Sonia Roberts's Blog, page 4
April 3, 2019
Healing Internalized Racism
Healing Internalized Racism
As people of color are targeted, discriminated against, oppressed, or victimized by racism over a period of time, we sometimes internalize it. We develop beliefs, actions, and behaviors that support or collude with racism.
Internalized racism is when members of oppressed or marginalized groups hold an oppressive view toward their own group, or they start to affirm negative stereotypes of themselves. The person may feel a sense of inferiority and turn the experience of oppression inward. It is both a conscious and unconscious acceptance of the racial hierarchy that states whites are superior to people of color.
Internalized racism has its own reality and consequences in communities of color. There is a system that expands the power of white people and at the same time undermines the power of people of color.
I grew up internalizing messages that said I shouldn’t accept my natural hair, skin tone, or my natural features. I used to chemically straighten my hair because I wasn’t comfortable with my natural hair. I thought it was too curly, too kinky, too nappy, too ugly. I had big beautiful curly hair long before the “big hair, don’t care” naturally curly movement.
When I was about 26 years old, I did my first “big chop,” cut off all my hair and started wearing my hair natural, I felt free. I felt myself letting go of negative thoughts about my hair, my culture and about myself. I was letting go of all of the parts of me that were rejecting my true, pure self. It takes time to reject the lies that have been fed to you. This is not the same experience for all black women. Many straighten their hair and it doesn’t mean that they are less accepting of their true self. For me, self-acceptance, self-love and undoing internalized racism was a process of accepting my naturally curly, kinky hair, and recognizing the beauty and uniqueness of it.
Internalized Racism is not the same as self-hatred and low self-esteem because it is structural. Even people of color with high self-esteem will have to untangle the internalized racism that infects our black and brown lives and communities.
5 Manifestations of Internalized Racism
1. Feeling that you are in some way inherently not as worthy, capable, intelligent, beautiful, or good as white people.
2. Colorism within racial groups. Colorism is prejudice or discrimination against individuals with dark skin tone, among people of the same racial group.
3. Restriction of speech or mannerisms to avoid being labeled “too black” or “ghetto.”
4. Strict commitment to painful and costly hair-care regimen.
5. Feelings of not being “black enough.”
Healing is about undoing, unlearning and untangling the impact of racism. Become aware of possibly distorting yourself due to negative stereotypes and the impact of internalizing racism. Focus on stepping into your truth, your power and illuminating the parts of yourself that are unseen.
5 Steps To Healing Internalized Racism
1. Awareness. We must name it! Internalized racism makes its biggest impact on children. It’s important for children of color to understand how oppression works and that any mistreatment they experience is not their fault. Teach young people to be proud of who they are and their culture. Children become adults and without the knowledge and understanding of injustices, it is easy to personalize negative messages. We have to continually be aware of how internalized racism shows up and impacts each of us individually.
2. Acknowledge when traumatic thoughts or internalized negative messages arise. Breathe into them, avoid ignoring these thoughts and feelings. We can’t dismantle them without acknowledging them.
3. Do not isolate. Due to feelings of shame or guilt, your initial instincts may be to remain silent about it. However, as you become more mindful of these moments of pain, you can learn to use the pain to connect to others and avoid isolating and silencing yourself.
4. Self-Reflect. The more you become still, listen, reflect, the deeper you will travel inward to discover and understand yourself and others. Yoga, writing, mindfulness, meditation, and breathing techniques are great tools for healing trauma.
5. Share your process with others. Invite like-minded individuals into your process. Friends, family, and community can help us to recognize it and dismantle it in our lives.
Reflection Questions:
What will it take for you to love yourself fiercely just as you are? Is there anything about yourself that you have difficulty loving fiercely? If so, what steps can you take towards loving that part of yourself?
If you are a person of color, can you identify how you may have internalized racism? If so, what steps can you take to actualizing your full humanity, power and wisdom?
As people of color are targeted, discriminated against, oppressed, or victimized by racism over a period of time, we sometimes internalize it. We develop beliefs, actions, and behaviors that support or collude with racism.
Internalized racism is when members of oppressed or marginalized groups hold an oppressive view toward their own group, or they start to affirm negative stereotypes of themselves. The person may feel a sense of inferiority and turn the experience of oppression inward. It is both a conscious and unconscious acceptance of the racial hierarchy that states whites are superior to people of color.
Internalized racism has its own reality and consequences in communities of color. There is a system that expands the power of white people and at the same time undermines the power of people of color.
I grew up internalizing messages that said I shouldn’t accept my natural hair, skin tone, or my natural features. I used to chemically straighten my hair because I wasn’t comfortable with my natural hair. I thought it was too curly, too kinky, too nappy, too ugly. I had big beautiful curly hair long before the “big hair, don’t care” naturally curly movement.
When I was about 26 years old, I did my first “big chop,” cut off all my hair and started wearing my hair natural, I felt free. I felt myself letting go of negative thoughts about my hair, my culture and about myself. I was letting go of all of the parts of me that were rejecting my true, pure self. It takes time to reject the lies that have been fed to you. This is not the same experience for all black women. Many straighten their hair and it doesn’t mean that they are less accepting of their true self. For me, self-acceptance, self-love and undoing internalized racism was a process of accepting my naturally curly, kinky hair, and recognizing the beauty and uniqueness of it.
Internalized Racism is not the same as self-hatred and low self-esteem because it is structural. Even people of color with high self-esteem will have to untangle the internalized racism that infects our black and brown lives and communities.
5 Manifestations of Internalized Racism
1. Feeling that you are in some way inherently not as worthy, capable, intelligent, beautiful, or good as white people.
2. Colorism within racial groups. Colorism is prejudice or discrimination against individuals with dark skin tone, among people of the same racial group.
3. Restriction of speech or mannerisms to avoid being labeled “too black” or “ghetto.”
4. Strict commitment to painful and costly hair-care regimen.
5. Feelings of not being “black enough.”
Healing is about undoing, unlearning and untangling the impact of racism. Become aware of possibly distorting yourself due to negative stereotypes and the impact of internalizing racism. Focus on stepping into your truth, your power and illuminating the parts of yourself that are unseen.
5 Steps To Healing Internalized Racism
1. Awareness. We must name it! Internalized racism makes its biggest impact on children. It’s important for children of color to understand how oppression works and that any mistreatment they experience is not their fault. Teach young people to be proud of who they are and their culture. Children become adults and without the knowledge and understanding of injustices, it is easy to personalize negative messages. We have to continually be aware of how internalized racism shows up and impacts each of us individually.
2. Acknowledge when traumatic thoughts or internalized negative messages arise. Breathe into them, avoid ignoring these thoughts and feelings. We can’t dismantle them without acknowledging them.
3. Do not isolate. Due to feelings of shame or guilt, your initial instincts may be to remain silent about it. However, as you become more mindful of these moments of pain, you can learn to use the pain to connect to others and avoid isolating and silencing yourself.
4. Self-Reflect. The more you become still, listen, reflect, the deeper you will travel inward to discover and understand yourself and others. Yoga, writing, mindfulness, meditation, and breathing techniques are great tools for healing trauma.
5. Share your process with others. Invite like-minded individuals into your process. Friends, family, and community can help us to recognize it and dismantle it in our lives.
Reflection Questions:
What will it take for you to love yourself fiercely just as you are? Is there anything about yourself that you have difficulty loving fiercely? If so, what steps can you take towards loving that part of yourself?
If you are a person of color, can you identify how you may have internalized racism? If so, what steps can you take to actualizing your full humanity, power and wisdom?
March 13, 2019
The Benefits of Yoga for Women of Color
Photo of Jean Marie Moore, Co-founder of Anasa Yoga. Photo taken in front of Anasa Yoga Studio in Oakland, California
The Benefits of Yoga for Women of Color:
15 Reasons Why I Practice Yoga
The practice of yoga originated in India with the intention of preparing the body as a foundation for unity with the spirit. Yoga is a system that is much more than practicing asanas or yoga postures. The physical postures are just a small part of the practice. It is a way of living designed to heighten our awareness of how we move through the world, how we interact with others, and to deepen our experience of oneness of mind, body and soul. Yoga teaches us how to live skillfully in the world. You practice the skills to not just survive, but thrive and live fully in the now. Through the practice of yoga, you may begin to deeply heal and transform your life. As you attain deeper states of awareness, you may experience a kind of freedom or wholeness called samadhi or liberation.
Anxiety is the leading psychological challenge for black women in the United States. Many Black women have turned to yoga to improve their over-all health. The practice is used to reduce illness from cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke that plague Black women. International Journal of Yoga and PubMed journals routinely conclude that yoga's health benefits include a decrease in several types of anxiety and depressive conditions. Sisters, Sadie and Bessie Delany, both lived over 100 years; they credited four decades of daily yoga as a main variable in their longevity.
Practicing yoga and mindfulness can help improve emotional and physical well-being. Mindfulness is the practice of focusing your full attention on the present moment and surrendering or accepting it without judgment. Mindfulness has been found to be a key element in stress reduction and being fully present and awake in your life, according to The Harvard Gazette.
The following are positive practices and strategies to increase yoga's psychological and physical impact on marginalized communities:
1. Being fully present in your body and taking up space. The intergenerational trauma of racism and the everyday occurrences of racial microagressions take a toll on Black women’s mind and body. As a defense or coping mechanism, one will often escape or leave their body, but liberation from suffering comes from being fully present in the body. A safe space is needed to turn within, practicing yoga postures and alignment, becoming fully present with every sensation and every feeling; this allows the body to become a gateway to freedom and allows the integration of wholeness. This mind-body integration can lead to experiencing a greater sense of vibrancy, well-being and joy.
