“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.” Ruth Benedict, anthropologist, student of Native Indian nations; 1887-1948

We are coming to the end of our practice on racism.

As part of bringing our practice period to a close, please fill out the following questionnaire.
Remember to answer the questions as they authentically reflect the truth of your current situation–not who you would like to be!

Choose the number which best describes your current experience:
1. I am consciously self-reflective about exploring the impact of racism on my inner life and behavior.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

2. I actively engage in ongoing learning and inquiry about structural racism.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

3. I actively continue to educate myself about racial and ethnic differences.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4. I notice the sometimes hidden dynamics of racism and white supremacy when watching media or reading.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

5. I am highly attuned to dynamics of race in observing interactions between people
of different races.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6. I am deeply committed to advance the causes of racial healing and racial justice.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7. I demonstrate appreciation and respect for differences in my behavior.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8. I make sure to be aware of and acknowledge the sometimes less contributions of
people of color in my environment.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

9. I speak up when I hear someone making a racist remark.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10.I take the opportunities that arise to educate others around racism.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11. I play an active leadership role in the organizations with which I work to attend to race-related dynamics and racial healing.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

12. I play an active leadership role in helping focus the strategy of the organizations
with which I work on issues of racial justice.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

13. I play an active role in recruiting people of color to the organizations with
which I work.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

14. I play an active leadership role in helping ensure the policies of the organizations with
which I work adequately address issues of racial justice.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

15. I pay attention to the possible impact of race on how others view and relate to me as
a leader.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

16. I proactively inquire and attend to the concerns or needs of people of color working in
predominantly white environments.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

17. I consciously notice and attend to race and power dynamics in my non-work environments.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

18. I have authentic, reciprocal personal relationships with people of other races.
not at all completely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Reread your answers to these questions.
What do you see?
What do you feel as you review your survey?
Where is there resonance between your values and your behavior?
Where might you like to see changes?

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass and Akaya Winwood.

Photo: REUTERS

Foreign workers gather for a mass feast in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the end of the first day of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

We have practiced directing loving thoughts to people we don’t like. Remember the quote from Martin Luther King…

“Agape is understand, creative, redemptive goodwill toward all men…When you rise to love men on this level, you love all men not because you like them, not because you their ways appeal to you…This is what Jesus meant when he said, ‘Love your enemies.’ And I’m happy he didn’t say, ‘Like your enemies,’ because there are some people that I find it pretty difficult to like. Liking is an affectionate emotion, and I can’t like anybody who would bomb my home. I can’t like anyone who would exploit me. I can’t like anybody who would trample over me with injustices… But love is greater than liking. Love is understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill toward all men… I’ve seen too much hate to want to hate myself.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

People don’t sit around and choose to become racist. We are all, to a large degree, products of our upbringing and environment.

All people suffer from racism–oppressed and oppressors:

“As oppressors dehumanize others and violate their rights, they themselves also become dehumanized.”
Paulo Freire

As we discovered in the Power of Love, when we close our hearts we also suffer the cost. A story told by Bill Clinton about Nelson Mandela:

“Many years later, I had a chance to ask him. I said, ‘Come on, you were a great man, you invited your jailers to your inauguration, you put your pressures on the government. But tell me the truth. Weren’t you really angry all over again?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I was angry. And I was a little afraid. After all I’ve not been free in so long. But,’ he said, ‘when I felt that
anger well up inside of me I realized that if I hated them after I got outside that gate then they would still have me.

And he smiled and said, ‘I wanted to be free so I let it go.’”

So let us do a meditation of sending loving thoughts to those we normally don’t like. In this case, choose a person or type of person who for you represents an example or the face of racism.

Part I
Bring your attention to the area in and around your heart– your heart center.
Feel the breath coming into your heart.
Now as you exhale, make the sound “Ah” with each exhale.
(It’s fine for this to be a whisper if you’re in a public place.)
But feel the sound of “Ah” vibrating and resonating in your heart center.
And continue…
Now begin drawing in a light of golden hue in with your breath.
Each time as you inhale, experience golden light coming in with the breath…
And feeling it come all the way into your heart center.
And continue…

Now, see once again, the face of the person who, for you, in this life has been a great teacher of the heart…
Someone who has truly loved you.
Someone from whom you have been able to receive love.
And now direct your own feelings of lovingkindness towards this person:
May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.

and repeat 2 more times:
May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.

May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.

Now, direct these loving thoughts to yourself.
May I be happy.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May my heart be filled with love.

