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welcome
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In the Northern Hemisphere and in the Western tradition, March 21st brings spring and with it lots of celebrations: Sunni Muslims celebrate Mohammed's birthday, Hindus welcome spring by celebrating Holi, folks in the Jewish tradition joyously celebrate Purim--and of course, although not with religious intent, there's both St. Patrick's day and International Women's day. However you acknowledge its arrival, when spring comes thoughts often turn to renewal, cleaning, and starting afresh. It's almost as though folks get a chance at a second wind for the new year. We get to take a look at old habits, old thought patterns--even old self-care patterns that aren't working and begin again. May the official start of your spring welcome much in the way of renewal.
Conversations At A Crossroads - Bioneers 2007 "We cannot have a healed society, we cannot have justice, we cannot have change if we do not reclaim and repair the human spirit. We simply cannot. And any imagination of anything other is to really have our head deeply buried in the sand of hundreds of years of colonization, the theft of the land, the theft of a people from their land, and the continued and ongoing theft and appropriation of peoples and cultures on a day-to-day basis that every single one of us are swimming in and participating in consciously and unconsciously." —angel Kyodo williams, Bioneers 2007 OK, so this isn't new, but it is what matters. Aqeela Sherrills, Ocean Robbins, Salomon Zavala and angel Kyodo williams took respective looks at Race, Class and Power at the 2007 Bioneers Conference. This transcript came across our desk just in time to align with the feature article. Listen in on the full conversation Listen to an excerpt of conversation Read the excerpted transcript
can you see me now? INcite with angel Kyodo williams Just three days after the New York Post's brazenly racist cartoon managed to slip past all editorial checkpoints to subtly (or grossly) depict the nation's first Black president as a rabid chimp gunned down by NY's finest, the online Opinion section of NYTimes ran an article on race. Columnist Charles Blow doesn't mention the Post snafu, likely because his piece was already written just as the shit was hitting the proverbial NY fan. Publisher Rupert Murdoch hadn't even taken out his shovel by the time Blow was taking exception to newly-appointed Attorney General Eric Holder's scathing comment about America being "a nation of cowards" when it comes to race. Rather than naked racism, Blow draws our attention to the implicit bias
in SIGHT Liberation Spirituality What is spiritual activism and how can it be used to change things for everyone here on earth? Watch this beautiful short video made at a gathering of social justice leaders and allies that explores different views on what spiritual activism means and how it can be approached and employed for a more just world. Watch YouTube video on Liberation Spirituality
in TIME Transform from Within
that undergirds our national conversation on all things black and white. There's nothing new about how lopsided the pages Blacks and Whites are on when it comes to perceptions of racial equality. It is disturbing to see in hard figures the six years and hundreds of thousands of peoples worth of data that reveal Asians and Latinas run almost neck-and-neck with Whites when it comes to having an implicit pro-white bias. Fear of A Black Planet is alive and well. Thanks to slippery ol' internalized racism, a good chunk of Blacks are pro-white too, though they were also the most likely to be neutral. Well, Black folks kinda knew this through direct experience all along, but how did science get to the bottom of what most of us won't or can't reveal about ourselves? A simple 10 minute, 2-fingered test that anyone that cares about social justice should take. Now. Don't Pass Go. I'll be here when you get back... http://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit As self-declared activists, allies and agents of social change, many of us will feel sheepish taking the test, even behind the privacy of our computer screens and (mostly) anonymous browsers. With our cool collaborations and coalitions, we've taken a certain amount of comfort in being able to self-righteously stake a claim to our good standing on the racial bias spectrum.
