Bellingham Friends Meeting hosting virtual racial justice forum Wednesday evening

A community-wide virtual forum about racial justice will be hosted by the Bellingham Friends Meeting from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24, over Zoom.

The discussion was prompted by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody on May 25, which sparked protests around the country, including Bellingham.

The forum will cover “how to nurture racial justice,” according to a news release from the Bellingham Friends Meeting. The group is also known as the Bellingham Quakers, a Religious Society of Friends.

Virginia Herrick, the recording clerk for Bellingham Friends Meeting, said that Quakers have historically opposed racism of all kinds, which led to the creation of the forum following Floyd’s death.

“Quakers have a long history of opposition to discrimination in all its forms,” Herrick told The Herald. “(We have) a profound commitment to the concept of all people being equal. It’s, generally speaking, something that Quakers have been very involved in for hundreds of years.

“When George Floyd’s death was recorded and broadcast and the huge uprising began, it felt like a moment that we needed to think really seriously about what we as a faith community could offer. Deep listening is a profound part of what we do.”

The forum panelists include Bellingham Deputy Police Chief Flo Simon, County Executive Satpal Sidhu, Rosalinda Guillen of Community to Community, Shirley Williams of Lumni Nation and White Swan Environmental and Jonathan Randolph, a Black entrepreneur and professional vocalist who is a member of the Bellingham Friends Meeting.

J. Lee Cook, a member of the Quakers, will moderate the discussion. Following the panel presentations and discussion, there will be time for audience members to ask questions and make comments.

“We see this as the first of what we hope will be many public forums, probably we’ll learn a bunch in doing this,” Herrick said. “It’s going to take a lot of creative thinking and we don’t see this as something that belongs to us at all. We’re hoping that many other people will get involved in creating more opportunities to talk and to listen to one another.”

Herrick went on to explain that she believes most of Whatcom County does not stand for racism and that everyone has a different level of understanding when it comes to racial justice.

“I really have a profound belief that people in Whatcom County oppose racism. I think that the vast majority of people in these communities don’t want racism to exist in our communities,” Herrick said. “There are many different people with many different levels of understanding of how racism manifests.

“The goal is that this will be the first of many opportunities for talking and listening.”

The virtual forum will be held Wednesday evening on Zoom at the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89368508587. Audience members are encouraged to join around 6:45 p.m. to ensure the discussion begins promptly at 7 p.m.

Information about Randolph and Cook was corrected June 22, 2020.

This story was originally published June 21, 2020 at 11:12 AM.