“All I'm saying is simply this, that all life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.
For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Statement from the council of Glasgow Buddhist Centre on 5th June 2020
The council of Glasgow Buddhist Centre affirms our commitment to equality, human dignity and social justice. We aspire to understand the impact that racism has on us all.
We are heartbroken that systemic racism and the ongoing hostility towards black communities has resulted in the murder of George Floyd while in US police custody. We invite our whole community to examine our own prejudices, have the courage to speak up when necessary and connect from the heart with black communities both at home and abroad.
Resources for further education
Understanding white privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack by Peggy Mckintosh - “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.”
Under our skin: what do we mean when we talk about race? - a video project by the Seattle Times which explores the many aspects and terms about race and racial oppression.
Black Lives Matter - information and up-to-date news about the organization that is a global movement fighting for freedom, liberation and justice for all black lives.
13th - a stunning documentary which explores the history of racial inequality in the United States, focusing on the fact that the nation's prisons are disproportionately filled with African-Americans. Useful to understand how the institution of slavery and the continued dehumanizing of African-Americans is connected. About the situation in the US, but is relevant to how systemic oppression of black lives works all over the world. On Netflix.