27 Days of Change: Practice Period 6-point, 360° change program. Join in online or in person. Residential opportunities. City Team Service in Oakland Almost a year ago our community participated in Street Retreat - 3 days of living on the street. We followed that up with prepping & serving dinner to homeless folks and we'll be renewing that commitment this month at City Team Ministries. Four Actions to Resolve Conflict Inside & Out Dharma Talk Series with angel Kyodo williams Pacify. Enrich. Magnetize. Destroy. Four Awakened Actions for working in a methodical way with conûict whether perceived as inner or outer. 27 Days of Change: Practice Period | March 17 - April 12 Four Actions to Resolve Conflict: Dharma Talk Series 4 Thursdays Beginning March 19 urbanRETREAT: Wholeness through Relationship March 20 - 22 | Non Residential City Team Ministries: Cycle of Giving & Receiving Sunday, | March 22 Schedule of upcoming events
We're mostly beyond the once-too-familiar wannabe-progressive White folks declarative "I don't see color" claim. (In case you were wondering, this is not a good thing. Since we are, in fact, "of color," not seeing color means not seeing me. What I hear you saying is you're trying to see me just like you see white people. Um, no, thank you. On the other hand, the only thing worse than being seen as something you're not, is being transparent, as in not being seen at all.) Speaking of "of color," now that we of the many ethnicities and hues--East and Southeast Asians, Latinas, Middle Easterners, Natives and Blacks, not to mention mixed race, mestizos, and mulattoes--have successfully lumped ourselves together into the One Big Category of People of Color for political purposes, our other-than-Black brothers and sisters often receive a pass to bypass their anti-Black bias by vague reductionist association. That escape hatch leads to a dangerous rabbit hole of weirdness, guilt and confusion for all. Even Black folks can no longer hide behind the mere fact of birth to escape the taint of racial bias that, while not exclusively American, we're the best at marketing worldwide. The repercussions of this are hard to discount. Obviously this is a social change issue at its core because the work for a truly just society for all requires trusting alliances. But it's even more of an inner change issue because we know that no matter how many campaigns we win or laws we pass, real justice begins right here, in our own hearts and (unconscious) minds. Look to Cuba where institutional racism was systematically written out of the laws within months of the '59 Revolution, yet they acknowledge the naiveté of believing discrimination could be legislated away: "...we believed at the beginning that when we established the fullest equality before the law and complete intolerance for any demonstration of sexual discrimination in the case of women, or racial discrimination in
in the CENTER 2009 Year of Presence: Vision for Transformation - Open House & Year in Review Rescheduled
We’ll end March with our exciting 2009: Year of Presence. Learn about & discuss NEW programs developed to support changemakers build a more effective, sustainable, social justice movement. Join us, bring a friend, and learn how you can participate in taking the visions and practices of transformative social change out into the world. Here's a little of what we'll be presenting, SoJustSit: Social Justice Sitting Circles, The Presence Project: transforming how social justice is done--nationwide, The Transformative Change Fellowship (XCF): a chance to Live, Practice and Transform at the Center. 2009 Year of Presence: Sunday March 29
inner PRACTICE Focusing on Change Every Thursday night the Center has either a dharma talk or council where folks sit in a circle and share what's on their minds or going on in their lives. During one recent council the facilitator encouraged people to share how their practice
the case of ethnic minorities, these phenomena would vanish from our society. It was some time before we discovered that marginality and racial discrimination with it are not something that one gets rid of with a law or even with ten laws, and we have not managed to eliminate them completely in 40 years..." —Fidel Castro
Science's answer to ameliorating implicit bias? Distinguish. When people are taught to distinguish the individual faces of people of races other than their own, the inclination to make cross-the-board associations--neagtive or positive--is diminished. People are thus returned to their rightful place as unique, individual beings that have to be taken for who they actually are rather than who they generally are or might be. I went to junior high with an 84% Asian population in the heart of New York's Chinatown. As a bonafide minority, I couldn't get away with blending the Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, Han Chinese and various Pacific Islanders with a cavalier "they all look alike to me." I had to see each of them. One by individual, unique one. Being in real relationship with "the other" closes the bias gap. But to even get there, we have to look at ourselves first. We have to stop letting ourselves off the race hook and commit to actively resisting the biased waters we swim in by raising our unconscious, implicit fears to the level of conscious, explicitly articulated ones. That's painful, exhausting, heart-breaking work, but it's the real work that needs to be done. No less important than your next action, petition, campaign or board meeting. (Those explicit biases could use a good eyeballing here, too.) Plainly speaking, if you're doing work for change in what's "affectionately" referred to as AmeriKKKa without a practice of examining race, you're pretty much adding to the problem.
was connected with change. Read more...
outer ACTION The Importance of Spiritual Practice to Activists Traditional and ancient spiritual practices are a strong component of stone circles, the non-profit and social justice organization Claudia Horwitz founded in 1995. To Claudia and her colleague, Jesse Vega-Frey, both of whom are activists and meditators, having a spiritual practice is especially important for activists "Because the ups and downs can be unbearable.... Read more...
social CHANGE Sulha Peace Project Using “heart opening” listening circles, experiential workshops, and interfaith prayers and rituals, Sulha Peace Project employs an indigenous Middle Eastern way of mediation and conflict resolution. “If we get to be a critical mass of people, who embody the way of peace, our life in the Middle East will look very different… beauty and creativity beyond imagination.” Read more...
We can and should do the good, hard work of rooting out systemic oppression and racism at all levels of society. But not unless and until we address the ultimate system--the inner thoughts, feelings and beliefs that give rise to our implicit perceptions--will we have a chance at the deep change that can--and will--elude all of our political maneuvering.