2. Improved posture. Pain and depression takes a toll on your posture. When you are depressed or in pain you tend to slump and round your shoulders forward. In contrast, when you are well, you tend to stand upright and with an open heart. Great posture helps your muscles and joints work more efficiently, increases energy levels and helps promote full and complete breaths.
3. Full and complete, easy, rhythmic breathing. The body needs to expand in order to make space for the breath. Practicing breathing techniques allows us to purify body and mind. Practice yogic breathing, meditation and mindfulness to cleanse your mind of negative thoughts and emotions. Fear is a constant emotion in the lives of women of color. Fear causes anxiety, stress, and restricted breathing due to increased tension in the muscles. As women of color we live with an incredible amount of fear everyday for the safety of our fathers, sons, partners, mothers, daughters, and our own bodies. Yoga is a space where we can process these emotions, face them with courage, and release toxic stress hormones, daily. Your feelings are energy and they shape who you are. Feeling your emotions makes you stronger. Slowly, your emotions will lose a considerable amount of power over you. Allow yourself a full breath, a good cry, a deep meditation, full sensations of joy or fear, movement with heightened awareness, all improve your over-all health.
4. Practice smarter not harder - go at your pace. Life is fluid, it changes. More effort does not always bring greater results. Smarter strategies bring greater results. Think of an area in your life where you are trying and fighting without making any progress. What would letting go look like? Can you surrender to your anxiety, worry, fear or depression? Can you let go of the need to always be achieving? Can you be content with s-l-o-w-i-n-g down. Arriving fully in the moment, just as it is. Live in the present moment and empower yourself to move at your pace. Begin to move slow and steady with authenticity, wisdom and love.
5. Recognize that comparison is the thief of joy. The pressure to be a superwoman is real. Acknowledge and celebrate where you are right now. Life is challenging enough, learn to make the compassionate choice of not comparing yourself to others. Begin genuinely complimenting and praising other people. It does not take away from who you are, your beauty, your talent or your ability, to outwardly compliment others. You will most likely see them smile and appreciate your kindness. It will lift you up to lift others up. Practicing self compassion will prevent you from cultivating a critical spirit and help you begin to cultivate a loving kind spirit toward yourself and others. Hold yourself and others accountable from a place of love.
6. Learn to surrender. There’s an art and skill to surrender. Surrender means to stop fighting, stop controlling, and stop getting in the way of what’s flowing to you. Surrender is all about living in the moment. There is a rhythmic way of breathing and moving and living. You are not fighting the in-hale or resisting the ex-hale, you are inviting each breath, just as it is. When you are in alignment, body and breath, you can experience pure joy, bliss and surrender. You still have to put in the work, but from a place of surrender or non attachment. Pause if you find yourself trying to control an outcome and consciously shift your energy to surrender. Go slowly, connect to the pulse of your heart, follow your intuition and surrender.
7. Practice and persistence, not perfection. In yoga, a daily disciplined practice is called sadhana. It is a tool used to study yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. It is a routine spiritual practice to achieve the ultimate goal of union with the Divine or alignment with the Source. Be unattached to the end goal and dive into the wonder of your practice. Fall in love with your practice. Motivation and inspiration will come and go, but your practice will always be there for you.
8. Find balance and your center. Yoga builds your physical and mental strength. It helps you find the balance between ease and effort. Yoga is where strength and flexibility meet and so is life. In yoga there is a saying, sthira sukha or steadiness and ease. You practice to find that sweet, sacred balance on your mat and beyond. Learn to find the balance of being strong and standing up for what you believe in, while being graceful and fluid to flow with the rhythm of life. As life twists, turns and challenges, can you remain strong and fluid?
9. Learn to get through discomfort. Challenge yourself to be uncomfortable, that is where growth happens. Be willing to go through and expand in difficult times. As women of color, being overwhelmed and drained by emotions endured as a result of racism are frequent occurrences in our day to day lives. The feelings that result from being oppressed can be both paralyzing and maddening. Learn to breathe through challenging yoga postures and through all of the challenges in your life. Avoid hiding or denying your feelings of discomfort. Learning to breathe through discomfort has the power to heal your body and mind. Breathing through discomfort is a powerful way to enhance your physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.
10. Meditate. By meditating, you are practicing your ability to witness. When you meditate, you learn to watch your thoughts and not attach. You learn to become a witness to your breath, your body sensations, and your thoughts. It is a process of making the darkness conscious. As you witness your outer body and the many layers you have wrapped yourself in, you use breath as a bridge to connect to your inner being, your subtle body or your soul. Once you discover and understand each layer you are wrapped in, only then will you move closer to oneness with your True Self. The layers you are wrapped in are informed by your race, nationality, culture, gender, ancestors, family history, education, society and personal experience. There is no coming to consciousness without this awareness or without moving through any pain, suffering or trauma. Embrace and acknowledge your many identities. Then remember who you are at your core, Divine.
11. Remember you come first ALWAYS. Make truly knowing yourself a priority. Free up time to do the inner work of yoga, meditation, healing and connecting to your spirit. Remember you cannot save everyone. Establish and maintain boundaries. Learn to say NO. It’s an invaluable skill. Surround yourself with people who lift you up and don’t bring you down. Distancing yourself from harmful people does not mean you hate them, it means you actively love and respect yourself.
12. Listen to your body. Don’t apologize for taking a break or resting. You don’t need to engage in every situation (or posture). Rest when you need to, or lie in savasana (corpse pose) the entire yoga class. Rest is vital for energizing and recharging your ability to show up fully for your colleagues, your partner, your children and yourself. It is impossible to be present and connected when you are exhausted. Rest. Reconnect. Recharge.
13. Detox. Releasing toxicity means taking care of your body through proper nutrition, plenty of sleep, exercise and yoga. It means surrounding yourself with people who vibrate on a high frequency. It also means finding a way to heal oppressive experiences that you have endured as a child or presently. Healing oppressive or traumatic experiences your inner child went through is a profound way to release toxicity. Internalized racism affects the inner lives of people of color, disrupting our ability to realize our full humanity and inner wisdom. However seemingly small, these experiences have shaped you. Use the practice as way to help you release and let go, again and again.
14. Start and end your day or yoga practice with a prayer of gratitude. Gratitude makes you more open hearted, giving, and generous, not for rewards, for “unattached giving.” Say this prayer, two simple words, “Thank you.” Practice gratitude daily and you will improve your emotional health and wellbeing. Express gratitude and appreciation for the abundance in your life. Ask for guidance and support from a higher power or whatever you truly believe in. Practice gratitude to stay rooted in it. The moment is what it is. Complete. Accept and surrender to what is with a grateful heart.
15. Radically love yourself. Self-love is a journey. It is the pathway to freedom, it requires deep healing, truth telling, and self-reflection. Examine, reflect, accept and radically love yourself, so you will have the capacity to unconditionally love others. Deeply know your Self and awaken to your Truth.
Through the practice of yoga, there is an opportunity to cultivate deep healing and liberation. Practice listening to your breath, your body, your inner voice, and your intuition.
The media has engrained in our minds that the practice of yoga is exclusive to those that fit a certain description. There is not much representation of black and brown women or men, plus size women, or people with disabilities.
Yoga and meditation can help people of color heal from intergenerational trauma and oppression. It’s a revolutionary act to create a community of spiritual healing and wellbeing for each other. Anasa Yoga in Oakland, California, is a beautiful yoga studio committed to quality instruction, inclusivity and diversity.
Diversifying the yoga community can only help us learn and increase compassion and acceptance for one another. Yoga is more than a personal practice, yoga is a bridge to equity and inclusivity.
The Benefits of Yoga for Women of Color:
15 Reasons Why I Practice Yoga
The practice of yoga originated in India with the intention of preparing the body as a foundation for unity with the spirit. Yoga is a system that is much more than practicing asanas or yoga postures. The physical postures are just a small part of the practice. It is a way of living designed to heighten our awareness of how we move through the world, how we interact with others, and to deepen our experience of oneness of mind, body and soul. Yoga teaches us how to live skillfully in the world. You practice the skills to not just survive, but thrive and live fully in the now. Through the practice of yoga, you may begin to deeply heal and transform your life. As you attain deeper states of awareness, you may experience a kind of freedom or wholeness called samadhi or liberation.
Anxiety is the leading psychological challenge for black women in the United States. Many Black women have turned to yoga to improve their over-all health. The practice is used to reduce illness from cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke that plague Black women. International Journal of Yoga and PubMed journals routinely conclude that yoga's health benefits include a decrease in several types of anxiety and depressive conditions. Sisters, Sadie and Bessie Delany, both lived over 100 years; they credited four decades of daily yoga as a main variable in their longevity.
Practicing yoga and mindfulness can help improve emotional and physical well-being. Mindfulness is the practice of focusing your full attention on the present moment and surrendering or accepting it without judgment. Mindfulness has been found to be a key element in stress reduction and being fully present and awake in your life, according to The Harvard Gazette.
The following are positive practices and strategies to increase yoga's psychological and physical impact on marginalized communities:
1. Being fully present in your body and taking up space. The intergenerational trauma of racism and the everyday occurrences of racial microagressions take a toll on Black women’s mind and body. As a defense or coping mechanism, one will often escape or leave their body, but liberation from suffering comes from being fully present in the body. A safe space is needed to turn within, practicing yoga postures and alignment, becoming fully present with every sensation and every feeling; this allows the body to become a gateway to freedom and allows the integration of wholeness. This mind-body integration can lead to experiencing a greater sense of vibrancy, well-being and joy.
