Addressing Racial Bias in Churches: love, pray, act
In the last two years, nearly 200 people in our diocese have taken part in "Dismantling Racism" training. In this working retreat day, we'll explore our how our collective actions make a difference.
This is a next step for vestries and other leadership circles who want to be serious about examining their own church or faith community for bias. We'll examine some of the structural racism (schools, local government, law enforcement) that exists around us. We'll also look honestly at how bias and prejudice can affect our own interactions and ways of being church. Bias impacts each and every person, organization, and system--including churches. As spiritual communities with members of varied races, cultures, ages, gender identities, ability status, etc. we all have work to do!
Dr. Ursuline Bankhead will lead an interactive presentation and discussion with small group breakout opportunities to: ground us in the concepts of bias; identify how bias impacts each of us personally and as members of a spiritual body; and, to recognize bias within our own spiritual communities. We'll look at how to recognize, think about, and address bias from a spiritual perspective, both personally and organizationally, and the interactions between these perspectives.
Participants will also have the opportunity following this workshop to engage with a small cohort of church leaders for two follow-up sessions with Dr. Bankhead on addressing bias in your particular context.
Our facilitator:
Our facilitator for the day is Dr. Ursuline Bankhead. Dr. Bankhead is a native of Buffalo, New York, and the product of Buffalo Public Schools. Her education includes a Bachelors from Penn State University-Behrend Campus; a Masters from East Carolina University; and, a PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University at Buffalo.
Dr. Bankhead works as a Psychologist at the VA Western New York Healthcare System, where she serves on several committees within the organization. She is current Chair of the VA Western New York Health Equity Committee, which won the 2019 VA Secretary’s Diversity & Inclusion Award for a Team. She has led various programs and initiatives to address issues of equity and inclusion. She has presented on the topics of communication, health equity, implicit bias, grief and loss, aging, cognitive impairment, and gender issues .
She is currently serving on the Attorney Grievance Committee for the 8th Judicial District, belongs to the Psychological Association of Western New York, is an active member of Trinity Episcopal Church (Buffalo, NY), and serves on the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York’s Commission to Dismantle Racism. She has been married over 25 years and is counting down the semesters from which she will be free from paying college tuition for her daughter!