Doreen Alefaio was on the grounds of the United Nations checking messages on her phone when she realized what was happening back home in New Zealand.

Hundreds of mourners gathered on Friday to say goodbye to the Rev. Robina Winbush, who died March 12 at age 61. A procession of clergy, accompanied by African drumming, opened the funeral/worship service at Broad Street Presbyterian Church in her native Columbus, Ohio.

The service was officiated by the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, who also led the worshippers in hymns and prayer.

Historically, Presbyterians have contributed to white supremacy culture. But they’ve also done plenty of reparative work in recent years, three Presbyterian officials said during a Friday workshop at the White Privilege Conference.

Ali Michael, an author and the co-founder and director of the Race Institute for K-12 Educators, says her main task as a white person working primarily with other white folks toward racial justice is “to find my lane and go as fast as I can — in my lane.”

Dr. Ivory Toldson knows BS when he sees it.To Toldson, one of three Friday keynoters during last week’s White Privilege Conference, BS stands for “bad statistics.” One such statistic that received widespread circulation was the claim there are more black men in prison than in college. That statistic, said Toldson, a professor of counseling psychology at Howard University and president and CEO of the QEM (Quality Education for Minorities) Network, was wrong, even if those who made the claim were “making a legitimate point.”

There was a time, it seems to the Rev. Jim Kirk of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, that specific phenomena were isolated to different parts of the calendar.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is responding to a catastrophic natural disaster in Southern Africa affecting hundreds of thousands of people.

Imagine being so ill or traumatized that you cannot remember where you were born. You have no identification. You cannot work. You have no home.

Thirteen hundred people are gathered in this Eastern Iowa community through Saturday for the 20th White Privilege Conference. Attendees were treated Thursday to a pair of thoughtful keynote addresses and the first of what will be their choice of more than 100 workshops.

Dr. Stephen Nelson, a pediatric hematologist at Children’s Hospital of Minnesota, had some alarming statistics for those attending his Thursday workshop “The Healer’s Power: How Whiteness Kills” at the White Privilege Conference.