial justice given some parallels with issues that other groups also face.
The Episcopal Church has long been committed to advocating in support of Indian Nations and Tribes, including the efforts to protect and honor treaty rights and their right to self-determination. More recently, the Church affirmed our commitment at the 80th General Convention to advocate for national legislation and policy that would address inequities in healthcare, education, nutrition, and housing that are detrimental to the quality of life of American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians.
Please also see the work of the Indigenous Ministries.
Native American Heritage Month (11/23/2022)
Becoming Beloved Community
As the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement, we dream and work to foster Beloved Communities where all people may experience dignity and abundant life and see themselves and others as beloved children of God.
The Becoming Beloved Community Vision Document and accompanying resources help us to understand and take up the long-term commitments necessary to form loving, liberating and life-giving relationships with each other. Together, we are growing as reconcilers, justice-makers, and healers in the name of Christ. The work of policy advocacy factors most into healing and justice-making elements of this broader work.
One of the entry points into this framework is “Repairing the Breach in Society and Institutions,” which asks:
- What institutions and systems are broken?
- How will we participate in repair, restoration, and healing of people, institutions, and systems?
Responding to these questions requires engaging in public policy advocacy as a means of healing and justice-making. The Office challenges long-established policies that perpetuate systemic racism and injustice and strives to change legislation that continues to harm communities of color. The Episcopal Church aims to bring a perspective of transformation to public policy in order to heal communities that have been the most marginalized and discriminated against.
Check out the full Becoming Beloved Community framework.
Contact:
The Office of Government Relations
eppn@episcopalchurch.org