Damascus Road explores new directions

Mennonite Central Committee
Saturday, 28 October 2000

After five years of bringing anti-racism training to more than 35 church related institutions, the Damascus Road project is adding two new efforts to its work. Damascus Road is planning to focus more training at the congregational level and offer more training in "Internalized Racist Oppression."

"Bringing people from diverse backgrounds into the church will backfire if we only open the doors to the church house and fail to open our minds and our hearts to what the Holy Spirit has to say about the relationships God has intended for us to share," said Linda Bontrager, a member of Goshen College's Damascus Road team.

Internalized Racist Oppression refers to racism's affect on people of color. "This is when people of color believe the things racism says," explained co-coordinator Regina Shands Stoltzfus. "If we believe that we are inferior, then this gets manifested in how people carry themselves, family systems, how parents approach the schools."

The model for Damascus Road, part of MCC U.S. Peace and Justice Ministries, has evolved over the years to become more specifically Anabaptist and biblically based. Participants have responded positively to the changes, said Stoltzfus.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org