Racial Affinity Group for white and white-presenting people - part of the NLBC Racial Diversity and Inclusion (RDI) Initiative.

Wed 26 Jan 19:00-21:00. Open to all. This event is by donation.

Hosted by Katja, Bodhamayi and Singhashri from the NLBC Racial Diversity and Inclusion Initiative (RDI).

As part of the Racial Diversity and Inclusion initiative, the NLBC is offering white Sangha members a space to uncover and transform our views, conditioning and experiences around race, held within the context of our Dharma.

~Why gather in this way, with just white folks?

White affinity groups have been a successful strategy for creating contexts where white folks can come together in a safe and supportive environment to educate themselves and explore the topic of race and their relationship to it. Meeting as a racial affinity group means we do not place the burden of educating us, and the emotional labour of holding space as we grapple with our responses, onto people of colour (PoC). 

White affinity groups have been successfully run in other Buddhist contexts where PoC Sangha members requested that white folks 'do the work' on their own as a racial group, in order to then more effectively engage in racially mixed settings. 

Within Triratna, there is support for this work from a number of PoC Order Members who have been in active dialogue with the RDI initiative since its inception. It’s fine to have questions about this defining aspect of the group and you can read more about why it’s being done this way by following the link below.

https://www.awarenessisrevolutionary.com/faq
At our first mtg we’ll spend time:

• practising together, 

• exploring what’s brought us to the group, 

• developing agreements to foster safety amongst us, and 

• discussing and agreeing what materials we’d like to study together, starting with this article from Ruth King