It was decades ago when I first heard the phrase white privilege, or its earlier equivalent. My first response was confusion – certainly I wasn’t guilty of prejudice. Certainly I wasn’t part of a plot to keep African-Americans down. I supported civil rights. People like Martin Luther King, Jr, John Lewis, Diane Nash, and Ella Baker were heroes to me. ‘Equal rights under the law’ was part of my genetic code – since from whenever I could remember. But I grew older, and I saw that terms like white privilege were not aimed at allies and proponents of civil rights: White privilege and its companion terms were aimed at a system, a society-wide system which is stacked against Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans, anyone not a w.a.s.p. And stuck in the mire of it were its victims, a mire which slowly, steadily, inexorably diminished, controlled, and circumscribed them. I made up my mind then that I was going to learn everything I could about white privilege and do everything in my power to rid it from my life.

Quakers have a grand tradition of education, a tradition which requires them to learn all that they can about a condition and pass those lessons onto ourselves and onto our society. We work to bring light into dark places. That’s why I’m elated that this February 12 – 14 the Washington Friends Conference on Religion and Psychology is presenting White Privilege: Naming It and Its Complex and Confronting It to Build an Equitable Society. The conference will be virtual, start a bit later in the morning to encourage a national audience, and feature as our plenary speaker, Sean Fitzpatrick, head of the Jungian Society of Houston. Jane Byerley, our WFCRP co-clerk, has heard Sean and attests to his keen expertise in this area. We’ll still have interest groups which will augment and support the plenary sessions.

Our website – fcrp-quaker.org – is open for registrations. The cost of the conference will be $40.00 if you register either by check or on website. We’d love to see you as we address this ever-so important issue of our times. Mark your calendar now.

To register for the conference, go to fcrp-quaker.org. Hit the WFCRP button and go through the dropdown menu. When you decide to register, visit the registration page (again of the WFCRP drop down menu) and follow directions. If you decide to pay via a credit card on the website, go back to the home page, hit contribute and pay $40.00. The registrar will read that contribution as your payment. You may contact the registrar directly by email rdixonbell@aol.com or phone 304-268-8510. Also, please sign up for an interest group, an experience intended to augment the plenary sessions.