2. Improved posture. Pain and depression takes a toll on your posture. When you are depressed or in pain you tend to slump and round your shoulders forward. In contrast, when you are well, you tend to stand upright and with an open heart. Great posture helps your muscles and joints work more efficiently, increases energy levels and helps promote full and complete breaths.
3. Full and complete, easy, rhythmic breathing. The body needs to expand in order to make space for the breath. Practicing breathing techniques allows us to purify body and mind. Practice yogic breathing, meditation and mindfulness to cleanse your mind of negative thoughts and emotions. Fear is a constant emotion in the lives of women of color. Fear causes anxiety, stress, and restricted breathing due to increased tension in the muscles. As women of color we live with an incredible amount of fear everyday for the safety of our fathers, sons, partners, mothers, daughters, and our own bodies. Yoga is a space where we can process these emotions, face them with courage, and release toxic stress hormones, daily. Your feelings are energy and they shape who you are. Feeling your emotions makes you stronger. Slowly, your emotions will lose a considerable amount of power over you. Allow yourself a full breath, a good cry, a deep meditation, full sensations of joy or fear, movement with heightened awareness, all improve your over-all health.
4. Practice smarter not harder - go at your pace. Life is fluid, it changes. More effort does not always bring greater results. Smarter strategies bring greater results. Think of an area in your life where you are trying and fighting without making any progress. What would letting go look like? Can you surrender to your anxiety, worry, fear or depression? Can you let go of the need to always be achieving? Can you be content with s-l-o-w-i-n-g down. Arriving fully in the moment, just as it is. Live in the present moment and empower yourself to move at your pace. Begin to move slow and steady with authenticity, wisdom and love.
5. Recognize that comparison is the thief of joy. The pressure to be a superwoman is real. Acknowledge and celebrate where you are right now. Life is challenging enough, learn to make the compassionate choice of not comparing yourself to others. Begin genuinely complimenting and praising other people. It does not take away from who you are, your beauty, your talent or your ability, to outwardly compliment others. You will most likely see them smile and appreciate your kindness. It will lift you up to lift others up. Practicing self compassion will prevent you from cultivating a critical spirit and help you begin to cultivate a loving kind spirit toward yourself and others. Hold yourself and others accountable from a place of love.
6. Learn to surrender. There’s an art and skill to surrender. Surrender means to stop fighting, stop controlling, and stop getting in the way of what’s flowing to you. Surrender is all about living in the moment. There is a rhythmic way of breathing and moving and living. You are not fighting the in-hale or resisting the ex-hale, you are inviting each breath, just as it is. When you are in alignment, body and breath, you can experience pure joy, bliss and surrender. You still have to put in the work, but from a place of surrender or non attachment. Pause if you find yourself trying to control an outcome and consciously shift your energy to surrender. Go slowly, connect to the pulse of your heart, follow your intuition and surrender.
7. Practice and persistence, not perfection. In yoga, a daily disciplined practice is called sadhana. It is a tool used to study yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. It is a routine spiritual practice to achieve the ultimate goal of union with the Divine or alignment with the Source. Be unattached to the end goal and dive into the wonder of your practice. Fall in love with your practice. Motivation and inspiration will come and go, but your practice will always be there for you.
8. Find balance and your center. Yoga builds your physical and mental strength. It helps you find the balance between ease and effort. Yoga is where strength and flexibility meet and so is life. In yoga there is a saying, sthira sukha or steadiness and ease. You practice to find that sweet, sacred balance on your mat and beyond. Learn to find the balance of being strong and standing up for what you believe in, while being graceful and fluid to flow with the rhythm of life. As life twists, turns and challenges, can you remain strong and fluid?
9. Learn to get through discomfort. Challenge yourself to be uncomfortable, that is where growth happens. Be willing to go through and expand in difficult times. As women of color, being overwhelmed and drained by emotions endured as a result of racism are frequent occurrences in our day to day lives. The feelings that result from being oppressed can be both paralyzing and maddening. Learn to breathe through challenging yoga postures and through all of the challenges in your life. Avoid hiding or denying your feelings of discomfort. Learning to breathe through discomfort has the power to heal your body and mind. Breathing through discomfort is a powerful way to enhance your physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.
10. Meditate. By meditating, you are practicing your ability to witness. When you meditate, you learn to watch your thoughts and not attach. You learn to become a witness to your breath, your body sensations, and your thoughts. It is a process of making the darkness conscious. As you witness your outer body and the many layers you have wrapped yourself in, you use breath as a bridge to connect to your inner being, your subtle body or your soul. Once you discover and understand each layer you are wrapped in, only then will you move closer to oneness with your True Self. The layers you are wrapped in are informed by your race, nationality, culture, gender, ancestors, family history, education, society and personal experience. There is no coming to consciousness without this awareness or without moving through any pain, suffering or trauma. Embrace and acknowledge your many identities. Then remember who you are at your core, Divine.
11. Remember you come first ALWAYS. Make truly knowing yourself a priority. Free up time to do the inner work of yoga, meditation, healing and connecting to your spirit. Remember you cannot save everyone. Establish and maintain boundaries. Learn to say NO. It’s an invaluable skill. Surround yourself with people who lift you up and don’t bring you down. Distancing yourself from harmful people does not mean you hate them, it means you actively love and respect yourself.
12. Listen to your body. Don’t apologize for taking a break or resting. You don’t need to engage in every situation (or posture). Rest when you need to, or lie in savasana (corpse pose) the entire yoga class. Rest is vital for energizing and recharging your ability to show up fully for your colleagues, your partner, your children and yourself. It is impossible to be present and connected when you are exhausted. Rest. Reconnect. Recharge.
13. Detox. Releasing toxicity means taking care of your body through proper nutrition, plenty of sleep, exercise and yoga. It means surrounding yourself with people who vibrate on a high frequency. It also means finding a way to heal oppressive experiences that you have endured as a child or presently. Healing oppressive or traumatic experiences your inner child went through is a profound way to release toxicity. Internalized racism affects the inner lives of people of color, disrupting our ability to realize our full humanity and inner wisdom. However seemingly small, these experiences have shaped you. Use the practice as way to help you release and let go, again and again.
14. Start and end your day or yoga practice with a prayer of gratitude. Gratitude makes you more open hearted, giving, and generous, not for rewards, for “unattached giving.” Say this prayer, two simple words, “Thank you.” Practice gratitude daily and you will improve your emotional health and wellbeing. Express gratitude and appreciation for the abundance in your life. Ask for guidance and support from a higher power or whatever you truly believe in. Practice gratitude to stay rooted in it. The moment is what it is. Complete. Accept and surrender to what is with a grateful heart.
15. Radically love yourself. Self-love is a journey. It is the pathway to freedom, it requires deep healing, truth telling, and self-reflection. Examine, reflect, accept and radically love yourself, so you will have the capacity to unconditionally love others. Deeply know your Self and awaken to your Truth.
Through the practice of yoga, there is an opportunity to cultivate deep healing and liberation. Practice listening to your breath, your body, your inner voice, and your intuition.
The media has engrained in our minds that the practice of yoga is exclusive to those that fit a certain description. There is not much representation of black and brown women or men, plus size women, or people with disabilities.
Yoga and meditation can help people of color heal from intergenerational trauma and oppression. It’s a revolutionary act to create a community of spiritual healing and wellbeing for each other. Anasa Yoga in Oakland, California, is a beautiful yoga studio committed to quality instruction, inclusivity and diversity.
Diversifying the yoga community can only help us learn and increase compassion and acceptance for one another. Yoga is more than a personal practice, yoga is a bridge to equity and inclusivity.
February 28, 2019
Understanding Race: 20 Things Everyone Should Know About Race and Racism
Understanding Race: 20 Things Everyone Should Know About Race and Racism
By now we know that race isn’t real, but it still remains our deepest divide. It is time to take a closer look at race, begin redemptive conversations, cultivate deep healing and choose right or compassionate action.
It is important to understand the difference between racial bias and systemic and institutional racism. Racial bias, whether conscious or unconscious, often results in discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their race or ethnicity. Xenophobia and anti-immigration are examples of prejudice, bias and hate, but systemic racism is something different.
Systemic Racism is racism that infects the very structure of our society. Systemic racism persists in our schools, offices, court system, police departments, military and elsewhere. White people occupy most positions of decision-making power so people of color have a difficult time achieving social, economic and political equality. For example, reducing racist police behavior to a few bad cops who need to be removed, rather than seeing it exists in police departments all over the United States, neglects the systemic cause. Even when black athletes, such as former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, peacefully protest, there is a refusal to see police brutality as part of a system and that the system needs to be changed.
Institutionalized Racism is a form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions. It is a pattern of differential access to material resources and power by race, which advantages one sector of the population while disadvantaging another. It’s not only about racist attitudes or prejudice, but the ways in which rights and resources are distributed. Institutionalized racism disrupts marginalized communities access to quality education, healthcare, living wages, a respectable quality of living and other resources. For example, in Michigan, the Flint water, racial and poverty crisis allowed contaminated water into Flint homes. Politicians knowingly poisoned black and brown children in Flint Michigan because “profits reign supreme.”
It’s important to remember and understand the history of the United States of America. America was stolen from , followed by the enslavement of Africans, next Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation and then mass incarceration. Race, whiteness and white supremacy were invented to justify slavery and other forms of exploitation.
There continues to be a widening racial wealth gap. It’s probably unrealistic to believe that everything could be equally divided. But we can transform our systems in ways that will re-distribute rights and resources amongst all races, more equally. It is possible to create a greater sense of reciprocity in the United States and the world.
Racism is woven into the fabric of our society. So much so that many white people are unaware of the impact of racism. Unfortunately, whiteness and white privilege are often invisible to white people. White people have significant political, economic, and social power. If racial equality is to be achieved, it will require white recognition that racism continues today. White parents play an important role in facilitating racial change. Parents have to stop teaching white children that everyone is the same. White people aren't outside of race, they are at the top of the racial hierarchy.
