Barrington Dunbar was born in British Guyana and educated in the United States. He devoted his life to social work, as the director of settlement houses, camps for refugees, and other such services. He joined 57th Street Meeting in Chicago and later was active with 15th Street Meeting in New York City. Committed to both black liberation and Quakerism, he explained the Black Power movement to European Americans as a need to express rage as a step toward sef-esteem (Black Fire, 125).
This reflection is by Lori Fernald Khamala, AFSC’s Immigrant Rights Program Director in Greensboro, North Carolina, where we seek to build a community which values the human dignity of all residents.
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Note: For Black History Month, we will be honoring some of the many Black Quakers who have contributed to the world of Friends and beyond. Barrington Dunbar (1901-1978), like many others, challenged white Friends to take a more active approach in addressing racism and white supremacy. He asked Friends to show their support for the Black Power Movement even though its violent rhetoric often felt alienating to pacifist Friends.
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In my previous post, I explored the ways that Quakers and Jews have been historically connected and proposed a deeper spiritual connection between our respective faith traditions. As a rabbi who now works for AFSC, I can say without hesitation that my spiritual life has greatly benefitted from my encounter with Quaker thought and practice. The more I dwell in these two religious communities, the more I am able to discern important parallels between them.
When I tell people that I've just started working for the American Friends Service Committee, some will inevitably scratch their heads and ask, "What is a rabbi doing working for a Quaker organization?"
- Read more about A rabbi at AFSC: Quaker and Jewish connections, part 1
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Note: This post was edited in June 2020 to add more nuance from learning how to follow Black-led movements. - Editor
I am a white person who recently participated in #millionsmarchnyc as part of #BlackLivesMatter. As a queer, gender-queer person, I know about some forms of oppression, but I didn’t want my own unconscious racism, entitlement, and unexamined privilege to perpetuate the pathology and systems we were there to protest. So I came up with some guidelines for myself while participating in public demonstrations against racism and police violence.