Reflecting on any ways you may have been you have been impacted by racism.
Any ways in which you carry the legacy of racism
Whether as a person of color, or white person.
Whether you were cast by society in the role of victim or person of privilege.
May I be happy.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May my heart be filled with love.

And repeat:
May I be happy.
May I be well.
May I be peaceful and at ease.
May my heart be filled with love.

And now see the face of someone or a group of people you don’t like.
A person or group of people you perceive as racist.
A person or people who to you represent the face of racism.
Imagine they are sitting right in front of you.

Observe what happens in your heart.
Notice any tendency to contract, or protect the heart.

And breathe into your heart.
It is said that there are only two states of being:
We are either in a state of love–of connection.
Or we are in a state of fear, of contraction and disconnection.

Does your heart contract when you think about this person?
What do you fear?
You are in no danger.
Here, in this moment, everything is O.K.

Breathe into your heart…
Possibly they have acted in ways that are unconscious or unskillful.
Maybe extremely so.
Perhaps they have hurt you, or people you care about.

Yet they are a human being.
They are, like you, someone who has hopes and dreams.
Someone who, like you, has people they love and want to keep safe and be happy.
Someone who, like all people, has experienced loss and pain and their share of suffering.
Someone who, like all of us, is a product of their environment and conditioning.

Can you be present with this person?
Can you stay open in your heart?
Can you dislike their behavior…
Yet stay connected to love?

When our heart closes to another human being,
We suffer.

Breathe into your heart…

Can you be strong in your love?
Are you willing to be vulnerable?
To stay soft in your belly?
To stay open in your heart?
To be a warrior of love?

Breathe into your heart…

And direct the prayer of lovingkindness to this woman or man:
May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.

Be aware of any resistance…
And feel the cost to yourself of this contraction, this fear, this holding…
And once again:
May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.

Breathe into your heart…
And once again:
May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be peaceful and at ease.

Now releasing the image of this person…
And breathe into your heart.

practice variation for today
Continue on with the practice of the last 2 days:
Part 1
If I were to engage every opportunity that I encounter to advance the cause
of racial healing and racial justice, what would I do?

but now add a new Part II
Part II
In each of the opportunities you encounter to potentially advance the cause
of racial healing and justice:
* connect to your heart
* ask yourself, “What would it mean to be a warrior of love?”

“While the legal, material, and even superficial requirements to eradicate racism are well known, its psychological and more deeply spiritual requirements have been persistently neglected-namely, the oneness of the human family. It is this principle of oneness that needs to be the driving force behind the struggle of uniting the races.”
Sara Harrington

“But, on the other hand, I get bored with racism too and recognize that there are still many things to be said about a Black person and a White person loving each other in a racist society.”
Audre Lorde

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass and Akaya Winwood.

Photo: John Moore/GETTY IMAGES

A U.S. soldier stands guard over an Iraqi man awaiting questioning during an early morning raid in the Hurriyah neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq.

Love is easy to forget as we immerse ourselves in the realities of racism.
Yet we need to draw upon the power of love in the cause of racial healing.
We need to dismantle structures of racism.
And…

“Power concedes nothing without a demand.”
Frederick Douglass

But in the end, anger and hatred breed more cycles of violence.
And hurt the soul and spirit of those who hate.
It is love that heals.
And love that liberates.

“I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”
Martin Luther King, Jr

Let’s begin our practice today with our Meditation on Opening the Heart. Please make sure to do this before you’re off and running in your day.

Meditation
Take several relaxing breaths.
With each breath, let your breathing become deeper… more relaxed.
Now the next time you inhale, draw your breath directly into the center of your chest.

Bring your attention to the area in an around your heart–your heart center.
Feel the breath coming into your heart.
What are you aware of as you begin to become aware of your heart?
Don’t try to change anything…simply be aware of your heart…
Feel where there’s openness…
And feel where there’s contraction or tightness…
Feel where there’s emotion…
And where there’s a lack of feeling…
Keep following your breath right into the heart…
And continue…

Now as you exhale, make the sound “Ah” with each exhale.
(It’s fine for this to be a whisper if you’re in a public place.)
But feel the sound of “Ah” vibrating and resonating in your heart center.
And continue…

Now begin drawing in a light of golden hue in with your breath.
Each time as you inhale, experience golden light coming in with the breath…
And feeling it come all the way into your heart center.
And continue…

As the golden light begins to fill your chest, be aware of any contractions in and around the heart.
Any places that seem closed, seem to shy away from the light, or seem dull or numb…
And with your own prayer, invite your heart to open and receive this healing light…
And as if you were in the hands of a master healer, let the light gently and gracefully invite your heart to open.
And continue…