Racism has yet to be redeemed or transformed, but it can be once we are ready to be honest and take the first step toward redemptive conversations, deep healing, and true confessions.
Here are 20 Things Everyone Should Know About Race and Racism:
1. Be grateful when you are called out for racism, not defensive. It is a gift for you to learn a valuable lesson. It may be uncomfortable but what you do next is what matters.
2. Just say white or European-American, stop saying caucasian. Caucasian is an outdated word, that some white people may use to sound polite and create distance from race discussion. Often the word white creates discomfort for white people who are not used to being defined or described by their race. In addition, most white people in the United States aren’t descended from the Caucasus region.
3. Racial progress requires race consciousness, rather than color blind strategies. Have you confused being “nice” or “good” with the idea of not seeing race or color? Have you ever thought or said, “I’m not racist, I don’t see color.” The mythical color blindness movement encouraged people to not see or care about race. It has actually served as a deflection mechanism to avoid dealing with race issues all over the world. Get out of your comfort zone of color blindness. Learn to sit with your discomfort, allow it, breathe into it. Breathe into whatever you notice. If you do not truly see people of color, then you do not truly see yourself. Remember, we all want to be seen with love and acceptance.
4. If you are human, then you undoubtedly have unconscious, implicit, racial biases. The majority of white Americans have bias because they've grown up in a culture that has been historically racist in many ways. If you deny this truth, it will cause a lot of harm. Most people want to be good, moral people which becomes the biggest obstacle to identifying our biases. You need to work at always being awake and receptive to the possibility that you might be biased. If you have lived most of your life unaware of your white privilege then you probably have discriminated, offended or perpetuated racism in some way.
5. White privilege does not automatically mean you are racist. White privilege exists because of historic, enduring racism. The discrimination of people of color created white privilege. White privilege is an advantage separate from class, education, or effort. Whiteness has become the norm, the center, the dominant race and that is a powerful advantage.
6. Acknowledging white privilege is not enough to end racism. Learn to listen closely to the experiences of people of color. Educate yourself and use your privilege to share the work of people of color. Speak up and educate other white people when you have the opportunity. Begin an anti-racism practice.
7. White privilege does not mean you have never struggled or worked hard to achieve success. White privilege does not always come with affluence. Being privileged does not necessarily mean that you have a perfect life. It does not mean that you come from wealth or that you always obtain everything you want or deserve. White privilege means that you were born with an inherent advantage over every other race of people.
8. Heighten your awareness of spiritual bypassing in your own life and in your spiritual teachers. Spiritual bypassing is the use of spiritual beliefs to avoid dealing with painful feelings and unresolved traumas, including oppression, violence, and cruelty. Spiritual bypassing can be focusing on the concept of “we are one” to avoid dealing with racial inequality or it can be over-emphasizing the positive side to enlightenment, nothing is negative and you don’t want to talk about what needs to be discussed or looked at within your life, so that you can heal what needs to be healed.
9. Avoid cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is the adoption of the elements of the originating, marginalized culture by members of the dominant culture. There is an imbalance of power present and often the adoption of these cultural elements is for profit. There is disrespect, disregard, distortion, and even failure to pay homage to the originating, marginalized culture. You may have seen yogis wear bindis, by placing sticky sparkles at the center of their forehead. Words like “tribe” and “gypsy” can be offensive, often misused and printed on t-shirts for profit. These are examples of cultural appropriation. When Black hairstyles like bantu knots, dread locs and corn rows (“boxer braids”) are labeled as “ghetto” or “unprofessional” on a Black person, but seen as trendy and cool on a non-Black person, that is cultural appropriation.
10. Words matter. “That’s so ghetto.” You may think that describing something as ghetto is calling it cheap with no race implications. Wrong. Ghetto refers to the poorest and most segregated parts of cities in the United States. “All Lives Matter.” Absolutely, but “Black Lives Matter” is a movement in the Black community that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people. “No offense,” when apologizing for an offensive remark. Too late, now I am offended and pissed off. Ta-Nehisi Coates gently explains why white people can't sing the "N-word." Choose your words wisely, authentically and compassionately.
11. Racism is subtle, often covert. Microagressions are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.”-Dr Chester Pierce coined the term in 1970. A few examples: Asking the question, “What are you?” Or saying, “You don’t act like a normal Black person.” “I never see you as a Black girl.” “You’re really pretty for a Black girl.” “Why do you sound white?” Or “You don’t sound Black.” Racism is not only in extremes, the white hoods, the KKK, microaggressions are more prevalent in everyday racism. Microaggressions are racial bias. Racial bias is a belief. Racism is what happens when that belief becomes an action. For example, a police officer shoots an unarmed black person because he “feared his life.”
12. Don’t expect one Black person/friend to speak for all Black people. Black people are not a monolith. We are allowed to disagree. We have diverse experiences.
13. Gentrification has its roots in racism. Gentrification is a housing, economic, and health issue that affects a community’s history and culture and reduces social capital. Gentrification causes the displacement of people of color. “There’s a perception out there — promoted by some — that slums, poor schools, menial jobs, poverty, high crime and incarceration are who black Americans are. But that’s not who we are. It’s what we endure.” - Wayne Hare
14. Stop saying, “Just get over it.” You may be uncomfortable talking about race or want to minimize racism for a variety of reasons. “Whitesplaining” extracted from “masplaining,” is racism being explained by a white person in a condescending, overconfident, inaccurate, or oversimplified manner to a person of color. Whitesplaining is problematic and perpetuates white privilege. Instead, pause, listen to people of color, reflect and rethink your racial biases.
15. Don’t compare the exploitation of animals to racism. It is deeply disturbing, offensive and insensitive to co-opt Black people’s history of brutal oppression. Slavery is still an unhealed open wound that inflicted tremendous pain on black minds and bodies. Black people are still fighting to be recognized as fully human.
16. Don’t expect black people to explain racism to you. Read, reflect, and think deeply. It is not the job of marginalized people to calmly educate white people about race. It is your responsibility to learn about racism.
17. Having a partner of color or mixed race children does not automatically make you anti-racist. Just like a man marrying a woman does not automatically allow him to transcend sexism. Once can employ women, have women friends, marry a woman and yet be sexist. However, the relationship may allow you the opportunity to open your eyes about race relations and so many aspects of your identity, your children and your partner.
18. Reverse racism shouldn’t even be a term, it is not real. Yes, white people can experience prejudice and bigotry. But racism is far more complex. Racism is not about one group not liking another, it operates on an individual level and institutional level. We don’t live in a society where every racial group has equal power, status, and opportunity. In America, white people have not been enslaved, colonized, forced to segregate. White people have not faced housing or job discrimination, police brutality, poverty, gentrification, inadequate schools, or incarceration at the same level as black people.
19. Getting stuck or wallowing in white guilt, centers you and makes racism all about you. Instead, allow white guilt to motivate you to take action, helping you to focus on changing your beliefs, ending racism and committing to an anti-racism practice. Emotional pain and deep reflection needs to lead to action.
20. Ally is a verb. Use your advantage compassionately, be an ally and learn from, listen to, support and act collaboratively with those who are typically silenced, disempowered and oppressed.
Action is necessary to create change. An awakening is needed, then change, and rebuilding. We can steadily change the world we live in through self-reflection, deep healing and right or compassionate action.
By now we know that race isn’t real, but it still remains our deepest divide. It is time to take a closer look at race, begin redemptive conversations, cultivate deep healing and choose right or compassionate action.
It is important to understand the difference between racial bias and systemic and institutional racism. Racial bias, whether conscious or unconscious, often results in discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their race or ethnicity. Xenophobia and anti-immigration are examples of prejudice, bias and hate, but systemic racism is something different.
Systemic Racism is racism that infects the very structure of our society. Systemic racism persists in our schools, offices, court system, police departments, military and elsewhere. White people occupy most positions of decision-making power so people of color have a difficult time achieving social, economic and political equality. For example, reducing racist police behavior to a few bad cops who need to be removed, rather than seeing it exists in police departments all over the United States, neglects the systemic cause. Even when black athletes, such as former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, peacefully protest, there is a refusal to see police brutality as part of a system and that the system needs to be changed.
Institutionalized Racism is a form of racism expressed in the practice of social and political institutions. It is a pattern of differential access to material resources and power by race, which advantages one sector of the population while disadvantaging another. It’s not only about racist attitudes or prejudice, but the ways in which rights and resources are distributed. Institutionalized racism disrupts marginalized communities access to quality education, healthcare, living wages, a respectable quality of living and other resources. For example, in Michigan, the Flint water, racial and poverty crisis allowed contaminated water into Flint homes. Politicians knowingly poisoned black and brown children in Flint Michigan because “profits reign supreme.”
It’s important to remember and understand the history of the United States of America. America was stolen from , followed by the enslavement of Africans, next Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation and then mass incarceration. Race, whiteness and white supremacy were invented to justify slavery and other forms of exploitation.
There continues to be a widening racial wealth gap. It’s probably unrealistic to believe that everything could be equally divided. But we can transform our systems in ways that will re-distribute rights and resources amongst all races, more equally. It is possible to create a greater sense of reciprocity in the United States and the world.
Racism is woven into the fabric of our society. So much so that many white people are unaware of the impact of racism. Unfortunately, whiteness and white privilege are often invisible to white people. White people have significant political, economic, and social power. If racial equality is to be achieved, it will require white recognition that racism continues today. White parents play an important role in facilitating racial change. Parents have to stop teaching white children that everyone is the same. White people aren't outside of race, they are at the top of the racial hierarchy.
