from John Bell and Augusta Hopkins
June 10
To my white friends in the practice, like me, I’m sure you were sickened by the callous killing of George Floyd, only the most recent. Alternating waves of anger, grief, feelings of powerlessness, sometimes numbness, and resolve have been flowing through me.
Black friends tell me that what they want from white people is mainly two things–for us to show up for racial justice, and to do racial education and healing work among ourselves and with our fellow white folks. This is our invitation and our spiritual challenge. This is Dharma work. The Dharma doesn’t promise comfort but it does promise liberation.
One step is to recognize and embrace the range of emotions inside. I find this is best done with the care and support of others. Over the years in various settings, I have facilitated white awareness/eliminating white racism work with white people, including myself. Just this week I published a piece in *Medium* called “Honor and Relief in Healing Our White Racism
<https://medium.com/@jbellminder/honor-and-relief-in-healing-our-white-racism-cdf020408335>” which will fill in the back story if you wish to read it.
I would like to invite all Plum Village practitioners who identify as white to join together for a 90 minute *“Deep Listening Circle on Healing Our White Racism.”* We will explore our suffering, upset, broken-heartedness around race in a safe setting, and separate from our friends of color. We will practice deep listening in pairs, small dharma sharing groups, and
whole group reflections. Obviously, 90 minutes is a beginning but insufficient time, so there will be an optional continuation of these Deep Listening Circles for those who wish.