Now, see the face of the person who, for you, in this life has been a great teacher of the heart…
Someone who has truly loved you.
Someone from whom you have been able to receive love.
See the face of this person as if they were right here with you…
And as you breath, feel their presence with you.
And remember what is feels like to be in the presence of one who loves you in this way.
And continue to bask and drink in their love…

Now let this face be joined by faces, one by one, living and dead, of those who have loved you…
All the faces of the people who have been part of the fabric of your life…
And feel the quality of their love…
And like the golden light, drink it in with your breath…
And continue…

Now allow yourself to imagine love as a presence…
Like a living force or current…
Always available…awaiting our invitation…
Invite this presence into your heart…and into your life…

And now, as you breathe, feel this current or Presence…
Coming in with each breath…
And flowing back out into life as you breathe out…
Like a river of Love…
Flowing in and out with each breath…
And continue…

“In the presence of this love,
I ask for healing from the legacy of racism…
In this moment, I open myself to whatever pain I carry–my own pain, and the pain of all those who suffer in the system of racial oppression…
Right now, I am allowing myself to feel rather than deny that pain…
I am bringing tender, compassionate awareness to that pain…”

Breathing golden light into your heart…

“In the presence of this love,
I ask for healing from the legacy of racism…
In this moment, I open myself to whatever anger I carry about the system of racial oppression…
Right now, I am allowing myself to feel rather than deny that anger…
I am bringing tender, compassionate awareness to that anger…”

Breathing golden light into your heart…

“In the presence of this love,
I ask for healing from the legacy of racism…
In this moment, I open myself to whatever guilt or shame I carry about racism and it’s impact on me
Right now, I am allowing myself to feel rather than deny that shame or guilt…
I am bringing tender, compassionate awareness to that guilt or shame…”

Breathing golden light into your heart…

“In the presence of this love,
I ask for healing from the legacy of racism…
In this moment, I open myself to whatever despair I carry about racism…
Right now, I am allowing myself to feel rather than deny that despair…
I am bringing tender, compassionate awareness to that despair…”

Breathing golden light into your heart…

And once again, connecting through your breath
With the power of Love.

practice variation for today
Continue on with the practice of the last 2 days:

If I were to engage every opportunity that I encounter to advance the cause of racial healing and racial justice, what would I do?

but now add
In each of the opportunities you encounter to potentially advance the cause of racial healing and justice:
* connect to your heart
* ask yourself, “What would it mean to be a warrior of love?”

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass and Akaya Winwood.

Photo: La Tercera/AP

Demonstrators stand by fires during protests in Santiago, Chile.

“We will never achieve racial healing if we do not confront each other, take risks, make ourselves vulnerable, put pride aside, say all the things we are not supposed to say in mixed company–in short, put on the table all of our fears, trepidations, wishes, and hopes.”
Harlon L. Dalton, Yale law professor, author “Racial Healing”

Robert Gass writes,
I will share a story of a recent facilitation of an almost totally white group. An African-American leader had just finished a brief presentation on the importance for this group to connect with the needs and aspirations of communities of color. It was an excellent presentation. People applauded, and we were about to move on with the agenda.

I had a strong sense that people heard the speaker, but I was troubled by the lack of substantive response. I had no sense that anything different was going to happen as a result of his talk. I felt that the speaker had personally extended himself and was being left hanging.

I had the instinct to speak to the group in the silence after the speaker finished. I felt it was important for a white person to say “Amen,” to not only support the speaker, but to challenge us in the room to respond with substance and action. The speaker was incredibly gracious and careful not to offend. My instinct was to up the ante.

Why am I sharing this?

In all the days of planning and facilitating this retreat, which was actually an extremely challenging facilitation assignment, I had felt completely at ease, despite frequent tension in the room and even a few blow-ups. But in those few moments before speaking, my throat clutched, my stomach tightened and my palms started to sweat. On the surface, I was concerned that it was inappropriate for me to speak on content given my role as facilitator. But underneath this “reasonable” concern, there was a well of irrational anxiety and fear about what it meant to take a strong stand on race in a room of white people. Fears that I would offend people. Fears of not being liked. I’m making it sound more rational than it was. Mostly, it felt like walking off a cliff. I chose to speak about white supremacy. I spoke about the limitation of trying to get a few folks of color to join our club, and what will really be required of us to bring trust and alliances across barriers of race. I spoke without blame, but I spoke strongly. I sweated all the way through, and felt a bit insecure when I was done. I’m glad I did it.

