It has been impossible to avoid the conversation of racism since the White Supremacist protest in the United States some days ago. There has been a lot of well deserved condemnation of the racist foundation to the protests. Collateral damage seems all around. The Rebel media in Canada has taken many targeted shots for their historical racially divisive dialogue. Yet, much of the conversation has been focused on the USA.
Racism is a systemic, societal belief that one version of a person, white, is inherently the standard against which all others are measured - starting with the belief that anyone other than white is at a level somewhere below. Those of us who are white do not even understand our advantages as they are so much a fabric of our existence that we are blind to how these advantages exist. In Calgary, Toronto, London or Washington, I do not walk down the street in fear that I will be targeted because of the colour of my skin. I do not go into a hardware, grocery or department store worried that I will be followed by security because of who I appear to be.
There are many other forms of discrimination but the major discourse after Charlottesville has been about race. Here in Canada, as an example, if you are Black in Toronto you worry about being carded. If you are Aboriginal you worry about going into a store - And if you are not white you worry that you will be mistreated in a variety of ways that are not about the quality of your person but the colour of your skin.
Racism exists at societal and system levels because people who make up and support power structures hold within themselves the beliefs that racial disparity is acceptable or, at the very least, not to be fought against. Crucial questions that might be contemplated in meditation include:
Racism is a systemic, societal belief that one version of a person, white, is inherently the standard against which all others are measured - starting with the belief that anyone other than white is at a level somewhere below. Those of us who are white do not even understand our advantages as they are so much a fabric of our existence that we are blind to how these advantages exist. In Calgary, Toronto, London or Washington, I do not walk down the street in fear that I will be targeted because of the colour of my skin. I do not go into a hardware, grocery or department store worried that I will be followed by security because of who I appear to be.
There are many other forms of discrimination but the major discourse after Charlottesville has been about race. Here in Canada, as an example, if you are Black in Toronto you worry about being carded. If you are Aboriginal you worry about going into a store - And if you are not white you worry that you will be mistreated in a variety of ways that are not about the quality of your person but the colour of your skin.
Racism exists at societal and system levels because people who make up and support power structures hold within themselves the beliefs that racial disparity is acceptable or, at the very least, not to be fought against. Crucial questions that might be contemplated in meditation include:
- Can I accept that a human is a human deserving of the same opportunities as myself?
- Can I look within and see where my beliefs lie that support differences between peoples?
- Can I trust myself to act in support of inclusion as opposed to separation?
- Can I allow myself to speak and not be silent when voice is needed?
- Can I accept that I am an ally but I will never really understand what it means to be divided?
Such questions are very consistent with meditation practice that is designed to increasingly know ourselves. As one Buddhist monk says, "The only person you can truly know is yourself". (Karma Yeshe Rabgye). I raise these questions as the growing divisive dialogue where hatred, oppression and racism seem to have an expanding license, needs challenging. The will and self understanding exists within and meditation is a vehicle to find it.
Script
Do you live in a script
Who writes it
Are you stage right, left or centre
Who gave you your lines
Dare to think weird
Pass it on
Creativity of life
Is not existing in the box
Who said your tale is true
Who perchance owns
The story deemed to be the only one
Is it possible to hear
When only one reality is accepted
We have walked together
Our lineages crossed
No purity breathes life
Our being is mutual presence
The universe cannot divide us
It is we who do this
Partition is death
Inquire of life
We are mutual beings
Ascendancy above you
Folklore hiding fraility
© Peter Choate, 2017
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