“The Buddha was a person of color… a social radical. He brought people of all castes together in a time when society had very strict rules against such mixing; he had women in his community, which for that particular time in that culture was a radical idea. He did not adhere to the rigid class structure or ideas about who could do what, even though he clearly respected the rules… All efforts to be inclusive square beautifully with the Dharma…”
“Gina Sharpe once asked a student why she only attended meditation retreats that were specifically for people of color. “I’m from the South. If I’m the only black person in a room of ninety-nine white people, there’s only one thing that’s going to happen.” “What’s that?” “A lynching,” While the white Buddhist community may be very sweet, very well intentioned, that doesn’t change people’s visceral experience. “I could not argue with it. It’s an emotional wound that won’t heal.”
Originally from Jamaica, Sharpe has a complex heritage—white, black, and Chinese. “I’m so assimilated that I’m more comfortable than many people of color in a white world,” Yet the first time she led a people of color retreat, the tension dropped away. “Even though we come together in what appears to be separate bodies contained in our own sacks of skin, we are inexorably connected. So, in that spirit, I ask you to turn to the people around you.”
Reaching out my hand to greet my neighbors, it looks like New York City itself—a vibrant mix of black, white, Asian, Latino. While it might be tempting to think that this diversity happened automatically; it is actually the product of years of effort.
According to Buddhist philosophy, ultimately there is neither black nor white; these are simply constructions of mind. But practically, there is a legacy of slavery in America, and racism is woven into the fabric of society. This is real. “Given that,” Sharpe tells me, “it’s not just a matter of ‘let’s put people in a room together and let them meditate and everything will be hunky-dory.’ Work has to be done on all different fronts.”
And that work starts with understanding structural racism. “What does structural racism really mean? It means it’s not your fault. You’re not to blame—you don’t have to feel guilty—but you should recognize it as a problem that needs a solution. And how do we as Buddhists solve problems? The first thing we do is we sit down and try to see the truth.” Yet many Buddhists don’t want to see that structural racism operates in their own communities. According to Sharpe, white Buddhists often believe they’re so good-willed that they can’t possibly be racist, and this means that they can’t be taught. Nobody wants to be seen as racist; nobody wants to look inside and see racist tendencies. “So when you bring racism up, there’s so much guilt and shame about it that you get shamed.”
They’re not coming. What’s wrong with them? Why aren’t they coming for these precious teachings that we have? This, according to Sharpe, is frequently the underlying attitude of predominantly white sanghas in regard to people of color not attending their centers. “There’s a feeling of ‘It’s their issue, not my issue. But racism hurts everybody… It’s not about proselytizing to those ‘poor people of color’ who need to know the dharma. When we’re in a room that’s not diverse, we’re missing opinions, we’re missing viewpoints of the world. So getting a more diverse sangha is about enriching our community. It’s not about getting them to come get what we’ve got but for them to bring with them what they’ve got. When we all study the dharma together, it becomes really rich.”
Sharpe feels that a critical step to encourage diversity is retreats and sitting groups specifically for people of color. In these safe spaces, people of color have the opportunity to connect with Buddhist practice and many of them will fall so in love with it that they’ll then begin attending general retreats and sitting groups. In 2005, Sharpe was instrumental in establishing the NYI People of Color Sangha, a sitting group that meets once a month. This was followed by other initiatives to reach out to people of color and to educate convert Buddhists, particularly those in leadership positions, about issues of race, diversity, and equity.
Recently, Sharpe and her collaborators launched “Cultivating a Beloved Community,” an eight-week course that explores differences and similarities through a Buddhist lens. The first course was led by four teachers—a white lesbian, a black gay man, a white straight man, and a black straight woman—and forty-five people applied for the sixteen available spots. “It’s not just talking about race or sexual orientation or prejudice,” says Sharpe. “It’s really looking at suffering and the end of suffering.” “The way suffering ends,” she concludes, “is that its cause is understood. Racism is a huge part of American suffering. If we’re not attending to it, we’re being ignorant.”
~ Andrea Miller
~ Andrea Miller
"Gina Sharpe was born in Jamaica and immigrated to New York at the age of 11. After retiring from the practice of law, she co-founded New York Insight Meditation Center where she serves as Guiding Teacher. She has taught at Retreat Centers and other venues around the United States including a maximum security prison for women. She has been teaching the Dharma since 1995 and is particularly inspired by the potential and application of Dharma to transform and illuminate interpersonal and multicultural relations."
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