Written while living on stolen land from the Tohono O’odham (Chukson-now called Tucson, AZ).
It has been almost 3 weeks since George Floyd was murdered by 4 Minneapolis Police officers.
This watershed moment broke open the sea of discontent, anger, and demand for much needed changes for black, brown and white people in the United States and around the world. This, on top of three months of the Corona Virus and the economic collapse that disproportionately causes harm and death to black people. The confluence of these individual events have gathered into a perfect storm of changes that have needed to happen, and can no longer be ignored.
As the founder of a spiritual community and Animist church, I know how my actions, and inactions, words and silence, speak volumes. Let my voice and actions be clear as I state my position of support and protection for Black Lives, and that Web of Life Church is committed to actively participating in Black, Indigenous, Brown and White liberation from white supremacy and colonized mind.
I am so relieved and grateful that the issues of systemic racism, white supremacy, and internalized bias are finally being recognized and named by a growing number of white people, so that we can (hopefully!) create ways to finally heal this sickness that affects everyone and everything. It is so important to remember that this is a generational effort, not an easy one. This sacred change can wait no longer because it is connected to everything else that ails us as a human collective. It is necessary now to not turn away, out of discomfort, shame or fragility.
In my personal world, I am listening to wisdom from black and brown leaders, scholars and activists who are sharing their lived experience. I am looking within for my own white privilege and how it has kept me blindly on the sidelines of the #blacklivesmatter movement until this spring, when I was finally moved out of complacency by the 4 Illuminators-
Ahmad Arberry-Murdered
Breonna Taylor-Murdered
Christian Coleman-The One who Lived
George Floyd- Murdered
We cannot go back. I don’t want to go back. Do you? For any person who calls ourselves “spiritual”, it is now time for us to consciously and directly marry any and all spiritual paths, with the generational work of ancestral healing of racist ideas. As we root out the racist policies and ideas that have formed the structure of our society, we are able to more deeply show up as a Real Humyn Being, and only then can we call ourselves real Spiritual People.
This article helps me be optimistic. It takes 3.5% of us to create a significant change. I am in…are you?
Over the summer of 2020, I am hosting a weekly Learning Circle called “Dismantling Colonized Mind-Animist Learning Circle“.
All open hearted and minded people are welcome to join online in the exploration.
The energy of racist ideas within and around us are killing black and brown people. This “energy” or “spirit” wants us to allow it to continue living within us, and in the institutions of our culture (more about “Colonized Mind” soon). While it wants to live, we must let it be transformed, because it is holding all of us back from creating the future we are able to create. We must also take action in the ways we each can…speak up, give more, help change policies. We are ready for this time, even if we do not feel we are ready. We are ready.
Every day I Learn more. Unlearn more. Act more. I hope you do too. It is time to learn, unlearn and ACT.
Stay tuned.
