Mission: To maintain a multi-lineage, multi-racial convening body and a national, online platform that supports, coordinates, and increases visibility of a diverse array of projects – within multiple sanghas and traditions – that focus on racial equity within Buddhist communities and racial justice in society at large.

Current “Buddhists for Racial Justice” Team

Tara Brach, PhD, is the founder of Insight Meditation Community of Washington, and author of Radical Acceptance and True Refuge.  In addition to her public teaching, Tara is involved in diversity and inclusivity work in the IMCW community, and in bringing meditation into DC area schools, prisons and to under-served populations.

Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Sensei is the founder of Center for Transformative Change and co-author of the newly released Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation. Recipient of the first “Creating Enlightened Society” Award from Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, Rev. angel has been bridging the worlds of spirit and justice since her critically acclaimed first book, Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace.

Hugh Byrne, PhD, is a guiding teacher with the Insight Meditation Community of Washington. He seeks to bring Buddhist teachings and practices into work for human rights and social justice and is the author of The Here-and-Now Habit: How Mindfulness Can Help You Break Unhealthy Habits Once and For All.

Eleanor Hancock, MFA is the Director and Co-founder of White Awake. She has trained with Joanna Macy in facilitation of the Work that Reconnects, and currently serves on the national Faith team with Showing up for Racial Justice, as well as the local steering committee of the DC chapter.

Anurag Gupta is the Founder & CEO of Be More America, a Brooklyn-based company that uses mindfulness strategies to reduce unconscious bias among professionals. He blends his training in the law, research, yoga, and meditation to work in communities nationwide to innovate solutions to racism and hatred in our society.

History
In May of 2015, 125 Buddhist American leaders of every color and tradition convened at the White House for the First White House Buddhist Leadership Conference. At this convening, Buddhist leaders presented President Obama with a Buddhist Statement on Racial Justice. Subsequently, in light of the Charleston tragedy, BRJ came into existence to host and collect endorsements to the Open Letter on Charleston. At the same time, BRJ featured a Call to White Buddhists for Racial Justice that was crafted and released to inspire and activate White Buddhists to take responsibility for fostering an inclusive culture within their practice communities, and to respond on the basis of Buddhist principles to the racialized hatred being propagated in our nation.

In June, 2016, a complementary “Buddhist Practitioners of Color Call to Solidarity for Racial Justice” was released. This Call seeks to manifest what remains missing in many of our sanghas through information-sharing, collaborations, and creating spaces that allow people of color to lay their burdens down without fear, judgment, shame, or denial. Both the “Call to White Buddhists” and the “Call to Buddhists of Color” consist of inclusive language and aspirations that can be applied across faith traditions; we believe this work is a significant contribution to faith-based organizing for racial equity and justice at large.

Over the coming months, BRJ team members will focus on pulling together a larger body of advisors and team members from various lineages and backgrounds. If you would like to offer suggestions, or help us with the project, you can write us directly at: connect @ buddhistsforracialjustice.org, or comment on the page.

We hope that Buddhists for Racial Justice will inspire you and seed actions in your life, practice, and community to heal the trauma of racial injustice and transform our Buddhists centers of practice to be truly inclusive and welcoming for all.