[Watch] angel Kyodo williams talk race and Buddhism after Charleston on #MindfulMondays

Rev. angel Kyodo williams, who spoke last month with Bhikkhu Bodhi about mindfulness, responsibility, and social justice, has been the guest teacher for June at “Mindful Mondays.” Mindful Mondays is a community “designed to democratize wellbeing” according to founder Kerri Kelly of CTZN Well. This week Rev. angel Kyodo williams led a meditation titled #9Minutes for Charleston.

After the meditation williams led a discussion of race in America, noting in particular that had this been an act by a Muslim the term “terrorism” would have been used immediately, and if these had been white victims the term “massacre” would have been used immediately, but instead we’re told that this is a “church shooting.” And these labels both deny the suffering of the victims’ families and ease the discomfort of the white supremacist society.

The process, williams says, of confronting white privilege must be undertaken by all of us who uphold a system of privilege – actively and knowingly or not. “I think the main interruption is to name whiteness and to name white supremacy and racism for what they are,” she said, “and to stop coddling each other and coddling yourselves.”

Watch the in full here (the discussion begins around 31 minutes in):

Rev. angel Kyodo williams is the author of Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace.