Comments on: An Open Letter

By: Max Airborne

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 17:39:23 +0000

MrsRikkiLynn, why not write your own letter that reflects your own vision? There doesn’t need to be only one.

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By: MrsRikkiLynn

Thu, 14 Jul 2016 06:13:12 +0000

The intent was nice, but, I found much of this letter to be divisive and judgmental of entire groups based on stereotypical thinking. The idea is wonderful, but this separation and condemnation of some groups is disturbing. I think it needs to be rewritten with more love for all life evident, and less labeling and judging.

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By: Bob Doppelt

Sat, 11 Jul 2015 02:56:21 +0000

Thank you so much for your honesty and bravery in stating what needs to be said so clearly. With many blessings.

Bob Doppelt

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By: Yeshe

Fri, 10 Jul 2015 18:36:42 +0000

I think this sort of unified action is long over due coming from Buddhists. But I fail to understand segregated letters. Obviously the levels of engagement and types of action will differ based on a host of capacities, privileges and interests. But now more than ever solidarity is critical. A joint statement is appropriate. At the very least, if you have separate letters to sign, offer them together so that you are not re-creating the age old issues of separation and power imbalance.

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By: John Wilmerding

Thu, 09 Jul 2015 11:54:03 +0000

I’m a Quaker though I am trained in Buddhist meditation. I’ve started a new Facebook group called WAR-PACT, which will develop a five day anti-racism training based on AVP and PACT, a method which I piloted in 2004. If you like this kind of stuff or want to take part, please request to join the group on its page. The new WAR-PACT pilot will initially be done to train white Quakers, though this will not be a whites-only group. WAR-PACT stands for Whites Against Racism — Peacemaking and Conflict Transformation, and the ‘whites’ part describes the purpose, not the makeup of the group or the training teams — those will be racially heterogenous.

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By: Let’s Deal With It: An Open Letter to Buddhists on Racial Justice | Engage!

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 15:56:02 +0000

[…] (you are invited to endorse this letter, below) […]

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By: Buddhists for Racial Justice Site Launches | Engage!

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 15:19:30 +0000

[…] To view and sign the open letter, click here. You’ll also find the “Calls to Engage” on the site — one, online now is for white members of the Buddhist community, and the second, for members of color, is forthcoming; to be notified of its availability, sign up here. […]

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By: eleanorannhancock

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 14:53:28 +0000

Hi Sher!

Thanks so much for pointing this out. This was flagged earlier, and we changed the text from African American men to, simply, African Americans. Now I see that we needed to make this change in two places, and have made the second change after receiving your comment. We are so happy to be in conversation and community with you around this initiative. Sincerely, Eleanor

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By: Metteyya Brahmana

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 05:52:39 +0000

As Buddhists, we also need to have a more sophisticated understanding of world affairs and geopolitics, and not accept at face value the framing by news editors in the mainstream press who have their own marching orders and agenda.

There is little doubt that the United States sees itself as the Empire of the World, and even comforts itself with talk about this century being an “American” century. In the minds of these think tanks who fill many of the key roles in US foreign policy, it is a zero-sum “king-of-the-hill” childish game of sitting on top of the perch and trying to knock down all other countries rising up the hill. Right now, the US sees China as the biggest threat to its world dominance and hegemony and therefore is trying to manipulate smaller countries like Burma to become part of their broader China Containment strategy. They therefore attempt to discredit the government unless they allow themselves to be used in the US’s China Containment game. You would not hear anything about the treatment of Rohingya in Burma if the government there was fully on-board with the US’s China Containment strategy.

The US is pursuing a similar approach here in Sri Lanka, in which it went to great lengths to discredit the previous government because they openly refused to go along with the US’s China Containment strategy and even allowed a Chinese submarine to dock in Sri Lanka. Now that the government was ousted and replaced with an anti-Chinese, pro-US government, we hardly hear a peep out of the US on human rights in Sri Lanka, even though nothing has actually changed on the ground at all.

At some point the United States through its electorate will need to accept that this century does not ‘belong’ to the United States, it belongs to all people of the world who have the same aspirations for themselves and their families. ‘Containing’ any country simply because they are not white or not following the dictates of the United States is an act of oppression, and should be condemned by all people – including Buddhists – as completely incompatible with a world that values all human beings in the same light.

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By: Sher

Wed, 08 Jul 2015 04:32:10 +0000

This open letter is a beautiful recognition of the need for, and commitment to, change. Thank you so much! I would like to suggest one important correction. It is not just black men, but black women as well who are suffering at the hands of law enforcement. There is a lengthy list of black girls and women who have died just as shockingly, and it is only a perpetuation of misinformation that we focus on this happening to men. Thank you.

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