As we consider the histories of racism, we learn that anti-racism is not just learning how to be nicer and more compassionate with each other.
These structures are still embedded in our society – in policing practices, housing policy, mass incarceration, immigration policy, environmental issues, and who we make into enemies to fight wars against.
The invitation into white allyship begins with internal investigation, but it does not end there. As we learn about structural racism, the natural impulse of compassion drives us to want to change these structures, to reduce the unfair measure of suffering meted to people of color.
As we do the readings to prepare for Session 4, notice what’s challenging, and start investigating to see if you can notice how these systems of white supremacy and racism are enacted and expressed in our lives, not just around us but also through us. How are our lives rooted in the institution of white supremacy?
Before Your Meeting
Please read, listen to, or watch these before your meeting:
- “Ten Years After “The New Jim Crow” By David Remnick {reading}
- 50 years of racism — why silence isn’t the answer | James A. White Sr. | TEDxColumbus {video – 15 minutes}
- Juneteenth: Freedom At Last {video – 6 minutes}
- “Environmentalism’s Racist History” by Jedediah Purdy {reading}
- This American Life: The Out Crowd {podcast – 66 minutes}
- Let’s get to the root of racial injustice | Megan Ming Francis | TEDxRainier {video – 20 minutes}
Also please review the discussion questions in the agenda below.
Facilitation
At your last meeting a facilitator was chosen. Here is a link to the .
Agenda
- Sit (5 minutes)
- Review (5 minutes)
- Read aloud your group’s guidelines developed in the first session
- Discuss any revisions to the guidelines
- Confirm that all members can abide by the group’s guidelines, or at least open to practicing with them
- Mindful Sharing (80 minutes)
- Instruction: involves each participant sharing from personal experience. There is no discussion or cross-talk during this time period, only personal sharing.
- Each person in the group may share 3-5 minutes on each question (gauge the time depending on the number of people in your group). Speak to whatever questions are most salient.
Discussion Questions
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- The readings for this section involve institutionalized racism in the contexts of mass incarceration, immigration, and the environmental movement. Were any of your views challenged? How did it make you feel? How does being pushed out of a space of comfort actually help you grow?
- Where has institutionalized racism touched your life? Or in what ways does your life shield you from awareness of institutionalized racism? How might you talk about this in your dharma community?
- What are the present day issues where you see slavery, war, and genocide as forms of racisms?
- How is institutionalized racism enacted through us? In what ways do we cling to these systems? What possibilities for change or transformation exist? What would support that change?
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- Sit (5 minutes)
- Group Reflection (10 minutes)
- Instruction: Group Reflection is like Mindful Sharing in that there is no discussion or cross-talk, however the focus is on what kind of experience the participants had during the meeting rather than on the content covered.
- Each person in the group can share 2-3 minutes about what it was like to participate in the group (gauge time based on number of people in the group)
- PROMPT: What was it like to engage in Mindful Sharing today? How has this been for you so far?
- Next Meeting (5 minutes)
- How did your technology or meeting logistics work? Any changes you would like to try for the next meeting?
- When will you meet?
- Who will facilitate?
- If you are meeting online, who will set up the next meeting?
- If there’s time left, finish with a closing sit (5 minutes)
Additional Readings, Videos and Podcasts