I’m Still Here: Summer 2020 Small Group Guide

Introduction

In August 2020, St. Paul & the Redeemer members are meeting in small groups to discuss I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness, by Austin Channing Brown. The discussion questions for each session are adapted from Austin’s discussion guide. It is our hope and prayer that this small group series will lead us deeper into our commitments to radical hospitality and anti-racism.

To learn more about this or future small groups, please contact the Rev. Catherine Healy, rector.

Guidelines for Discussion with One Another

We honor each other’s time by completing the pre-reading before each session.
We extend hospitality to welcome one another in words and actions.
We respect confidentiality. All that we hear and share stays within this room.
We share and we listen in quiet. Each one may decide to share or not at any moment. But we are present to one another.
We honor each voice and share from our unique individual story. None of us speaks for a whole group, profession, or way of life.
Each of us listens with the “ear of our heart.” We listen and learn; we do not offer advice.
We respect differences, reserve judgment, and turn to wonder as we hear the stories of others.
After we leave, let us lift up one another’s lives and stories to God in prayer.

Guiding Principle

“An essential part of our work for racial justice, transformation, and reconciliation is the intentional gathering of Episcopalians and our neighbors to consciously share about the history and reality of race in a particular place. This process of “re-remembering, retelling, and reliving” is necessary to create space and time to collectively discern a shared, renewed narrative and vision of Beloved Community.”

(Becoming Beloved Community: The Episcopal Church’s Long-Term Commitment to Racial Healing, Reconciliation and Justice (2017),13)

What Happens in a “Facilitator-less” Small Group?

In these groups, each participant is encouraged to take a leadership role, inviting others into conversation. In this small group guide, you will find the following suggested format, adapted from the ancient Christian practice of lectio divina.

READ
Before each session, please read the indicated chapters and reflect upon them in whatever way feels most natural to you. This may include praying over the themes in the book, writing your responses in a journal, looking up additional information, or simply taking some time to think about the text.

PRAY
Open the gathering by asking God’s blessing on the group and its work.

SHARE
Read the guidelines for discussion and guiding principle (p. 2) aloud. Afterward, take time to “check in” with your group members, inviting each person to share.

REFLECT
Talk with your group about the reading and your response to it. The questions listed are simply conversation starters—you do not need to “cover” every question. You may invite the group to discuss the question that is most compelling to you.

CONTEMPLATE
After the gathering, give yourself further time to contemplate the text, the discussion, and your experience of both. Where could God be leading you through this group? How is God calling you to act?

Session 1 (Chapters 1 to 3)

READ

Before Session 1, please read:

Chapter 1: White People Are Exhausting
Chapter 2: Playing Spades
Chapter 3: The Other Side of Harmony

PRAY

O God, our Father in heaven,
our Mother on earth as in heaven,
You hold us with an everlasting love;
You hold us, a never-loosening hold,
You are molding and making us still.
Free us from the agitation of self-absorption.
May we hear Your gentle voice saying to us now,
“Be still, and know that I am God.”

Spirit of holiness,
prod us, rebuke us, charm and enchant us
until our minds are stayed on the Beloved Community.
Lift us up—put running in our feet, clapping in our hands.
Lord, make us free, make us whole,
fill our voices with the sound of the genuine. [1]
Amen.

Read the guidelines for discussion and guiding principle aloud (see introduction). Afterward, take time to “check in” with your group members, inviting each person to share.

REFLECT

These prompts are simply conversation starters—you do not need to “cover” every question. You may invite the group to draw its attention to the question that is most compelling to you.

Austin begins the book with a story about how her parents gave her the name Austin in hopes that it would help her bypass racial discrimination. What’s the story behind your name? Did your parents have to consider race when you were named? If you have children, did you consider race when choosing names?
Though Austin was aware of race as a little girl, learning about her name was the first time she began to realize the implications of race in America. When was the first time you realized what your race means in America?
In Chapter 1: White People Are Exhausting, Austin discusses how it generally feels to be the only black woman in a predominately white organization, especially one that uses phrases like “Is this person a good fit for our organization?” How do you think the language of being a “good fit” impacts racial diversity in hiring, performance reviews, and work experiences?
What was the racial diversity like at your elementary or middle school? Was there diversity among teachers? Administration? Was there diversity in your library? Artwork? Curriculum?
Have you experienced being in the racial minority? Have you experienced being in the racial majority? How were the two experiences different?
Have you ever been in a space where you experienced belonging (even if it was imperfect in other ways)?
Austin notes that there weren’t any major racial incidents when she was in high school. Were there any major racial incidents in your high school?
How might you begin to explore what lies behind the curtain of “racial harmony” where you work, worship, or attend school?