Racism has yet to be redeemed or transformed, but it can be once we are ready to be honest and take the first step toward redemptive conversations, deep healing, and true confessions.
Here are 20 Things Everyone Should Know About Race and Racism:
1. Be grateful when you are called out for racism, not defensive. It is a gift for you to learn a valuable lesson. It may be uncomfortable but what you do next is what matters.
2. Just say white or European-American, stop saying caucasian. Caucasian is an outdated word, that some white people may use to sound polite and create distance from race discussion. Often the word white creates discomfort for white people who are not used to being defined or described by their race. In addition, most white people in the United States aren’t descended from the Caucasus region.
3. Racial progress requires race consciousness, rather than color blind strategies. Have you confused being “nice” or “good” with the idea of not seeing race or color? Have you ever thought or said, “I’m not racist, I don’t see color.” The mythical color blindness movement encouraged people to not see or care about race. It has actually served as a deflection mechanism to avoid dealing with race issues all over the world. Get out of your comfort zone of color blindness. Learn to sit with your discomfort, allow it, breathe into it. Breathe into whatever you notice. If you do not truly see people of color, then you do not truly see yourself. Remember, we all want to be seen with love and acceptance.
4. If you are human, then you undoubtedly have unconscious, implicit, racial biases. The majority of white Americans have bias because they've grown up in a culture that has been historically racist in many ways. If you deny this truth, it will cause a lot of harm. Most people want to be good, moral people which becomes the biggest obstacle to identifying our biases. You need to work at always being awake and receptive to the possibility that you might be biased. If you have lived most of your life unaware of your white privilege then you probably have discriminated, offended or perpetuated racism in some way.
5. White privilege does not automatically mean you are racist. White privilege exists because of historic, enduring racism. The discrimination of people of color created white privilege. White privilege is an advantage separate from class, education, or effort. Whiteness has become the norm, the center, the dominant race and that is a powerful advantage.
6. Acknowledging white privilege is not enough to end racism. Learn to listen closely to the experiences of people of color. Educate yourself and use your privilege to share the work of people of color. Speak up and educate other white people when you have the opportunity. Begin an anti-racism practice.
7. White privilege does not mean you have never struggled or worked hard to achieve success. White privilege does not always come with affluence. Being privileged does not necessarily mean that you have a perfect life. It does not mean that you come from wealth or that you always obtain everything you want or deserve. White privilege means that you were born with an inherent advantage over every other race of people.
8. Heighten your awareness of spiritual bypassing in your own life and in your spiritual teachers. Spiritual bypassing is the use of spiritual beliefs to avoid dealing with painful feelings and unresolved traumas, including oppression, violence, and cruelty. Spiritual bypassing can be focusing on the concept of “we are one” to avoid dealing with racial inequality or it can be over-emphasizing the positive side to enlightenment, nothing is negative and you don’t want to talk about what needs to be discussed or looked at within your life, so that you can heal what needs to be healed.
9. Avoid cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation is the adoption of the elements of the originating, marginalized culture by members of the dominant culture. There is an imbalance of power present and often the adoption of these cultural elements is for profit. There is disrespect, disregard, distortion, and even failure to pay homage to the originating, marginalized culture. You may have seen yogis wear bindis, by placing sticky sparkles at the center of their forehead. Words like “tribe” and “gypsy” can be offensive, often misused and printed on t-shirts for profit. These are examples of cultural appropriation. When Black hairstyles like bantu knots, dread locs and corn rows (“boxer braids”) are labeled as “ghetto” or “unprofessional” on a Black person, but seen as trendy and cool on a non-Black person, that is cultural appropriation.
10. Words matter. “That’s so ghetto.” You may think that describing something as ghetto is calling it cheap with no race implications. Wrong. Ghetto refers to the poorest and most segregated parts of cities in the United States. “All Lives Matter.” Absolutely, but “Black Lives Matter” is a movement in the Black community that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people. “No offense,” when apologizing for an offensive remark. Too late, now I am offended and pissed off. Ta-Nehisi Coates gently explains why white people can't sing the "N-word." Choose your words wisely, authentically and compassionately.
11. Racism is subtle, often covert. Microagressions are “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color.”-Dr Chester Pierce coined the term in 1970. A few examples: Asking the question, “What are you?” Or saying, “You don’t act like a normal Black person.” “I never see you as a Black girl.” “You’re really pretty for a Black girl.” “Why do you sound white?” Or “You don’t sound Black.” Racism is not only in extremes, the white hoods, the KKK, microaggressions are more prevalent in everyday racism. Microaggressions are racial bias. Racial bias is a belief. Racism is what happens when that belief becomes an action. For example, a police officer shoots an unarmed black person because he “feared his life.”
12. Don’t expect one Black person/friend to speak for all Black people. Black people are not a monolith. We are allowed to disagree. We have diverse experiences.
13. Gentrification has its roots in racism. Gentrification is a housing, economic, and health issue that affects a community’s history and culture and reduces social capital. Gentrification causes the displacement of people of color. “There’s a perception out there — promoted by some — that slums, poor schools, menial jobs, poverty, high crime and incarceration are who black Americans are. But that’s not who we are. It’s what we endure.” - Wayne Hare
14. Stop saying, “Just get over it.” You may be uncomfortable talking about race or want to minimize racism for a variety of reasons. “Whitesplaining” extracted from “masplaining,” is racism being explained by a white person in a condescending, overconfident, inaccurate, or oversimplified manner to a person of color. Whitesplaining is problematic and perpetuates white privilege. Instead, pause, listen to people of color, reflect and rethink your racial biases.
15. Don’t compare the exploitation of animals to racism. It is deeply disturbing, offensive and insensitive to co-opt Black people’s history of brutal oppression. Slavery is still an unhealed open wound that inflicted tremendous pain on black minds and bodies. Black people are still fighting to be recognized as fully human.
16. Don’t expect black people to explain racism to you. Read, reflect, and think deeply. It is not the job of marginalized people to calmly educate white people about race. It is your responsibility to learn about racism.
17. Having a partner of color or mixed race children does not automatically make you anti-racist. Just like a man marrying a woman does not automatically allow him to transcend sexism. Once can employ women, have women friends, marry a woman and yet be sexist. However, the relationship may allow you the opportunity to open your eyes about race relations and so many aspects of your identity, your children and your partner.
18. Reverse racism shouldn’t even be a term, it is not real. Yes, white people can experience prejudice and bigotry. But racism is far more complex. Racism is not about one group not liking another, it operates on an individual level and institutional level. We don’t live in a society where every racial group has equal power, status, and opportunity. In America, white people have not been enslaved, colonized, forced to segregate. White people have not faced housing or job discrimination, police brutality, poverty, gentrification, inadequate schools, or incarceration at the same level as black people.
19. Getting stuck or wallowing in white guilt, centers you and makes racism all about you. Instead, allow white guilt to motivate you to take action, helping you to focus on changing your beliefs, ending racism and committing to an anti-racism practice. Emotional pain and deep reflection needs to lead to action.
20. Ally is a verb. Use your advantage compassionately, be an ally and learn from, listen to, support and act collaboratively with those who are typically silenced, disempowered and oppressed.
Action is necessary to create change. An awakening is needed, then change, and rebuilding. We can steadily change the world we live in through self-reflection, deep healing and right or compassionate action.
February 14, 2019
How To Talk To Your Children About Race
How To Talk To Your Children About Race
Raising Anti-Racist Children
Parents often avoid talking about race or racism to their children because they do not know what to say, or they believe it would be too painful or complicated for them. For many Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) talking about race is not an option, its essential in helping our children move through the world. There is a necessary and important conversation that parents of black children must have with their children about how to talk, dress, and act in the world, such a conversation may be a matter of life and death. ”…as a black person you can be killed for simply being black: no hands in your pockets, no playing music, no sudden movements, no driving your car, no walking at night, no walking in the day, no turning onto this street, no entering this building, no standing your ground, no standing here, no standing there, no talking back, no playing with toy guns, no living while black.” -Claudia Rankine
Racial bias is not learned by talking about race or racism. In fact, conversations about racism will help your child to unlearn racial bias that is systemic in our society. Similarly, talking about the LGBTQ community will not make your child gay. It will teach them love and acceptance.
White parents play an important role in facilitating racial change. Parents have to stop teaching white children that everyone is the same.
Help your children develop respect, acceptance and appreciation for others from different backgrounds. Guide them in cultivating pride in their own identity and teach them how to combat injustices when they witness it. Expand the conversation beyond their own identity, so the conversation becomes about compassion and mutual respect for others. Teach them how to become a “we” community and not an “I” community.
If you wait too long to talk to your children, it just might be too late. The conversations are already happening. My 6 year old daughter has already experienced one of her peers at school telling her that she is ugly, her hair looks weird and her locs look like black cheetos. My 9 year old son was disappointed and hurt when one of his friends at school told him that his Golden State Warriors NBA basketball jersey that said, “The Town” on it, should say, “The Hood” because he is black.
We don’t want our children to internalize the messages that some people are more valuable than others.
How to effectively talk to your children about race:
1. Educate yourself about race and racism. Become comfortable talking and learning about race and racism. Understand the difference between racial bias, systemic racism, and institutional racism. Learn from and listen closely to people who are targets of oppression, be grateful for their perspective, and act with their best interests in mind. Read books about Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBTQ people. It is your responsibility to learn more.
2. Learn to recognize and understand your own privilege. If you are white, explore what it means to be white. What is the condition of white life? Understand white privilege and that race is one aspect of privilege: gender, sexuality, religion, ability, socio-economic status, and language can all affect your level of privilege. Examine and challenge your own bias, prejudices and conditioning. Work through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed.
