“I am accustomed to joining communities where I am the only African-American present,” Billie Wade says. “That’s been a common thread throughout my life. Coming to Quakerism and discovering that that thread was going to continue was not a surprise… Fortunately, Des Moines Valley [Friends Meeting] has been an open, welcoming community to me.”
“That said,” she continues, “I still feel lonely sometimes.”
Although Friends are willing to talk about unrest in places like Ukraine or Iran, Billie explains, they are often reluctant to have similar discussions about the rejection Black people experience from within the Quaker community. “I can’t be the person that brings up those conversations all the time,” she says. “It gets to a point where people see me coming and they will begin to resent that.”
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