Uploaded February 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other FRIDAY!
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Filming and Editing by Layla Cuthrell
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Transcript:
During the time of slavery, it was in our fabric it was everything that America was made to be made of, made by. And we stood our, Quaker ancestors, stood up and said no and helped. Where are we now? Where is our great stand now.
I’m Daquanna Harrison. I am an attender at Aelphi friends meeting in Maryland, where I also reside in Prince George's County, Maryland, and I use she/her pronouns. We stand on our radical past. We are extremely proud, right, of having been an abolitionist, standing up for peace and against the Vietnam War and things of that nature. But when we really look at our history -- particularly if we can just like look, for instance, at what it took for us to become abolitionists. The radicals were shunned within Quaker spaces originally. Benjamin Lay and John Woolman -- two fanaticals, radicals -- we uphold those folks now. But at that time, they were not upheld.
There's two thoughts that I want people to consider. First, where would you have been at that time? Would you have been in the snow with Benjamin Lay without your shoes on, to acknowledge that that's the life that slaves were having at that time? Would you have also been paying the enslaved people who waited on you the same way that John Woolman did? We hope we would. Then the second question is who are our radicals right now, and what can you be doing to be beside them in the snow, to be tipping along with them in whatever way that looks. That might look like really standing with our trans siblings beyond marches. That might mean opening up our meeting houses for people to be able to recover after surgeries. That might mean paying for people's therapy who need support in understanding what's going on with their bodies on their minds. that might mean going up against people and politicians that you would regularly vote for., believe in, and align with.
So much of what's happening today happened in our past, and it's just a new group that's being harmed. We have to like, put ourselves on the line, right? The Underground Railroad was Quakers putting themselves on the line. And there was much more to lose than now. We are much more powerful, as in foundationaly. We know that we won't get just struck down either violently or politically. And yet there's still meeting houses that are worried about putting up a pride flag because what it might say to the community. Well, I ask you to consider the amount of people that you're worried about, that it might say something negative, consider the amount of people that it might say something positive to. And who needs you? Who needs you to say, “I care”?
We should be known for our work. We once were known for our work. And here we are. Fighting about flags. I really think that if we are not doing big work, hard work, then we're failing our Quaker ancestors. We can no longer stand just in that history of abolitionism, in that history of peacekeeping, while people are enslaved here and now, while there is no peace for many groups of people living day in and day out. And not just talking about those in war, but even those who are in our neighborhoods who are feeling as if there is war at their doorstep because of their identity.
___
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
QuakerSpeak is a weekly video series. New video every other FRIDAY!
SUPPORT QuakerSpeak! quakerspeak.com/donate
SUBSCRIBE for a new video every other week! http://fdsj.nl/QS-Subscribe
WATCH all our videos: http://fdsj.nl/qs-all-videos
___
Become a Friends Journal subscriber for only $28
http://fdsj.nl/FJ-Subscribe
Filming and Editing by Layla Cuthrell
___
Transcript:
During the time of slavery, it was in our fabric it was everything that America was made to be made of, made by. And we stood our, Quaker ancestors, stood up and said no and helped. Where are we now? Where is our great stand now.
I’m Daquanna Harrison. I am an attender at Aelphi friends meeting in Maryland, where I also reside in Prince George's County, Maryland, and I use she/her pronouns. We stand on our radical past. We are extremely proud, right, of having been an abolitionist, standing up for peace and against the Vietnam War and things of that nature. But when we really look at our history -- particularly if we can just like look, for instance, at what it took for us to become abolitionists. The radicals were shunned within Quaker spaces originally. Benjamin Lay and John Woolman -- two fanaticals, radicals -- we uphold those folks now. But at that time, they were not upheld.
There's two thoughts that I want people to consider. First, where would you have been at that time? Would you have been in the snow with Benjamin Lay without your shoes on, to acknowledge that that's the life that slaves were having at that time? Would you have also been paying the enslaved people who waited on you the same way that John Woolman did? We hope we would. Then the second question is who are our radicals right now, and what can you be doing to be beside them in the snow, to be tipping along with them in whatever way that looks. That might look like really standing with our trans siblings beyond marches. That might mean opening up our meeting houses for people to be able to recover after surgeries. That might mean paying for people's therapy who need support in understanding what's going on with their bodies on their minds. that might mean going up against people and politicians that you would regularly vote for., believe in, and align with.
So much of what's happening today happened in our past, and it's just a new group that's being harmed. We have to like, put ourselves on the line, right? The Underground Railroad was Quakers putting themselves on the line. And there was much more to lose than now. We are much more powerful, as in foundationaly. We know that we won't get just struck down either violently or politically. And yet there's still meeting houses that are worried about putting up a pride flag because what it might say to the community. Well, I ask you to consider the amount of people that you're worried about, that it might say something negative, consider the amount of people that it might say something positive to. And who needs you? Who needs you to say, “I care”?
We should be known for our work. We once were known for our work. And here we are. Fighting about flags. I really think that if we are not doing big work, hard work, then we're failing our Quaker ancestors. We can no longer stand just in that history of abolitionism, in that history of peacekeeping, while people are enslaved here and now, while there is no peace for many groups of people living day in and day out. And not just talking about those in war, but even those who are in our neighborhoods who are feeling as if there is war at their doorstep because of their identity.
___
The views expressed in this video are of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Friends Journal or its collaborators.