CONTEMPLATE

Before the next session:

Take time to contemplate the places where you have sought or experienced “racial harmony” in your own life. How have moments of racial harmony benefited you? What have they cost you?

Read chapters 5-6 (and the interlude between them).

Read over the discussion questions for the next session. Which one speaks to you?

Consider where God might be leading you through this group. How is God calling you to act?

Session 2 (Chapters 4 to 6)

READ

Before Session 2, please read:

Chapter 5: Whiteness at Work
Interlude: Why I Love Being a Black Girl
Chapter 6: White Fragility

PRAY

The best way to give thanks
is to disassemble the systems, the stories, the mythos,
that privilege one color over another:

To root out quiet racism—
to root out white fragility and white supremacy
so that they wither and die.

It is time.
It is well past time.

God of all creation,
bless us all with what we need
to take on this work and live it.

In Jesus’ name, may it be. [2]
Amen.

Read the guidelines for discussion and guiding principle aloud (see introduction). Afterward, take time to “check in” with your group members, inviting each person to share.

REFLECT

These prompts are simply conversation starters—you do not need to “cover” every question. You may invite the group to draw its attention to the question that is most compelling to you.

Austin experienced a major turning point in her life during a college trip called Sankofa. On this trip, she committed her life to pursuing racial justice when a friend of hers declared that “doing nothing [was] no longer an option.” When did you decide that “doing nothing is no longer an option” for you?
Traveling through the markers of black history greatly impacted Austin, especially her time at a lynching exhibit. How has learning the history of people of color impacted you? Has it changed your worldview? Your politics? Your theology?
Read the selection on pages 71-76 describing one day in the professional life of a black woman. What stands out to you within this section?
In dominant culture, it can be hard for people of color to find representations of themselves. Has it been easy or difficult to find positive representations of your ethnicity and culture?
In Chapter 6: White Fragility, Austin shares stories about navigating the emotional fragility of white people who did not respect her authority because she is a black woman. Share an instance when you encountered white fragility. Have you ever been overcome by your own fragility? How can white fragility be resisted?

CONTEMPLATE

Before the next session:

Take time to contemplate the words “Doing nothing is no longer an option for me” (p. 58). What does this mean for you?

Read chapters 7-11 (and the interlude between them).

Read over the discussion questions for the next session. Which one speaks to you?

Consider where God might be leading you through this group. How is God calling you to act?

Session 3 (Chapters 7 to 11)

READ

Before Session 3, please read:

Chapter 7: Nice White People
Chapter 8: The Story We Tell
Chapter 9: Creative Anger
Interlude: How to Survive Racism in an Organization That Claims to Be Antiracist
Chapter 10: The Ritual of Fear
Chapter 11: A God for the Accused

PRAY

Mother God,
who has longed to gather all her children under her mighty wings,
you are our good Parent and Caregiver.
Rupture, O Giver of Truth,
the status quo of racialized violence that infects your land,
and teach us through your divine Word
to reject the false promises of state peace
in favor of the dangerous justice of Christ.
Amen. [3]

Read the guidelines for discussion and guiding principle aloud (see introduction). Afterward, take time to “check in” with your group members, inviting each person to share.

REFLECT

These prompts are simply conversation starters—you do not need to “cover” every question. You may invite the group to draw its attention to the question that is most compelling to you.