3. Begin talking to your children about race and racism at a young age. Read age appropriate stories that inform and educate. It’s ok to not have all the answers all of the time. Return with an answer at a later time. If you are not talking about race, then you are teaching that race is something to be ashamed or embarrassed about. A great way to teach your children is with experiential learning, such as festivals, local landmarks, cultural sites, memorials and museums.
4. Expose your children to diversity at a young age. Teach children about diversity as a value. Children pick up on the ways in which whiteness is normalized and privileged in the United States. They may start to think that whites have more privilege because they are inherently, somehow, smarter or better. Before your children form preconceptions, suggest to them something positive about other races, otherwise they will pick up something negative. Take every opportunity to explain our differences and normalize it, skin color, hair, language, etc. Within every group, we don’t all act and look the same, we don’t all think the same, we don’t all talk the same, imagine the diversity among every group.
5. Create a diverse network of adult friends, it influences and matters a lot. If you have friends who don’t look like you, your children will too. Encourage your children to get to know kids of other races, cultures, religions. True friendships promote acceptance and reduce prejudice. Learn about other groups without relying on stereotypes.
6. Model behavior for children. Let people know that racist "jokes" or comments are not okay. Clearly state that you believe it is wrong to treat someone differently or unfairly because of their race. Inform your children that it’s not ok to tease or reject someone based on identity. If you experience something racially offensive, speak up and take action to change it. Learn and practice the skills of challenging oppressive remarks, behaviors, policies, and institutional structures.
7. Encourage critical thinking. Ask questions in a non-judgmental tone. Ask them, what makes you think that? Or, where did you hear that from? Try to find out what underlies the behavior. If the conflict is really about another issue, help your child recognize and resolve that issue. If the underlying reason is discomfort with differences, plan activities to try to overcome that.
8. Connect the past with the present in order to make progress. Adults are believing and teaching their children that things used to be really bad. The truth is things are still really bad for BIPOC. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Barack Obama did not fix racism. Affirm that you believe that racial injustice is still a problem. Racism, inequality and unfairness in this country has existed for a very long time. It will take time to undo, unlearn, untangle, and rebuild. There is no better time to start a redemptive conversation and a practice for positive change.
9. Equip your children with the ability to detect evidence of racial discrimination. If you see an issue of diversity that bothers you, comment on it, like, how come there are no black doctors on TV? Point out unfairness and inequality when you witness it, for example, notice if there are not enough black and brown children on the books in your school or local library. The organization Embrace Race teaches children, “When you see something wrong, be strong and say that’s not ok.”
10. Activism is self-care. Empower your children to take action when they witness unfairness. There are people working to create positive change, allow your children to volunteer or participate in some way. Show children they can help too. Everything is not awesome, but we can still work towards fairness and equality.
Teaching Love, Compassion and Acceptance
Everyone is impacted by racism. Racism is an institutional problem, not due to individual racists. Like yoga, talking to your children about race is a practice and life-long journey. Prepare to talk about race again and again in different ways.
I want all children to grow up accepting and loving the skin they’re in. I want them to love their race, culture and identity. I don’t want our children to grow up with a sense of shame for the things that make them different, or shame for the culture from which they come from. This is often what it is to grow up as a person of color in a white-dominated world. This is the world I grew up in. This is not the world I want to leave behind. I want to live in a world where children of color don’t spend their entire childhood wishing to be in a different skin.
Cultivate a diverse library of books for yourself and your children. Choose books that acknowledge and celebrate our differences. Avoid only exposing your children to books that illustrate the suffering of marginalized groups, being saved by other groups or books about “extraordinary” individuals. We (people of color) are multifaceted people with complex lives, find books that tell those stories.
Recommended Books
Children's Books:
Shades of People by Sheila M. Kelly and Shelley Rotner
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell
All The Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger
The Water Princess by Susan Verde
Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester
Seeds of Change: Planting A Path To Peace by Jen Cullerton Johnson
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown
Middle School Age:
The Favorite Daughter by Allen Say
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy
Young Adults:
The Side of Home by Renee Watson
Mexican White Boy by Matt de la Peña
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Shine Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Adult:
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
An Indigenous People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation by Jasmine Syedullah, Lama Rod Owens, and angel Kyodo Williams
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
*Podcast: On Being with Krista Tippet
Eula Biss __ Let’s Talk About Whiteness
Raising Anti-Racist Children
Parents often avoid talking about race or racism to their children because they do not know what to say, or they believe it would be too painful or complicated for them. For many Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) talking about race is not an option, its essential in helping our children move through the world. There is a necessary and important conversation that parents of black children must have with their children about how to talk, dress, and act in the world, such a conversation may be a matter of life and death. ”…as a black person you can be killed for simply being black: no hands in your pockets, no playing music, no sudden movements, no driving your car, no walking at night, no walking in the day, no turning onto this street, no entering this building, no standing your ground, no standing here, no standing there, no talking back, no playing with toy guns, no living while black.” -Claudia Rankine
Racial bias is not learned by talking about race or racism. In fact, conversations about racism will help your child to unlearn racial bias that is systemic in our society. Similarly, talking about the LGBTQ community will not make your child gay. It will teach them love and acceptance.
White parents play an important role in facilitating racial change. Parents have to stop teaching white children that everyone is the same.
Help your children develop respect, acceptance and appreciation for others from different backgrounds. Guide them in cultivating pride in their own identity and teach them how to combat injustices when they witness it. Expand the conversation beyond their own identity, so the conversation becomes about compassion and mutual respect for others. Teach them how to become a “we” community and not an “I” community.
If you wait too long to talk to your children, it just might be too late. The conversations are already happening. My 6 year old daughter has already experienced one of her peers at school telling her that she is ugly, her hair looks weird and her locs look like black cheetos. My 9 year old son was disappointed and hurt when one of his friends at school told him that his Golden State Warriors NBA basketball jersey that said, “The Town” on it, should say, “The Hood” because he is black.
We don’t want our children to internalize the messages that some people are more valuable than others.
How to effectively talk to your children about race:
1. Educate yourself about race and racism. Become comfortable talking and learning about race and racism. Understand the difference between racial bias, systemic racism, and institutional racism. Learn from and listen closely to people who are targets of oppression, be grateful for their perspective, and act with their best interests in mind. Read books about Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBTQ people. It is your responsibility to learn more.
2. Learn to recognize and understand your own privilege. If you are white, explore what it means to be white. What is the condition of white life? Understand white privilege and that race is one aspect of privilege: gender, sexuality, religion, ability, socio-economic status, and language can all affect your level of privilege. Examine and challenge your own bias, prejudices and conditioning. Work through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed.
3. Begin talking to your children about race and racism at a young age. Read age appropriate stories that inform and educate. It’s ok to not have all the answers all of the time. Return with an answer at a later time. If you are not talking about race, then you are teaching that race is something to be ashamed or embarrassed about. A great way to teach your children is with experiential learning, such as festivals, local landmarks, cultural sites, memorials and museums.
4. Expose your children to diversity at a young age. Teach children about diversity as a value. Children pick up on the ways in which whiteness is normalized and privileged in the United States. They may start to think that whites have more privilege because they are inherently, somehow, smarter or better. Before your children form preconceptions, suggest to them something positive about other races, otherwise they will pick up something negative. Take every opportunity to explain our differences and normalize it, skin color, hair, language, etc. Within every group, we don’t all act and look the same, we don’t all think the same, we don’t all talk the same, imagine the diversity among every group.
5. Create a diverse network of adult friends, it influences and matters a lot. If you have friends who don’t look like you, your children will too. Encourage your children to get to know kids of other races, cultures, religions. True friendships promote acceptance and reduce prejudice. Learn about other groups without relying on stereotypes.
6. Model behavior for children. Let people know that racist "jokes" or comments are not okay. Clearly state that you believe it is wrong to treat someone differently or unfairly because of their race. Inform your children that it’s not ok to tease or reject someone based on identity. If you experience something racially offensive, speak up and take action to change it. Learn and practice the skills of challenging oppressive remarks, behaviors, policies, and institutional structures.
7. Encourage critical thinking. Ask questions in a non-judgmental tone. Ask them, what makes you think that? Or, where did you hear that from? Try to find out what underlies the behavior. If the conflict is really about another issue, help your child recognize and resolve that issue. If the underlying reason is discomfort with differences, plan activities to try to overcome that.
8. Connect the past with the present in order to make progress. Adults are believing and teaching their children that things used to be really bad. The truth is things are still really bad for BIPOC. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Barack Obama did not fix racism. Affirm that you believe that racial injustice is still a problem. Racism, inequality and unfairness in this country has existed for a very long time. It will take time to undo, unlearn, untangle, and rebuild. There is no better time to start a redemptive conversation and a practice for positive change.
9. Equip your children with the ability to detect evidence of racial discrimination. If you see an issue of diversity that bothers you, comment on it, like, how come there are no black doctors on TV? Point out unfairness and inequality when you witness it, for example, notice if there are not enough black and brown children on the books in your school or local library. The organization Embrace Race teaches children, “When you see something wrong, be strong and say that’s not ok.”
10. Activism is self-care. Empower your children to take action when they witness unfairness. There are people working to create positive change, allow your children to volunteer or participate in some way. Show children they can help too. Everything is not awesome, but we can still work towards fairness and equality.
Teaching Love, Compassion and Acceptance
Everyone is impacted by racism. Racism is an institutional problem, not due to individual racists. Like yoga, talking to your children about race is a practice and life-long journey. Prepare to talk about race again and again in different ways.
