Anti Racism Council

 

We are each other’s harvest/
We are each other’s business/
We are each other’s magnitude and bond.

--Gwendolyn Brooks

 

Overview

 

The Anti-Racism Council (ARC) formed in January 2008, is a team of Women Martial Arts leaders who are committed to anti-oppression education, action, and healing. The current focus of this committee is to address racism (the expression of imperialism, and cultural/ social dominance) and how it affects the NWMAF, our martial arts and self-defense practice and teaching, and the full range of our lives.

 

 

About ARC

 

ARC and the NWMAF board of directors recognize that there are interwoven issues of oppression that need to be examined in order for our organization to grow, transform, and meet the ongoing needs of the membership, as well as those with whom we come in contact. We intend for this anti-racism work, and the skills that we build in collaboration, to expand into all areas of concern. Members of ARC and other NWMAF forums are committed to examining attitudes and practices related to aging, class, body size, differences in ability, gender identity, sexual orientation, spirituality, and religious beliefs – anything that impacts the overall health, effectiveness, and progress of our organization.

 

Racism, including anti-Semitism and other forms of cultural dominance, is subtly and blatantly woven into the fabric of our existence. All of us are damaged by racism, though the results are vastly different, depending on who we each are and where we come from. Everyone stands to benefit in some way from dismantling racism step-by-step.

 

Momentum has been growing over the years to bring anti-racism work to the foreground. It is this committee's sense that NWMAF leaders and members have the skills, heart, healing power, wisdom, and intelligence to take the necessary steps in expanding opportunities for and representation of women and girls from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and abilities.

 

The NWMAF board and ARC are working together to offer the following:

  • Anti-racism training for the NWMAF board of directors.
  • Anti-racism training for Special Training (ST) instructors.
  • An anti-racism session for ST participants.
  • An anti-racism trainer as one of the Self Defense Instructors(SDIC)/ ST instructors.
  • A group dynamics facilitator for sessions at SDIC and ST who can help keep the work on track, and who is skilled in conflict resolution.
  • An NWMAF board liaison on the ARC.
  • Ongoing exploration of questions, ideas, and challenges brought up by the panel at the 2007 Self-Defense Instructors Conference: "Reaching All Communities." (Visit this page to see some of the resulting suggestions for instructors)
  • Clear structure, guidelines, and communication for conducting the business of this committee and related activities.
  • Ideas and suggestions for expanding NWMAF’s diversity work in all areas.

We recognize that this work creates a time of transition which is imperative in order for change to occur. Transitions are part of the spiral of life, and can feel exhilarating as well as induce growing pains. Change has the potential to stir up concerns, for as we chart new territory, we will encounter new opportunities that will challenge what we have accepted as reality.

 

In understanding the past more clearly, and honoring the present, we are called to face individual and organizational challenges. Following the martial arts path of developing body, mind, heart, and spirit, we wish to draw on the strengths of everyone's best, most expansive selves -- to take risks, to be willing to do the necessary internal work, to respect each other's differences, to celebrate common ground, and to trust that the skills we practice will keep moving us through to greater enlightenment.

 

Anti-Racism Council Members (June 2010) 

(click for photos and bios)

 

Members:

Janet Aalfs

Darlene Defour

Michele Elefante

Janet Gee

Kore’ Grate

Sonya Richardson

Lynn Sanders

Sally Johnson Van Wright

Lauren Wheeler

 

Janet Aalfs and Sally Johnson Van Wright have written pieces that provide concrete examples of the scope of issues that ARC can address.  Please read Janet Aalf's Poems in Loving Memory of Julius Ford and Ingredients of Peace, and Sally Johnson Van Wright's Hatred in a Hospital Elevator. 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
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