(Image generated by AI) Journal entry for Sept. ‘26:I’m really struggling these days with the violence, the rampant hatred and scapegoating, and the intense conflict and divisiveness reflected in the many spheres of our society—culturally, politically, socially, environmentally, economically, spiritually, and more. I wonder if you feel it too?This unbearable …
(image by Jana Curcio) Years ago, I had a conversation with two white women about the daily burden of being nonwhite in a world of whiteness. My ultimate point was we cannot understand because there is nothing like it in our white reality. We can empathize but the visceral aspect …
By Z Recently, I ran into an old ally and she shared her first impressions of meeting me 15 years ago. She said I was angry and she thought, “OHHHH – that woman is so angry about racism!” I could not tell if this was a good or bad thing …
by Judy Helfand I’m sitting in the audience for a post-production discussion of Kill Move Paradise, a play in which four black men try to make sense of their recent killing. A white woman in the first row is speaking and I’m thinking Stop! Don’t you, a white woman, tell …
by Judy Helfand In the months after the wildfires that burned through our little farm, taking the house and all the outbuildings, I observed the changing state of my brain as illustrated through my choice of readings. At first I wasn’t reading at all and then gradually I started drifting …
A Gift Poem for an Elder I Just Met by Christopher Bowers I come from a people whose burden was a big story that abhorred storytelling and thus secrets ruled with invisibility. I come from a people who thought the center of the universe was in the perpetual west and …
At our last Racial Justice Allies dialog in July with the community, we talked about what to do as white people when we observe or are a witness to racial discrimination. Bystander intervention is crucial now more than ever. Weekly we are hearing about stories of violent discrimination, verbal and …
by Judy Helfand When a new member of Racial Justice Allies asked why there wasn’t more posting on our blog given all that is going on, I replied that we’d been too busy to write. But the question lingered and I reflected more deeply on what I’ve been doing over …
by Kate Riffle Roper As a white mother of two black children, three white children, who all have a white father, I have something to say. Racism exists. It is real. And it is everywhere, all the time. When I brought my boys home they were the cutest, sweetest babies …
The Spirituality of Confronting Privilege, Entitlement, and Cultural Appropriation by Christopher Bowers Grief and Re-Membering: The Spirituality of Confronting Privilege, Entitlement, and Cultural Appropriation was originally published at Satya Lightworks | Rekindling Ancient Wisdom I live in a beautiful, affluent little town infused with the legacy of 60s-era hippie activism …