Sept. 2025: Tour of local underground railroad sites
Embedded Files
June 2026: Dinner and picnic celebrating the year’s work.
Sept 2025 Forum: Methods to Protect Democracy
March 2026: Celebrating African American Women
Our Vision
"No one is free until we are all free." Fannie Lou Hamer
We are committed to cultivating practical awareness of racial injustice and inequality, empowering individuals and communities to confront and transform these realities. Rooted in the wisdom, resilience, and lived experiences of our ancestors—especially our Black and Indigenous forebears—and continually shaped through learning, honest dialogue, community forums, book studies, and personal reflection, we embrace the ongoing work of justice. Together, we strive to build a world where every person's inherent dignity is honored, equity is lived, and justice is not merely an aspiration but a shared and enduring reality for all.
The Path Forward
Organize and work with and on behalf of the poor, the disenfranchised, and the oppressed communities, organizing for decent, safe, and affordable housing; and replacing our retributive justice system with a system based on restorative justice
See the link for the complete path forward: HERE
Our past work in pictures, click the link: A History of REB's Work
Top picture: Christianity & The Birth of White Supremacy, Nov. 21.
Bottom picture: The Housing Crisis: Causes & Solutions, Dec. 19.
UPCOMING EVENTS
All programs we sponsor are free and open to the public.
RSVP to racialequitybuddies@gmail.com
Saturday, November 21
Christianity & The Birth Of White Supremacy: A Forum Featuring Indigenous People of America
12:00 - 3:00 pm
Forest Hill Church, 3031 Monticello Blvd, Cleveland Heights
Many of us trace the origins of white supremacy in America to 1619, when the English privateer ship White Lion arrived in Virginia carrying approximately 20 enslaved Africans. Far fewer of us are familiar with the Papal Bulls of the 15th and 16th centuries and how they initiated religious and legal frameworks that would contribute to systems of racial domination and colonialism.
Join us Saturday afternoon, November 21, at Forest Hill Church (noon to 3 pm) for an in-depth discussion exploring the origins of white supremacy and the role the Christian church played in developing and promoting doctrines whose deleterious effects continue to shape our society today.
The Program Will Include:
Robbi Swift (Ojibwe, Whitefish River First Nation), featured speaker
The Maza Napin Dance Troupe, which consists of community members of the Lake Erie Native American Council
Screening of a short documentary
An opportunity for reflection & discussion
As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, come and hear firsthand stories, reflections, and explore different perspectives on Thanksgiving, and engage in a thoughtful conversation that invites us to consider the holiday in new ways.
We hope you’ll join us for this timely and thought-provoking program!
Here is a short YouTube clip on the Doctrine of Discovery: TRAILER: Doctrine of Discover - YouTube
Come ready to listen. Come ready to question. Come ready to have your assumptions challenged.
Join us on December 19 to hear voices too often silenced, confront realities too often ignored, and explore why housing justice matters to us all.
The Housing Crisis: Causes & Solutions
A Perspective From Unheard Voices
A Perspective From Unheard Voices
Saturday, December 19, 10 AM - 1 PM
Cleveland’s Unitarian Universalist Congregation
21600 Shaker Blvd, Shaker Heights, OH 44122 ·
The housing crisis is too often discussed without listening to those who bear its heaviest burdens: low-income renters, people experiencing homelessness, and working-class families struggling with eviction, unaffordable rents, and rising living costs. These are the voices too often ignored, the people most affected yet least heard.
On Saturday, December 19, we flip the script. Instead of talking about those experiencing the housing crisis, we will listen to and learn from three grassroots representatives of unhoused people and low-income renters. We will also watch a documentary that examines the housing crisis and its devastating social and medical consequences.
Join us to hear the voices too often silenced, confront the realities too often overlooked, and explore why housing justice matters to us all.
Too often, we debate the housing crisis without listening to the people living it. We discuss them, make decisions about them, and too rarely invite them to speak for themselves.
Our featured speakers are Mike Jones (Reentry, Justice Housing Strategist/Advocate); Austreeia Everson (President of New Era Cleveland, a community initiative powered by The Love Project Movement) and 小陸 LOH (a well‑known Cleveland community activist and long‑time advocate for people experiencing homelessness, recognized for her work in direct democracy, public policy, and housing justice).
VOTE NOW! EARLY VOTING HAS BEGUN
Voting: "The Most Powerful Nonviolent Tool In A Democratic Society"
Last year, our programming was inspired by the powerful words of Rev. William Barber at the City Club. Now, we join his call for a “march to the polls”—a reminder that democracy is not something we simply watch; it is something we make stronger through our participation. Here is a short Facebook clip of Rev. Barber sharing that message: Click here
IMPORTANT 2026 ELECTION INFORMATION can be found here:
https://www.ohiosos.gov/elections
The Book Club schedule for 2025-26 is live now - come read, share & take action with us! All book discussions are on Saturday mornings via Zoom. Email us at racialequitybuddies@gmail.com for the Zoom link.
January 9, 2027
God Is Red: A Native View On Religion, Vine Deloria. First published in 1972, Vine Deloria Jr's God Is Red remains the seminal work on Native religious views, asking new questions about our species and our ultimate fate.
March 6
A Black Queer History of the United States, C.Riley Snorton & Darius Bost. Historical appreciation of queer Black culture and how it shaped American history.
April 17
White Fear: How The Browning of America Is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds
Roland S. Martin with Leah Lakins. White fear has shaped our democracy and society from the beginning—and today, it’s more intense and visible than ever.
May 29
Imagination: A Manifesto, Ruha Benjamin. In this revelatory work, Ruha Benjamin calls on us to take imagination seriously as a site of struggle and a place of possibility for reshaping the future.
Learn more about being a Racial Equity Buddy HERE and attend our events to meet others who are looking for buddies.
From Awareness to Vigilance:
Education should lead to Informed Action.
Informed Action should lead to Unity, Justice, and Repair.
A Unique Racial Economic Repair Program
The REB book club was the impetus for Forest Hill Church's economic racial repair program. Channel 5 interviewed Natasha Lovelace, the inaugural recipient. Her college debt of 70k has been paid off! News5 Story. Support this work with your financial gift HERE
We are now searching to economically repair another person. Let's continue to spread the news of this work and our capacity to repair.
Natasha is in the middle. To her right is Marina Grant, the chair of the Racial Repair Restoration Task Force of Forest Hill Church, and Mark Chupp, a Task Force Member. Behind Mark is Will Fenton-Jones, Director of Multicultural Ministries at West Ohio Conference of The United Methodist Church. Next to Will is Task Force member Danielle Cosgrove, to her left is Gordon Landefeld, of the Presbytery of the Western Reserve, and then Task Force member Jeannine Gury. In front is Ryan Wallace, pastor of Fairmount Presbyterian Church, Cleveland Heights, and Quentin Smith is to Natasha's left.
Click the links below to find out more and join us
in person or virtually at an upcoming event!
Funds offered will go towards events and programs for Racial Equity Buddies of Greater Cleveland.
“Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research. And when you see that you've got problems, all you have to do is examine the historic method used all over the world by others who have problems similar to yours. And once you see how they got theirs straight, then you know how you can get yours straight.” Malcolm X
2026 - 2027 schedule now released - come join us!
Our next discussion,
Jan. 9, 2027, God Is Red, by Vine Deloria, Jr.
Meet the Team Click "team".
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