I offer this story to make it clear that–for white folk and people of color– it can feel risky to stand for racial justice in white-dominated groups.

Some of you have had far more experience than I in taking these risks. We may indeed ruffle some feathers –or far worse– no matter how carefully we craft our messages and center ourselves.

So…

What’s your commitment?

practice variation for today:

Part 1

If I were to engage every opportunity that I encounter to advance the cause of racial healing and racial justice, what would I do?

Part II

As you consider these opportunities, be aware of what might be in the way of your actually taking action. e.g.
Fear of not being liked.
Fatigue from “always” having to be the one to bring up race.
Fear about being labeled as the “race” person.
etc.

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass

Once our racism radars become well-tuned, we see more and more instances of this in our environment.
More and more places…
More and more subtle levels…
Whatever the depth of our commitment to racial justice, we will probably not choose to speak out or confront every one of these instances.
As change agents, we learn to pick and choose the battles in which we engage.
Most of us do intuitive cost-benefit analyses in deciding where we put our energy.
But just for practice, let’s take the next few days to open way up the possibilities.
If my day were 100% about working for racial healing and racial justice, what might I do today?

Here’s the practice:

If I were to engage every opportunity that I encounter to advance the cause of racial healing and racial justice, what would I do?

For the next two days, you do not need to act.
But you are being challenged to notice each and every opportunity to do so.
At all the levels we have been tracking: personal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural.
You are interacting with a white person who appears clueless as to the impact of his words on people of color.
You are in a meeting discussing a subject which is impacted by structural racism, and it’s not being mentioned.
You are noticing that one of your own organization’s policies or strategies insufficiently addresses issues of race.

We often “fail” to notice things when we’re not sure we’re ready to take responsibility for them.
Let’s think of this practice as being like a brainstorm.
We’re casting our net wide, trying to notice all the thing we might do.
Not yet committing to any of them.

For the next 2 days, keep a running list:

practice variation for today
If I were to engage every opportunity that I encounter to advance the cause of racial healing and racial justice, what would I do?

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass and Akaya Winwood.

We have done some work this year on the concept of Making Peace with What Is. It is a notion that we can accept things as they are–not fighting with reality–but from this place fully engage in making change.

“One has to hold in the mind forever two ideas which seem to be in opposition. The first is acceptance, the acceptance totally without rancor, of life as it is, and people as they are. In light of this idea, it goes without saying that injustice is commonplace. But this does not mean that one can be complacent, for the second idea is of equal power: that one must never in one’s own life, accept these injustices as commonplace, but must fight them with all one’s strength.”
James Baldwin

Contemporary racism is a blight upon the human landscape. Yet as a former history major, I do seem to recall that human history is filled with blights such as slavery, women treated as property, child prostitution, human sacrifice, mass killings (limited only by the killing-per-hour capacity of existing technology) etc. It does appear that a certain amount of unconsciousness and systemic violence–if not evil–seems to be endemic.

Making peace with racism simply means accepting that things are as they are. (”Things are as they are.” Simple–but profound!) We have acknowledged that outrage at injustice is often a critical stage in waking up out of oppression. But in the end, our frustration, our pain, our outrage doesn’t make injustice any less so.

Much of our work this year has been about learning to be intentional and precise with our use of energy. We have worked on being centered, connecting to our place of power, developing our inner knowing, the power of love. “Making peace with what’s so” is actually about being more skillful in leading social change. “Making peace with what’s so” means we no longer waste energy fighting with the fact that things are as they are. We free ourselves from reactivity, and instead focus our attention on creating what we want, on those actions that might actually help bring about racial justice.

practice for today
take 10 minutes when you won’t be interrupted and do the following meditation

Meditation
Breathe deeply…
Relax…
And turn your attention inward…

Reflect on the word “racism” and all it represents to you.
Reflect on all the things we been exploring about racism…
white supremacy… oppression… white privilege…
People of good will have worked and fought for racial justice for decades…indeed centuries.
There’s been progress.
But it’s still here.
And our children’s children will likely be dealing with racism.

Breathe into your heart.
Say the words to yourself, “Racism exists.”
This is true, isn’t it?
The sun rises in the morning, George Bush is president, strawberries are red, racism exists.
Each of these are part of current reality.
We can’t do much about the sun rising in the morning. It hopefully always will.
George Bush will soon no longer be President. (Yea!!!!)
And we can envision together a day when racism belongs to another era like the telegraph.
But today– it is what it is.

