Guest guest Posted December 6, 2005 Report Share Posted December 6, 2005 Namah Shivaya. Pranams to all the siblings in Amma participating in this converation. This child is especially grateful for how Amma is being brought into it, to inspire us and keep us moving toward the Love She¹s showing us we all really are. The YWCA¹s Racial Justice Initiative regularly conducts conversations on race using these guidelines: * What you share within the context of the conversation is confidential, honored and respected. * Use ³I² statements. No one speaks for another or for an entire group of people. * Avoid critiquing other¹s experiences; focus on your own experiences. * Be honest and willing to share. Be brief. * Listen with curiosity and the willingness to learn and change. Resist the desire to interrupt. * Try not to take comments personally. Ask for clarification. Assume positive intent. * Suspend judgment. Be open to the kernel of wisdom in each person¹s story. Because we are on line, a few of these obviously don¹t apply. Still, let¹s stay with personal experiences and avoid generalizing and criticizing each other. Amma tell us to respond not react. This child is learning to back off from saying anything when she feels herself getting all stirred up and moving into react mode. Linda¹s sharing about her childhood is a great example of the kind of story that takes us deeper into understanding and connection. Also what she shared about the artist who taught her so much: ³Come to where we are.² This child has expressed to the hosts of Amma¹s Chicago program her concern that the Chicago program needs to move to where the people are. Chicago programs have always been too far away from mass transportation. The people who attend drive cars from long distances. New York¹s venue is much more accessible. ecjensen¹s quote from Amma about love and Love helps keep us close to Amma as we make our way into this delicate topic, by Amma¹s grace. This daughter¹s story (part one) My sister one year older than me had Downs Syndrome. She was born in 1943. My parents made a courageous decision to keep her in our home. At that time it was common to institutionalize people like my sister and there was no special education. Because we were so close in age, we were very close, like twins. When I reached school age, they sent us together to a day program at a local Methodist Boarding school for girls. There must have been an African American girl there, and I must have made some comment to my mother as we went to the car after school. I don¹t remember exactly what my mother said, but she made it clear to me in a way that I never forgot that it is wrong to let skin hue separate us. I will be forever grateful to my mother for this gift. It wasn¹t long before we went to public school, my sister in one class, I in another. Soon the other kids were teasing my sister and I felt I had to defend her. From this experience I realized just how cruel nice people can be. I grew up on the predominately Hispanic north valley of Albuquerque. Regarding terms: in those days the term was not ³Hispanic², it was ³Mexican², even though all our neighbors had been living there as citizens for many generations. In third grade my best friends were Thelma Pablo, a Navajo who grew up to be Miss Indian America, Joan Walker, a gringa who¹s father abused her and who grew up to commit suicide, and Mary Lou Chavez, who was Queen of the May Day Court in Jr. High, based on her academic record. I was merely an attendant in that Court. My first awareness of privilege came when I encountered ³the country club set² at the Jr. High. Without realizing it, I started to associate happiness with material abundance. Since becoming more aware of privilege issues in the past few years, I can now see that as a kid in the North Valley of Albuquerque I enjoyed the privilege of being a gringa and having a mother with a college education. Our grade school principal and my fourth grade teacher were Hispanic. All my other teachers were gringos. The gringos got more attention. The gringos were put on college tracks. One of us became a lawyer. One of us became a veterinarian. What if Mary Lou had been a gringa? What if I¹d been Hispanic? Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah to be continued Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2005 Report Share Posted December 7, 2005 AMMAs son bows to your words.namah shivaya. >Kenna <itskenna >Ammachi ><Ammachi> > Conversation Guidelines >Tue, 06 Dec 2005 20:01:24 -0600 > >Namah Shivaya. > >Pranams to all the siblings in Amma participating in this converation. >This child is especially grateful for how Amma is being brought into it, to >inspire us and keep us moving toward the Love She¹s showing us we all >really >are. > >The YWCA¹s Racial Justice Initiative regularly conducts conversations on >race using these guidelines: > >* What you share within the context of the conversation is confidential, >honored and respected. >* Use ³I² statements. No one speaks for another or for an entire group of >people. >* Avoid critiquing other¹s experiences; focus on your own experiences. >* Be honest and willing to share. Be brief. >* Listen with curiosity and the willingness to learn and change. Resist the >desire to interrupt. >* Try not to take comments personally. Ask for clarification. Assume >positive intent. >* Suspend judgment. Be open to the kernel of wisdom in each person¹s story. > >Because we are on line, a few of these obviously don¹t apply. Still, let¹s >stay with personal experiences and avoid generalizing and criticizing each >other. Amma tell us to respond not react. This child is learning to back >off >from saying anything when she feels herself getting all stirred up and >moving into react mode. > >Linda¹s sharing about her childhood is a great example of the kind of story >that takes us deeper into understanding and connection. > >Also what she shared about the artist who taught her so much: ³Come to >where we are.² >This child has expressed to the hosts of Amma¹s Chicago program her concern >that the Chicago program needs to move to where the people are. Chicago >programs have always been too far away from mass transportation. The people >who attend drive cars from long distances. >New York¹s venue is much more accessible. > >ecjensen¹s quote from Amma about love and Love helps keep us close to Amma >as we make our way into this delicate topic, by Amma¹s grace. > >This daughter¹s story (part one) > >My sister one year older than me had Downs Syndrome. She was born in 1943. >My parents made a courageous decision to keep her in our home. At that time >it was common to institutionalize people like my sister and there was no >special education. Because we were so close in age, we were very close, >like >twins. When I reached school age, they sent us together to a day program at >a local Methodist Boarding school for girls. There must have been an >African American girl there, and I must have made some comment to my mother >as we went to the car after school. I don¹t remember exactly what my mother >said, but she made it clear to me in a way that I never forgot that it is >wrong to let skin hue separate us. I will be forever grateful to my mother >for this gift. > >It wasn¹t long before we went to public school, my sister in one class, I >in >another. Soon the other kids were teasing my sister and I felt I had to >defend her. From this experience I realized just how cruel nice people can >be. > >I grew up on the predominately Hispanic north valley of Albuquerque. >Regarding terms: in those days the term was not ³Hispanic², it was >³Mexican², even though all our neighbors had been living there as citizens >for many generations. In third grade my best friends were Thelma Pablo, a >Navajo who grew up to be Miss Indian America, Joan Walker, a gringa who¹s >father abused her and who grew up to commit suicide, and Mary Lou Chavez, >who was Queen of the May Day Court in Jr. High, based on her academic >record. I was merely an attendant in that Court. My first awareness of >privilege came when I encountered ³the country club set² at the Jr. High. >Without realizing it, I started to associate happiness with material >abundance. > >Since becoming more aware of privilege issues in the past few years, I can >now see that as a kid in the North Valley of Albuquerque I enjoyed the >privilege of being a gringa and having a mother with a college education. >Our grade school principal and my fourth grade teacher were Hispanic. All >my >other teachers were gringos. The gringos got more attention. The gringos >were put on college tracks. One of us became a lawyer. One of us became a >veterinarian. What if Mary Lou had been a gringa? What if I¹d been >Hispanic? > >Aum Amriteshvaryai Namah > >to be continued > > > > > > > > > > _______________ Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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