The Recovery Dharma Women, Trans, & Non-Binary sangha stand in solidarity with the Black community in our sangha, our recovery community, in the Pacific Northwest, and around the world. We condemn racism and the violence inflicted on George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and the countless other Black people across all genders that have been subjected to brutality at the hands of a Police system rooted in White Supremacy.

We acknowledge that:

• Systemic racism is real.
• The impact of systemic racism is deadly for Black and Indigenous Peoples and People of Color across law enforcement, mental health, medical and other institutional systems.
• The impact of systemic racism and the trauma it causes is at the heart of the suffering many Black and Brown people experience in their addiction.
• Our individual sangha, intersangha, and the broader Recovery Dharma community is disproportionately comprised of White people and White voices.

To our Black companions in the recovery journey: We see you. We are listening. We stand with you against racism, oppression, and violence.

To our White and non-Black companions: We ask you to draw on the tools you have learned in recovery to listen, and to engage with difficult discussions and feelings that arise in discussions around oppression and privilege. No matter how hard it may be to sit with discomfort, it does not compare to the existential threats People of Color face every day and have for generations.

As a Sangha, we commit to:

• Working harder to engage People of Color in our community
• Providing a haven to engage in the journey of recovery using Buddhist principles while respectfully acknowledging the wisdom and cultural lineage from which they come.
• To hold space for difficult and consensual conversations in a way that does not require People of Color to undertake the emotional and psychic labor of educating us and that is mindful of perpetuating racially-based trauma
• To undertake these commitments as an ongoing, integrated process and not a one-time engagement.

May we all be at ease.