Say the words again, “Racism exists.”
What would it be like to accept that this is so.
You can still choose to do whatever you do to work for racial justice.
But can you allow yourself to be at peace, right here in this moment, even though racism pervades our society.

Breathe into your heart.
Breathe into your belly.

White supremacy remains a powerful structure in our world.
This is so.
Breathe into your heart…and belly.
Now say to yourself the words, “White supremacy is real.”
And breathe.
What would it like to simply acknowledge that white supremacy is a fact…without all the other stuff we attach to it… the feelings, the thoughts, the beliefs…

Your anxiety, your upset, doesn’t serve the cause of racial healing.
Oppression is real.
It exists in many forms.
At this very moment, people are suffering…and dying…from the impact of oppression.
This is so.
Say to yourself the words, “Oppression is real.”
Can you be at peace, right here in this moment, even as you acknowledge this reality?
.
You may continue to experience feelings of pain or anger.
Can you also be at peace with these emotions?
Can you be large enough to hold all of this…and be at peace.
Peace doesn’t mean unfeeling.
It simply means that we’re here.
We’re present.
We don’t contract against life.
We allow life to be all that it is.
We’re willing to feel it all.
We say “yes” to life….without qualification.
We don’t say “yes” to this part of life
While saying “no” to another part of life.

We simply say “yes” to life as it is.
Including the things we label “good” and those we label “bad.”

It’s not just a mental thing.
It’s a quality of relaxing into the breath.
Do this…
Completely let go of trying to breath in…
And allow the breath to come in on its own…

Releasing the illusion of control…
Surrendering into the moment…
And the unfolding of life as it is.

Racism exists.
O.K.
Keep breathing…
White supremacy is a potent force in our world.
And breathe…
Oppression is a reality.
Breathe…

Making peace with what is.
Being peace.
Peace with what is.
Peace.

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass and Akaya Winwood.

After 7 days of parallel practice, we are back together to look at the question:
What do we do about what we have been seeing about racism and white privilege?

There is a range of actions one might take in the ongoing work of healing racism and forging racial justice. Many of us have been engaged in this for years.

One of the foundations of the Art of Change has been: attend to the inner work
in a way that empowers us to do the outer work.

“We must be the change we want to see happen in the world.”
Gandhi

We want to follow the same principle in our work on racism.

Through our daily practice, we have hopefully been learning more about our triggers, and about the impact of racism on our emotions, thoughts, beliefs and perceptions.

To be more effective change agents for racial justice, we want to attend to our own racial healing.

This journey looks somewhat different for those of us from marginalized, oppressed groups and those of us from dominant, oppressor groups. As people of color, the work is to strive to increasingly free ourselves from the lingering and limiting impacts of racism on our mind, heart, body and spirit.

“I will not allow one prejudiced person or one million or one hundred million to blight my life. I will not let prejudice or any of its attendant humiliations and injustices bear me down to spiritual defeat. My inner life is mine, and I will defend and maintain its integrity against the forces of hell.”
James Weldon Johnson, 1871-1938, African-American author, early civil rights leader, and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance

Many of you have been successful is addressing the more obvious levels of the impact of racism and internalized oppression. But there’s always the opportunity to take this deeper.

For white people, racial healing means becoming more conscious of racial dynamics. It means choosing to put on the lens of white privilege and to voluntarily take responsibility for the power that is accrued by being white. It means bringing to awareness and coming to peace with denial, anxiety, guilt–whatever is in the way of being warriors of justice.

“We need to be clear that there is no such thing as giving up one’s privilege to be ‘outside’ the system. ONE IS ALWAYS IN THE SYSTEM. The only question is whether one is part of the system in a way which challenges or strengthens the status quo. Privilege is not something I take and which I therefore have the option of not taking. It is something that society gives me and unless I change the institutions which give it to me, they will continue to give it, and I will continue to have it, however noble and egalitarian my intentions.”
Harry Brod, quoted in “Privilege, Power, & Difference”, professor U. of Iowa

assignment for today
What does racial healing mean for you?
Even for those of us who have been engaged for many years in this work, there is always room for deeper wisdom and healing.

Take some minutes of deep reflection.
Take at least 5-10 minutes today for some journaling.

Use the inner knowing process.
Ask into your place of inner knowing for wisdom and guidance:
What does racial healing mean for me?
What healing is needed?
What will help me to do this?
What support do I need?
What is the first step I must take?
What else do I need to know about racial healing and empowerment?
Any other questions I should ask?

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass and Akaya Winwood.