Actions I can take
STIRRING THE WATERS has evolved over our years together, moving from developing our own self-awareness to educating the wider parish. We are currently focusing on six areas of concern as we work toward racial equity. We are always happy to have new energy and ideas. Please join us in this work.
Check out our background reading/watching lists here.
BETHESDA AFRICAN CEMETERY COALITION
The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition is a group of descendants, neighbors and friends who are trying to preserve the Moses Cemetery in Bethesda from total destruction. Our activities range from community outreach, at places like Ben and Jerry’s and the Washington Episcopal School, to submitting an amicus brief in the case against the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County headed now to the Maryland Supreme Court.
SACRED GROUND
Sacred Ground is an 11-session course of film and reading-based dialogue based on race, including Blacks, Asians, Latinx, and indigenous people, grounded in faith. Small groups discuss chapters of US history of race and racism, including weaving in threads of family story, economic class and political/regional identity.
ST. COLUMBA’S HISTORY
Learn about St. Columba's racial history, from its founding by St. Alban's church as a small mission chapel in rugged post-Civil War Tenleytown to the prosperous parish it has become. In-depth research has uncovered how St. Columba's has benefited from, and been complicit with, the legacy of slavery and racism, including the harm done to African Americans within our parish boundaries.
UNDESIGN THE REDLINE
The Undesign the Redline exhibit will open to the public from April 13, 2024 to July 11, 2024, at the Cleveland Park Library. The purpose of the exhibit is to invite our neighbors to learn about and consider the history and stories of how Northwest DC became both racially and economically separate and how our isolation helped shape the inequalities in housing, education, income, criminal justice, and health, that exist in the District of Columbia today. The exhibit asks how did we get here, and what does this mean for where we are going?
WASHINGTON INTERFAITH NETWORK (WIN) AND ST. COLUMBA’S WIN CORE TEAM
St. Columba’s is a proud member of the Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) which is a multi-faith, multi-racial partnership among congregations and other institutions from across Washington, DC to build power to transform our communities. With a commitment to the long haul, WIN organizes for change on multiple intersecting issues including affordable housing and Black homeownership, public safety, and climate.
EVENTS
Since its inception in 2015, Stirring the Waters (STW) has sponsored Wednesday night classes, Sunday forums and movie nights, all with the intention of expanding our knowledge and understanding of America's history of race and racism. Click below to see a listing of some of these events as well as to see future offerings.
Past and Future STW Events
Fall 2017, "Space for Race - Conversations About Race in America"
Winter 2018 - "What the White Church Must Do"
Fall 2018 - Are There Spaces for Black Males in America"
Epiphany 2019 - Instruments of Change: From White guilt to Empowered ally"
November 2021 - "Finding our Roots: St. Columba's Church, Tenleytown and Race, 1874-1930
Movie Nights:
January 2017 - "Traces of the Trade"
January 2018 - Ava DuVernay's "13th"
January 2023 - "Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America”