Learn more about Embodying the Way of Peace: Sulha Peace Project
in the MIND 10 Ways to Change a Habit
Take a good look at you so you can take a look at me. Can you see me now? Good.
angel Kyodo williams, is founder of Transformative Change (formerly urbanPEACE). A social visionary and leading voice for transformative social change, she is the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living With Fearlessness and Grace . Want to read older stories or just keep up with angel? Be sure to connect to her blogs or join her fan page in Facebook. Blog: new Dharma: live, love & lead from the heart Facebook: Fan angel here
Are you still practicing that New Year's Resolution you made back in January? Many people have the intention of making big personal changes, but statistically speaking only about 15% of folks who make resolutions actually keep them. Read more... "the best workshop i've ever taken. radically changed my work." fearless Meditation is our 3-part signature series that teaches practical meditation in a social justice context: fearless Meditation I: Fri Apr 3 | 7pm and every 1st Friday
Web: www.angelkyodowilliams.com angel Kyodo williams next public talk: 4 Actions: Resolving Conflict Inside & Out. Series of 4 talks, Thursdays | March 18 - April 8, 2009: Center for Transformative Change
in the BODY Put Your Feet (& Legs) Up
activists, allies & agents of change Finding Peace in a Stone House
Claudia Horwitz is a leader in national efforts to integrate the power of spiritual practice and the work of social justice. In 1995 she founded stone circles, a nonprofit organization committed to sustaining activists and strengthening the work for justice through spiritual practice and principles. The organization recently created The Stone House, a center on 70 acres of land in Mebane, North Carolina that welcomes people of all traditions for training, retreat and fellowship. Claudia has a master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University and her book “The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World” (Penguin Compass 2002) is a practical guide to individual and social transformation through spirit and faith. Trained as a teacher in the Kripalu tradition, she follows a yogic path on and off the mat. Claudia Horwitz knows a lot about the combination of spirituality and social activism. She’s been doing both since she was in college and has learned about how these two things work together beautifully: how activism can be made sustainable through the discipline of spiritual practice and how spiritual practice becomes less about the growth of the individual and more about the growth of community, society, the world through the work of activism. Read more...
In order to support our work to change the world, it is useful to support the vehicle through which we do our work—our body. The body, like any other system, needs to be maintained in order to function at its best. And essential to maintaining the body is giving it the opportunity to restore, revitalize, and rejuvenate. Check out this simple restorative yoga posture: Legs Up On the Wall Universal Form at MLK Park: Sun Apr 12 | 1pm and every 2nd Sunday
wellness & well-being Cleansing for Well-Being Throughout time people all over the world have engaged the body’s natural cleansing functions in order to rebalance, recalibrate, and renew its systems. The average American takes in about 1800 pounds of food per year and stores about 10 to 12 pounds of fecal matter in their colon. This stored waste produces toxins that can be absorbed into the bloodstream and can lead to disease. Read More... More on cleansing
Learn more about www.stonecircles.org
Restore the fiber in your diet and justice in your heart with this recipe for Oscar Grant Greens from Bryant Terry
resources for change… In our feature article, “Can you see me now?” there are lots of links that contribute to the story. If you’d like a quick way to reference them, all of the links are listed here for your convenience:
march wallpaper
Project Implicit Bias Test Perceptual Other-Race Training Reduces Implicit Racial Bias Cities all over the globe are participating in Earth Hour on March 28th to reduce energy consumption. People in Chicago, Copenhagen, Manila, Sydney, and Tel Aviv (to name a few) will be turning off their lights between 8 and 9 pm. Help conserve energy. Earth Hour
quote of the month “A successful leader is somebody who follows the needs represented by the population. Everybody has the capacity to be a leader. It’s just stepping up to the plate when something has to be done.” —Majora Carter, Majora Carter Group & Sustainable South Bronx
Standing on the south-facing shoreline of Moloka'i Hawai'i, you can see forever...or at the very least Lana'i. "The Friendly Isle" as Moloka'i is known, is the least developed of the main islands, thus still the most authentically Hawaiian. It boast the highest sea cliffs in the world, not to mention the most stunning sunsets. Mahalo! Read more and download this image as wallpaper with or without calendar for your desktop. Download with calendar... Download without calendar...
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Registration and other questions 888.XSOCHANGE (new number! toll free) register@transformativechange.org Center for Transformative Change is the first national center entirely dedicated to bridging the inner and outer lives of social change agents, activists and allies to support a more effective, more sustainable social justice movement. The Center is a project of urbanPEACE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to inform, incite and empower a broad-based, presence-centered transformative social change movement. Donate to the Center to support our work. Visit the Center's website. Center for Transformative Change 2584 MLK Jr. Way Berkeley, CA 94704 路 USA +1.510.549.3733 Google the Center.
Center for Transformative Change is a project of urbanPEACE, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization whose mission to inform, incite and empower a broad-based, presence-centered transformative social change movement.
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