I want all children to grow up accepting and loving the skin they’re in. I want them to love their race, culture and identity. I don’t want our children to grow up with a sense of shame for the things that make them different, or shame for the culture from which they come from. This is often what it is to grow up as a person of color in a white-dominated world. This is the world I grew up in. This is not the world I want to leave behind. I want to live in a world where children of color don’t spend their entire childhood wishing to be in a different skin.
Cultivate a diverse library of books for yourself and your children. Choose books that acknowledge and celebrate our differences. Avoid only exposing your children to books that illustrate the suffering of marginalized groups, being saved by other groups or books about “extraordinary” individuals. We (people of color) are multifaceted people with complex lives, find books that tell those stories.
Recommended Books
Children's Books:
Shades of People by Sheila M. Kelly and Shelley Rotner
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
Feast for 10 by Cathryn Falwell
All The Colors We Are by Katie Kissinger
The Water Princess by Susan Verde
Let’s Talk About Race by Julius Lester
Seeds of Change: Planting A Path To Peace by Jen Cullerton Johnson
The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match by Monica Brown
Middle School Age:
The Favorite Daughter by Allen Say
Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes
The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy
Young Adults:
The Side of Home by Renee Watson
Mexican White Boy by Matt de la Peña
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Shine Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
Adult:
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
An Indigenous People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation by Jasmine Syedullah, Lama Rod Owens, and angel Kyodo Williams
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
*Podcast: On Being with Krista Tippet
Eula Biss __ Let’s Talk About Whiteness
February 6, 2019
10 WAYS TO PRACTICE ANTI-RACISM
Photo by Samuel Austin on Unsplash
10 WAYS TO PRACTICE ANTI-RACISM
Awaken . Analyze . Action .
“In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist -- we must be anti-racist.”
~Angela Davis
We live in a profoundly separate and unequal world. White supremacy is built into the foundation of this country, as well as the world. It’s not enough to be non-racist, white supremacy will continue even without individual racists. To overcome oppression and create a more just world, there needs to be mass participation in transforming basic systems in ways that will distribute power differently. However, there is important individual healing work to be done before many are able to contribute to an anti-racist movement. Integrating anti-racism practice into our yoga practice is an essential component for achieving equality, justice and liberation.
10 Ways To Practice Anti-Racism:
1. Educate yourself about oppression. Learn from and listen closely to people who are targets of oppression. Read books about Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBTQIA people. Engage in tough conversations about race and injustice. We can no longer be afraid to discuss oppression and discrimination for fear of "getting it wrong." Ask questions so you gain understanding.
2. Learn to recognize and understand your own privilege. This is one of the first steps to dismantling race discrimination. Explore what it means to be white. Race is only one aspect of privilege: gender, sexuality, religion, ability, socio-economic status, and language can all affect your level of privilege.
3. Awaken to systemic and institutional racism that infects the structure of our society. Systemic racism persists in our schools, offices, court system, police departments, military and elsewhere. Institutionalized racism disrupts marginalized communities access to quality education, healthcare, living wages, a respectable quality of living and other resources.
4. Examine and challenge your own bias, prejudices and conditioning. Work through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed.
5. Challenge the "colorblind" ideology. Perpetuating a colorblind society where people "don't see color" actually contributes to racism. We must see color in order to work together for equality and justice.
6. Avoid spiritual bypassing. Simply being a spiritual person will not prevent you from having racial biases and conditioning. Spiritual bypassing is the use of spiritual beliefs to avoid dealing with painful feelings and unresolved wounds, including oppression, inequality and injustices.
7. Be a Role Model. Let people know that racist "jokes" or comments are not okay. Learn and practice the skills of challenging oppressive remarks, behaviors, policies, and institutional structures.
8. Be a proactive parent. Expose your children to diversity at a young age. Talk to them about race and racism. Read stories that inform and educate.
9. Support anti-racist organizations. Working with other groups toward the same goal can be rewarding to you and the community. Whether your efforts are volunteering, financial donations, or being an advocate, your voice can make a difference.
10. Adopt an intersectional approach in all aspects of your life. All forms of oppression are connected. You cannot fight against one form of injustice and not fight against others.
Universal Truth
The socially conscious mind practices global mindfulness. When you become conscious and truthful about who you are and what’s going on around you, you will experience a greater sense of self. You will make an effort to be a more compassionate person, take better care of yourself and the global community and take action to create change.
First, AWAKEN, to the truth of who you are in the world and become aware of the perpetuation of racism in our society. Second, ANALYZE and examine your racial biases, conditioning, values, and beliefs. Think critically about oppression in the spaces you inhabit and throughout the world. Last, take ACTION, do the work of dismantling racism and transforming racism from the inside out.
It does not need to be a big heroic act, just a small, simple, impactful act, sparks change.
10 WAYS TO PRACTICE ANTI-RACISM
Awaken . Analyze . Action .
“In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist -- we must be anti-racist.”
~Angela Davis
We live in a profoundly separate and unequal world. White supremacy is built into the foundation of this country, as well as the world. It’s not enough to be non-racist, white supremacy will continue even without individual racists. To overcome oppression and create a more just world, there needs to be mass participation in transforming basic systems in ways that will distribute power differently. However, there is important individual healing work to be done before many are able to contribute to an anti-racist movement. Integrating anti-racism practice into our yoga practice is an essential component for achieving equality, justice and liberation.
10 Ways To Practice Anti-Racism:
1. Educate yourself about oppression. Learn from and listen closely to people who are targets of oppression. Read books about Black, Brown, Indigenous and LGBTQIA people. Engage in tough conversations about race and injustice. We can no longer be afraid to discuss oppression and discrimination for fear of "getting it wrong." Ask questions so you gain understanding.
2. Learn to recognize and understand your own privilege. This is one of the first steps to dismantling race discrimination. Explore what it means to be white. Race is only one aspect of privilege: gender, sexuality, religion, ability, socio-economic status, and language can all affect your level of privilege.
3. Awaken to systemic and institutional racism that infects the structure of our society. Systemic racism persists in our schools, offices, court system, police departments, military and elsewhere. Institutionalized racism disrupts marginalized communities access to quality education, healthcare, living wages, a respectable quality of living and other resources.
4. Examine and challenge your own bias, prejudices and conditioning. Work through feelings of guilt, shame, and defensiveness to understand what is beneath them and what needs to be healed.
5. Challenge the "colorblind" ideology. Perpetuating a colorblind society where people "don't see color" actually contributes to racism. We must see color in order to work together for equality and justice.
6. Avoid spiritual bypassing. Simply being a spiritual person will not prevent you from having racial biases and conditioning. Spiritual bypassing is the use of spiritual beliefs to avoid dealing with painful feelings and unresolved wounds, including oppression, inequality and injustices.
7. Be a Role Model. Let people know that racist "jokes" or comments are not okay. Learn and practice the skills of challenging oppressive remarks, behaviors, policies, and institutional structures.
8. Be a proactive parent. Expose your children to diversity at a young age. Talk to them about race and racism. Read stories that inform and educate.
9. Support anti-racist organizations. Working with other groups toward the same goal can be rewarding to you and the community. Whether your efforts are volunteering, financial donations, or being an advocate, your voice can make a difference.
10. Adopt an intersectional approach in all aspects of your life. All forms of oppression are connected. You cannot fight against one form of injustice and not fight against others.
Universal Truth
The socially conscious mind practices global mindfulness. When you become conscious and truthful about who you are and what’s going on around you, you will experience a greater sense of self. You will make an effort to be a more compassionate person, take better care of yourself and the global community and take action to create change.
First, AWAKEN, to the truth of who you are in the world and become aware of the perpetuation of racism in our society. Second, ANALYZE and examine your racial biases, conditioning, values, and beliefs. Think critically about oppression in the spaces you inhabit and throughout the world. Last, take ACTION, do the work of dismantling racism and transforming racism from the inside out.
It does not need to be a big heroic act, just a small, simple, impactful act, sparks change.
January 30, 2019
Dismantling White Supremacy Culture
Photo by Hunter Newton on Unsplash
Dismantling White Supremacy Culture
Unless you have been living under a rock, by now you have probably heard about the Covington Catholic High School students raucous behavior and one student smirking at a Native American elder. There have been several articles circulating such as, Don't Doubt What You Saw With Your Own Eyes, White Washing White Supremacy: Media Rushes to Excuse Covington Catholic Students, or I Failed the Covington Catholic Test.
Is this what is still happening in 2019, minimizing and justifying racist behavior and scapegoating black and brown men?
Yes, You’re A Little Bit Racist
I have been moved to write about what I consider a blatantly sexist, racist fiasco because I have seen so many yoga teachers (and non-yoga teachers) post and comment in support of the Covington Catholic High School students. And the media couldn’t make up its mind about what story to tell. Below are a few of the comments from yoga teachers in the Bay Area.
As upsetting as it is to witness racial bias from yoga teachers, I think this is a perfect opportunity to practice yoga and social justice. Looking closely or as someone said, ‘digging deeper’ into this story provides an opportunity to examine your biases, conditioning, values and beliefs.
I have read several articles and posts that report the story either as racist white students or threatened white students. In order to seek the truth, you just have to think critically about the facts that occurred that day. Then you will need to examine and reflect on your own biases and conditioning. This is the work of anti-racism practice. Begin thinking critically about racism in the spaces you inhabit and throughout the world. You can also check out Commune’s workshop, “Unwinding Prejudice” with Evelyn Carter. A five day video training on How to break down bias and forge equality. You can click here to join the Commune community and learn more. And it is not too late to join our on-line course, Yoga and Social Justice at Spiritual Justice Academy.
