Branching Streams is proposing a new online course: Unpacking the Whiteness of Leadership. For teachers, board members, and sangha members, the course will be led by Crystal Johnson (bio). We will need 30 or more participants to offer this course. Here is the course description:
This is a time in America when white people’s awareness of the terrible impact of racial inequity has increased dramatically in the context of the pandemic and following the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. As dharma practitioners and leaders, how can we use the energy of this time to confront and address the suffering of racial injustice and move toward greater inclusiveness and racial equity in our sanghas?
Branching Streams seeks to address this question through a new course, Unpacking the Whiteness of Leadership, designed for dharma practitioners and leaders who wish to promote, nurture and maintain a more diverse, equitable and inclusive community.
Goals of the course:
• Come together as a supportive community of white practitioners and leaders to explore the dynamics and impact of whiteness from the personal to the systemic levels
• Increase awareness of the ways our behaviors, values, social norms and leadership practices perpetuate the status quo, and explore alternatives.
• Work together to develop new leadership practices that will support greater inclusiveness in our sanghas
• Explore the Buddhist practices that nurture us and sustain our capacity to take action for change.
The course will meet for six two-hour sessions, Saturday afternoons every 2 weeks beginning July 25th. The suggested donation is $50 – 250. All proceeds of the course will go to the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA or to another POC-led organization working for social justice.
We would like to know if there is sufficient interest to offer the course. Please let me know if your sangha would like to participate and roughly how many members would be highly likely to participate. For maximum benefit we recommend that two or more members of your sangha participate.
If there is enough interest, we will send a flyer and information on how to register for the class
Many sanghas have already begun this work, and may wish to participate as a way of diving deeper. I hope this course will speak to your needs and concerns at this time and welcome your comments or questions about this offering.