Nashville, TN — Racial Justice Ministries at Scarritt Bennett Center (RJM), in its mission to eradicate white supremacy and acts of racism, is proud to announce their upcoming White Co-Conspirator Summit. The virtual event will take place on March 19-20, 2021 and is designed to equip white co-conspirators driven by a radical hospitality of love for and belief in the transformative power of the Beloved Community.
White co-conspirators are those white people who are called to be agents of change by disrupting and challenging ideologies and systems of oppression. The event is open to the public to attend but is intended to speak directly to the role that white people have in dismantling white supremacy.
Over the two days RJM plans on hosting six workshops that call out a particular area of white supremacy, shifting the dominant narrative, and provide ways to reimagine collectively conspiring against white supremacist culture to foster a true Beloved Community.
The summit includes keynote speakers Jim Wallis and special guest Nadia Bolz-Weber. Jim Wallis is a globally respected writer, teacher, preacher, and justice advocate, as well as the founder of Sojourner Magazine and Sojourner Community, a justice-based organization seeking to intersect faith, politics, and culture. Nadia Bolz-Weber is an ordained Lutheran Pastor, founder of House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, CO, the creator, and host of the Confessional, as well as an author and speaker.
In a time where racial injustice and white supremacy have become issues that spark national debates Scarritt Bennett Director of Racial Justice Ministries Rev. Cherisna Jean-Marie believes that the current political climate affirms the need for RJM’s work. “In our work, we believe racism is a human issue that is primarly the work of white people to dismantle, we also believe it’s the work of BIPOC people to heal from racial trauma. That too is dismantling white supremacy.” she explained. “Depending on your social location the work looks different, so we seek to create space for those works to happen. The summit is an offering to do that very work, creating space for white people to do the work of dismantling white supremacy in white space.”
FEATURED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Keynote Speaker: Jim Wallis (90mins)
Keynote Address Title: Killing White Jesus: Reclaiming the Mission of the Church
This address will point to the ways the White Evangelical Church perpetuates white supremacy through its theology and help us to reimagine the role of the Church as a Co-Conspirator creating the Beloved Community with a radical hospitality mission that embraces the true identity (ethnicity, language, and culture) of Jesus.
Special Guest: Nadia Bolz-Weber (90mins)
One-on-one interview with Rev. Cherisna Jean-Marie, Director of Racial Justice Ministries on her journey as a White progressive leader. She will share on her own struggles and the ways she is still having to learn more and do more personal, intentional work in becoming a Co-conspirator.
Storyteller: Hannah Adair Bonner (60mins)
Our story time will get close and personal with activist Hannah Adair Bonner. She will share her experience with Sandra Bland, a black woman killed in police custody in 2015, her relationship with Sandra, her activism during the protests, and the ways it personally affects her even now. She will also share about what being a co-conspirator means in everyday life, beyond activism, her relationship with white people as a coconspirator, and the risks she faces each day. Finally, she will share what it took to begin shifting the narrative and rejecting dominant culture.
Participants of the summit will be invited to go inward to do the challenging work to search for those things within; including the thoughts, attitudes and ideas that are influenced by white supremacy. “White supremacy is very much part of the American culture and it is time for white people to do some serious inner work individually and communally in dismantling this system of oppression,” Rev. Jean-Marie said. “That is what the Summit is about, creating space for white people to do that inner work individually and communally.”
The White Co-Conspirator Summit 2021 takes place March 19 at 9:30 AM and March 20 at 12:00 PM. Registration is $150.00 and includes access to all featured speakers, attendees’ choice of three of the six event workshops and a t-shirt. A complete list of all workshops and registration information can be found at scarrittbennett.org/summit2021. Event organizers can be contacted at rjm@scarrittbennet.org.