6 Things We Know about the Covington Catholic High School Incident:
1. A large group of at least a few dozen all male Catholic high school students attend the March for Life. The March for Life is a pro-life, anti-abortion rally held on the National Mall in Washington D.C., to demonstrate objections to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision. This group of “boys will be boys” were there as an activist group to protest women’s health care and reproductive rights. If they think they are mature enough to understand pregnancy, abortion, childbirth, and parenting, then we should avoid coddling them. You have the right to be pro-life but you don’t have the right to hold power over the bodies of women.
2. This group of majority white Catholic high school students were wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats. If you’re still wearing MAGA hats after baby cages, Muslim Ban, refugee ban, pussy grabbing, Charlottesville, Pocahontas, shit hole countries, NFL protest, Puerto Rico, Mexicans are rapists, and refugees are terrorist…you are racist. Racism is a matter of life and death for black and brown people.
3. Someone posted an article titled, “Stop Trusting Viral Videos.” This scares the shit out of me for black and brown people. You mean if we have video footage of racism or even murder, the facts could be spun to minimize or justify racism or homicide? Yes, that is what you mean. Look to the following people for examples, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner , Freddie Gray , Walter L. Scott , Alton B Sterling , Tamir Rice , John Crawford III and Michael Brown .
4. There is video of a Covington Catholic student saying, “It’s not rape if you enjoy it” and others performing the tomahawk chop. There is footage of the Covington Catholic students in blackface at a school basketball game. And of course footage of the students behaving appallingly during a Native American march.
5. The White House reached out to voice their support for the students and of course Trump took to twitter to defend the students. Their actions have united the right and they have since been invited to the White House.
6. The element that spun this whole story and attempted to justify the racist behavior of dozens of high school students, was the presence of Black Hebrew Israelites. Five black men to be exact. Five. There are reports that the students were taunting the black men, as well as, reports that the black men were harassing the students. So, at least 25 white students felt threatened by five black men? Five. Yes, Black Hebrew Israelites often say offensive and abhorrent things. The Black Hebrew Israelites, were doing what they typically do, stand around shouting obscenities, but they’re unlikely to engage in violence. Do you know what people usually do in response? Ignore them and walk away.
Dozens of high school students acted racist and inappropriate because they were feeling some kind of way due to five Black men and a Native American. They were feeling threatened? Or was their white power and privilege threatened? In 2019, people are still finding a way to blame black and brown people for their wrongdoings.
Reflection Questions?
Examine your thoughts and conditioning:
1. How did your respond and/or comment to these articles/videos?
2. Did you find yourself looking for a way to minimize or justify the high school students behavior?
3. Did you blame the five Black Hebrew Israelites or the Native American Elder for the events that occurred?
4. Do you think it’s acceptable to wear a MAGA hat? For perspective, many black people experience it as equivalent to wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood. The red hat is a white hood.
5. Should men have power and control over women’s reproductive rights?
6. And in case you are wondering, it is NOT okay to wear a blackface! A Florida politician recently found this out.
We all have implicit biases, so it is important to examine your conditioning and self-reflect. Many may not be ready to consider their role in perpetuating this dynamic and too scared to do the work of self-reflection. This is not only about Trump supporters. This is about EVERYONE.
At the heart of racial healing is learning to think clearly and respond wisely. Now is the time to invest in racial awareness and justice. Unfortunately anti-oppression and anti-racism trainings are not a part of Yoga Alliance requirements but they should be.
After over 15 years of teaching yoga, I have experienced quite a few racist yoga teachers in the yoga community. We must understand how we enact racism and maintain oppressive power structures within the western yoga world in order to dismantle them. Discussing racism and examining our biases is important work to begin healing ourselves and our world.
How do we create real sustainable change for oppressed people? We start with a willingness to see the truth, and a desire to transform ourselves and systems at the institutional level. It will take active work to dismantle systems of oppression. We are not trying to “make America great again." The America we want, the promise of liberty and justice for all, is the America yet to be achieved. We are trying to become something this country has never been. We are trying to make the entire world a more fair and just place.
What is your vision for a just world? Comment below.
Dismantling White Supremacy Culture
Unless you have been living under a rock, by now you have probably heard about the Covington Catholic High School students raucous behavior and one student smirking at a Native American elder. There have been several articles circulating such as, Don't Doubt What You Saw With Your Own Eyes, White Washing White Supremacy: Media Rushes to Excuse Covington Catholic Students, or I Failed the Covington Catholic Test.
Is this what is still happening in 2019, minimizing and justifying racist behavior and scapegoating black and brown men?
Yes, You’re A Little Bit Racist
I have been moved to write about what I consider a blatantly sexist, racist fiasco because I have seen so many yoga teachers (and non-yoga teachers) post and comment in support of the Covington Catholic High School students. And the media couldn’t make up its mind about what story to tell. Below are a few of the comments from yoga teachers in the Bay Area.
“Boys Will Be Boys”
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“Quick to Judge, or Quick to Justify?”
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As upsetting as it is to witness racial bias from yoga teachers, I think this is a perfect opportunity to practice yoga and social justice. Looking closely or as someone said, ‘digging deeper’ into this story provides an opportunity to examine your biases, conditioning, values and beliefs.
I have read several articles and posts that report the story either as racist white students or threatened white students. In order to seek the truth, you just have to think critically about the facts that occurred that day. Then you will need to examine and reflect on your own biases and conditioning. This is the work of anti-racism practice. Begin thinking critically about racism in the spaces you inhabit and throughout the world. You can also check out Commune’s workshop, “Unwinding Prejudice” with Evelyn Carter. A five day video training on How to break down bias and forge equality. You can click here to join the Commune community and learn more. And it is not too late to join our on-line course, Yoga and Social Justice at Spiritual Justice Academy.
6 Things We Know about the Covington Catholic High School Incident:
1. A large group of at least a few dozen all male Catholic high school students attend the March for Life. The March for Life is a pro-life, anti-abortion rally held on the National Mall in Washington D.C., to demonstrate objections to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision. This group of “boys will be boys” were there as an activist group to protest women’s health care and reproductive rights. If they think they are mature enough to understand pregnancy, abortion, childbirth, and parenting, then we should avoid coddling them. You have the right to be pro-life but you don’t have the right to hold power over the bodies of women.
2. This group of majority white Catholic high school students were wearing red “Make America Great Again” hats. If you’re still wearing MAGA hats after baby cages, Muslim Ban, refugee ban, pussy grabbing, Charlottesville, Pocahontas, shit hole countries, NFL protest, Puerto Rico, Mexicans are rapists, and refugees are terrorist…you are racist. Racism is a matter of life and death for black and brown people.
3. Someone posted an article titled, “Stop Trusting Viral Videos.” This scares the shit out of me for black and brown people. You mean if we have video footage of racism or even murder, the facts could be spun to minimize or justify racism or homicide? Yes, that is what you mean. Look to the following people for examples, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner , Freddie Gray , Walter L. Scott , Alton B Sterling , Tamir Rice , John Crawford III and Michael Brown .
4. There is video of a Covington Catholic student saying, “It’s not rape if you enjoy it” and others performing the tomahawk chop. There is footage of the Covington Catholic students in blackface at a school basketball game. And of course footage of the students behaving appallingly during a Native American march.
5. The White House reached out to voice their support for the students and of course Trump took to twitter to defend the students. Their actions have united the right and they have since been invited to the White House.
6. The element that spun this whole story and attempted to justify the racist behavior of dozens of high school students, was the presence of Black Hebrew Israelites. Five black men to be exact. Five. There are reports that the students were taunting the black men, as well as, reports that the black men were harassing the students. So, at least 25 white students felt threatened by five black men? Five. Yes, Black Hebrew Israelites often say offensive and abhorrent things. The Black Hebrew Israelites, were doing what they typically do, stand around shouting obscenities, but they’re unlikely to engage in violence. Do you know what people usually do in response? Ignore them and walk away.
Dozens of high school students acted racist and inappropriate because they were feeling some kind of way due to five Black men and a Native American. They were feeling threatened? Or was their white power and privilege threatened? In 2019, people are still finding a way to blame black and brown people for their wrongdoings.
Reflection Questions?
Examine your thoughts and conditioning:
1. How did your respond and/or comment to these articles/videos?
2. Did you find yourself looking for a way to minimize or justify the high school students behavior?
3. Did you blame the five Black Hebrew Israelites or the Native American Elder for the events that occurred?
4. Do you think it’s acceptable to wear a MAGA hat? For perspective, many black people experience it as equivalent to wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood. The red hat is a white hood.
5. Should men have power and control over women’s reproductive rights?
6. And in case you are wondering, it is NOT okay to wear a blackface! A Florida politician recently found this out.
We all have implicit biases, so it is important to examine your conditioning and self-reflect. Many may not be ready to consider their role in perpetuating this dynamic and too scared to do the work of self-reflection. This is not only about Trump supporters. This is about EVERYONE.
At the heart of racial healing is learning to think clearly and respond wisely. Now is the time to invest in racial awareness and justice. Unfortunately anti-oppression and anti-racism trainings are not a part of Yoga Alliance requirements but they should be.
After over 15 years of teaching yoga, I have experienced quite a few racist yoga teachers in the yoga community. We must understand how we enact racism and maintain oppressive power structures within the western yoga world in order to dismantle them. Discussing racism and examining our biases is important work to begin healing ourselves and our world.
How do we create real sustainable change for oppressed people? We start with a willingness to see the truth, and a desire to transform ourselves and systems at the institutional level. It will take active work to dismantle systems of oppression. We are not trying to “make America great again." The America we want, the promise of liberty and justice for all, is the America yet to be achieved. We are trying to become something this country has never been. We are trying to make the entire world a more fair and just place.
What is your vision for a just world? Comment below.
