DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION
Online Courses and Events
Buddhism, Oppression, and Justice. Social justice activist Pamela Ayo Yetunde facilitates a conversation between Rhonda Magee, author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness and Rima Veseley-Flad, author of Racial Purity and Dangerous Bodies: Moral Pollution, Black Lives, and the Struggle for Justice, on the topics of dharma practice, oppression, and justice.
Anti-Racism I is an introduction to the topic of race and racism in the United States. The primary audience for this course is anyone who is interested in learning about race/racism in the US who has never taken a course in critical race or ethnic studies or affiliated fields (indeed, who may not know what the fields of critical race studies or ethnic studies are), who has never read a book about race/racism, or attended any race equity or diversity trainings on the topic of race/racism. There is no charge for this ongoing course.
Anti-Racism II explores the historical and linguistic constructions of race and racism in the United States and interrogates the origins and meaning of intersectionality.
Video and Audio
Learning about Black Buddhist Dharma Teachers and Healing Justice, podcast with Rima Vesely-Flad.
Buddhism, Writing, and Race, a conversation with Charles Johnson. Hawaii Book and Music Festival and Better Tomorrow Speaker Series, 2021. Novelist, philosopher, essayist, literary scholar, short-story writer, cartoonist and illustrator, an author of children’s literature, and a screen-and-teleplay writer, Charles Johnson says, "Were it not for the Buddhadharma, I'm convinced that, as a black American and an artist, I would not have been able to successfully negotiate my last half century of life in this country. Or at least not with a high level of creative productivity."
Undoing Whiteness in American Buddhist Modernism. Harvard Divinity School Buddhism and Race Speaker Series, 2021.
Black and Buddhist and the Sanitized Stench of Genocide in the U. S. Zen Peacemakers, 2021.
Black And Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us about Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom, Harvard Divinity School, 2020
New Orleans Mayor Denounces Confederate Nostalgia in Stirring Speech Defending Monument Removal, Slate Magazine, May 23, 2017
Articles
Yes, She was a Powerful Woman! A Dedication to bell hooks. Pamela Ayo Yetunde, Zenzele Isoke, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Lori Perine, and Kamilah Majied. Lion's Roar, December 24, 2021.
The Time for Black Sanghas has Arrived. Valerie Mason-John. Buddhadharma, October 6, 2021.
Follow Indigenous Leaders to Stop Line 3. Ben Connelly. Lion's Roar, September 17, 2021.
Buddhists and Racial Justice: A History. Ann Gleig, Tricycle, July 24, 2021.
Buddhist Justice Reporter and the George Floyd Trials. Pamela Iyo Yetunde, Tricycle, March 29, 2021
Why Are Asian Americans Being Attacked and What Can You Do About It? Zaid Jelani, Greater Good, March 21, 2021
Born with Two Strikes: How Systemic Racism Shaped Floyd’s Life and Hobbled his Ambition. Washington Post, October 8, 2020
Why is Covid-19 Killing so Many Black Americans? Andrea Collier, Greater Good, June 30, 2020.
The West has a role in re-imagining the U.S, Ruxandra Guidi, High Country News, June 23, 2020
The American Nightmare, Ibram X. Kendi, The Atlantic, June 1, 2020
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, National SEED Project, Peggy McIntosh, 1989.
The Right Speech of Race, Breeze Harper, Lion's Roar, December 31, 2018
Waking up to Whiteness, Greg Snyder, Lion's Roar, August 16, 2017
Healing the Broken Body of Sangha. Lion's Roar, February 17, 2017
The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, June 1, 2014
Waking up to Racism: Dharma, Diversity, and Race, bell hooks, Tricycle, Fall 1994
Books
I Hear Her Words: An Introduction to Women in Buddhism, Alice Collette, 2021.
You Belong: A Call for Connection. Sebene Selassie, 2020.
Black and Buddhist: What Buddhism Can Teach Us about Race, Resilience, Transformation, and Freedom, Pamela Yetunde and Cheryl A. Giles, 2020.
Buddhism and Whiteness: Critical Reflections, edited by George Yancey and Emily McRae, 2019.
The Inner Work of Racial Justice, Rhonda V. Magee, 2019
So You Want to Talk About Race, Ijeoma Oluo, 2019
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, Robin DiAngelo, 2018
Web Sites
Dharma Relief announces “Healing Race Relations,” a project that will provide Buddhist leaders of color with financial support for their dharma activities and offer resources and support for North American Buddhist groups interested in healing the trauma of racism in their dharma communities. To learn more and support the effort, click here.
Talking About Race, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution
Tara Brach Anti-Racism Resources