In Chapter 7: Nice White People, Austin writes “Sadly, most white people are more worried about being called racist than about whether or not their actions are in fact racist or harmful.” Has this been your experience?
Austin recounts a handful of times when white people have come to her to confess ways they’ve been complicit in racism. If you are white, how do you handle white guilt? If you are a person of color, what do you do when you encounter white guilt?
What action steps do you hope the white people in your life will begin to take to move beyond “niceness” and create real change?
Even as we focus on learning more about U.S. history, we also should understand the history of our own communities. Do you know the racial history of St. Paul & the Redeemer? Hyde Park? The Episcopal Church?
Austin shares that she struggled to become comfortable expressing anger at injustice. How can white people do a better job of listening to the anger of people of color? How can white organizations respond in supportive ways to the anger people of color express?
In Chapter 9: Creative Anger, Austin shares that she has become intimate with her anger. How does listening to the anger of people of color honor their dignity?
Why would Austin include a list called “How to Survive Racism in an Organization That Claims to Be Antiracist”? Why can problems at organizations committed to antiracism be difficult to name and change?
In Chapter 10: The Ritual of Fear, Austin writes about her concerns related to police encounters. Have you experienced the fear of police encounters? What have your (or your family’s) interactions with the police been like?
Can you identify parallels between Jesus’s experience and the black experience inside the criminal justice system?
In Chapter 11: A God for the Accused, Austin writes about her cousin who was incarcerated. Has your life been touched by mass incarceration?

CONTEMPLATE

Before the next session:

Take time to contemplate your relationship with anger. How do you respond to your own anger? How do you respond to other people’s? What is an appropriate Christian response to anger at injustice?

Read chapters 12-14 (and the interlude between them).

Read over the discussion questions for the next session. Which one speaks to you?

Consider where God might be leading you through this group. How is God calling you to act?

Session 4 (Chapters 12 to 14)

READ

Before Session 4, please read:

Chapter 12: We’re Still Here
Interlude: A Letter to My Son
Chapter 13: Justice, Then Reconciliation
Chapter 14: Standing in the Shadow of Hope

PRAY

In this work we do today and after,
we pray for more than conviction.
We pray, O Lord, for change.

Change the easy peace we make with ourselves
into discontent because of the oppression of others.
Change our tendency to defend ourselves
into the freedom that comes
from being forgiven and empowered through your love.

And most of all, Lord, change our routines
into genuine encounters with you,
so that our lives will be changed for the good of all. [4]
Amen.

Read the guidelines for discussion and guiding principle aloud (see introduction). Afterward, take time to “check in” with your group members, inviting each person to share.

REFLECT

These prompts are simply conversation starters—you do not need to “cover” every question. You may invite the group to draw its attention to the question that is most compelling to you.

The Black Lives Matter movement has helped define the collective events regarding the recent killings of unarmed black people. How have the events collectively known as the Black Lives Matter era impacted you?
Though Austin was incredibly joyous about the election of the first Black president, she wasn’t convinced that America had become postracial. Were you hopeful that America had become postracial with the election of Barack Obama (even if you voted for another candidate)?
Because Austin was pregnant as she wrote this book, she includes a letter to her son, in which she talks openly about the difficulties her son may face in his future. Did your parents openly teach you about race? What did they convey, and how?
Austin writes that justice must precede reconciliation. What does she mean by this?
Do you use the term “racial reconciliation”? Why or why not?
How can paying attention to “diversity numbers” be a beginning goal, rather than an end goal, for pursuing racial justice and reconciliation? How else could your organization begin to measure the health of racial justice and reconciliation?
Other than dialogue, how else might you pursue racial justice and reconciliation?
What do you do when an organization has disappointed you in their efforts to pursue racial justice or reconciliation? Where do you find healing?
Are you still hopeful for racial justice and reconciliation in your church? Workplace? Neighborhood? The country?
How do you nourish hope?

CONTEMPLATE

As you go forth from the final session:

Take time to contemplate the relationship between justice and reconciliation. How do you know if an individual, organization, or society is pursuing reconciliation without justice?

Think about how you will continue your learning around issues of racial justice. What will you read, watch, or listen to next?

Consider where God has been leading you through this group. How is God calling you to act?

FOOTNOTES

[1] Obie Wright, Jr., “A Lenten Prayer,” Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayer by African Americans, ed. James Melvin Washington.

[2] Adapted from the Rt. Rev. Richard Bott, 43rd moderator of the United Church of Canada. Originally written for the International Day to Eliminate Racial Discrimination.

[3] Kenji Kuramitsu, “For an End to Violence at the Hands of the State,” A Booklet of Uncommon Prayer: Collects for the #BlackLivesMatter Movement—and Beyond, p. 21.

[4] Adapted from Seeing the Face of God in Each Other: The Antiracism Training Manual of the Episcopal Church.