Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and the endless list of those before them [rest in power] — the events that caused these innocent lights to be diminished from the world were tragic, bone-chilling and infuriating. Yet, their stories were relatively short-lived in mainstream media. As human nature faded each heart-breaking memory from our minds, we were reawakened to the same anger, sadness, and fear with another new tragedy, new headlines making their way into our TVs and social feeds. We have seen time and time again that it has been fairly simple for non-Black people to forget the pain, forget the injustice because our privilege has allowed us to do so. We don’t carry racial injustice on our skin the same way Black people have to each and every single day. We are not reminded of our difference and the dangers of living in a world that wasn’t built for us in the same way as Black people.
This time, it’s different. The protests are different. Our mindset is different.
Alicia Garza, founder of the Black Lives Matter movement explained to The New Yorker
“ These protests are different because they are marked by a period that has been deeply personal to millions of Americans and residents of the United States, and that has them more tender or sensitive to what is going on. People who would normally have been at work now have time to go to a protest or a rally, and have time to think about why they have been struggling so much, and they are thinking, This actually isn’t right and I want to make time, and I have the ability to make time now and make my concerns heard.”
Many of us are seeing the suffering of Black people in a way we’ve never seen them before. We have to leverage this unique time in our journey and establish collective remembrance. A month, three months, six months, a year, three years from now, how are we going to carry on this movement in our day-to-day lives? How are we going to plant the seeds of racial equality to our young? As we soon start to post our “regular” content, continue our “regular” daily conversations, when the world returns to “business as usual”, we must make it a habit to practice mindful-awareness each and every day.
Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing. The purpose of mindful awareness is to establish truthful, self-awareness. It elevates us to increase focus and has been shown to assist in minimizing bias. When you’re more self-aware, you begin to find out who you truly are and the way you think.
You begin to do the real work of uncovering the social constructs that have resulted in you thinking a certain way. It helps to center your mind, bringing more clarity into what is wrong and what is right in your life. It helps you to let go of fears, doubts, and anger and focus on solutions. It opens up your mind to all of the amazing potential you have that you can contribute to making the world a better place.
Rhonda Magee’s beautiful insightful book “ The Inner Work of Racial Justice “ introduces stories and research on bias, mindfulness meditation, and compassion practice. It explains the “importance of creating some spaciousness in ourselves to understand how we hold ideas of race in our own brain, body, and experience. Because cultural training and conditionings run so deep, we need to meet the challenges of un-training ourselves with a similar level of depth.”
She suggests that mindfulness meditation holds the key to tackling racial stereotyping, and confronting interpersonal racism.
“[Mindfulness meditation] helps people tolerate the discomfort that comes with deeper discussions about race. And it can help cultivate a sense of belonging and community for those who experience and fight racism in our everyday lives.”
As human beings, mindfulness is something we all naturally possess (even though it clearly doesn’t seem like it for some). The ability is actually built in us to self-reflect and what’s amazing is that research shows when you train your brain to be more mindful, you can remodel the physical structure of it.
How to Get Started With Mindfulness Meditation
1) Set Aside Meditation Time
Try your best to carve out 30-minutes in your day to practice mindfulness. Not everyone has the luxury of time but the key is to try here and if you fail to make time today, try again tomorrow. Don’t punish yourself for doing so.
2) Focus on Breathing
The simple act of monitoring and experiencing your breathing can help you become more focused. Feel your breath flowing in and out of your body as you breathe. Breathing in, this is my in-breath. Breathing out, this is my out-breath.
3) Attend to Thoughts
When thoughts come up in your mind that reveal your privilege or silent racial bias, don’t ignore or suppress them. Simply make note of the impact these thoughts have on your breathing, on your pulse. The key is to sit in these feelings in a moment-to-moment awareness of thought. Did something come up today or was something said that you should have acted on? What prevented you from speaking out? Fear? Unsureness? Doubt? How can you do better tomorrow?
Remember, our conscious brains have the ability to override hidden prejudice as long as we confront them head-on and get to the root of the problem. It is important to visit and re-visit this process long after the black squares fade, the voices get quieter and the world moves on to its next story…which will most likely be an alien invasion at this point. Am I right?
Originally published at https://ilmieshamku.com on June 8, 2020.
