“Tenderness is what love feels like in private, justice is what love looks like in public.“ — Cornel West
The deaths of George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks and the manner of their killing has reverberated across the world, sending an urgent call for all of us to wake up to the devastating consequences of ignorance, prejudice and hatred. This tragedy asks us all to recommit to the ending of the suffering born of delusion, to educate ourselves about the injustices and biases in our own communities and in our hearts.
The Black Lives Matter movement invites us to be conscious participants in the healing and liberation of all beings. The Buddha taught that the dukkha born of greed, hatred and delusion can come to an end. The qualities of mindfulness, compassion, investigation and courage we cultivate inwardly ask to be embodied in our actions and speech to address the immediacy of the pain before us. The Buddha’s teaching of liberation is developed in a maturing inner understanding and equally in our speech, actions, thoughts and choices.
As faculty of Bodhi College we are committed to the education and honest reflection that can contribute to the end of all forms of racism and injustice.