Anti-Oppression Resources

The following resources have been recommended by community members or other meditation centers.  We have separated these resources into three main areas: General Resources on Unraveling Oppression, Resources on Racial Oppression, and Resources on Gendered Oppression.   An * indicates that a Common Ground teacher has found this resource quite useful.

General Resources on Unraveling Oppression

Common Ground Resources

Talks and resources for talks given by teachers at Common Ground:

Resources from our broader mindfulness meditation community

Websites

  • East Bay Meditation Center – An intentionally diverse sangha in Oakland, CA. They have collected a lot of resources around diversity and Buddhism.

Articles

Books (many of which are in our reference library or lending library)

Videos

Other good resources on unraveling oppression

  • * Harvard Implicit Bias Test
  • IMM Print – A publication about immigration detention, but not of it. Being caged does not define us, but our voices grow in a society that incarcerates more than any other on Earth. Here, we speak beyond borders and walls, we share our stories in their own right, and we shine light on a system designed to keep us in the dark.”
  • The Microaggressions Project – Seeks to provide a visual representation of brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward “social others”.

Resources on Racial Oppression

Common Ground Resources

Resources from our broader mindfulness meditation community

Talks

Websites

  • White Awake provides resources and dharma-based support for developing a racial awareness program.  

Articles

Books (many of which are in our library)

  • Dharma, Color, and Culture (in Common Ground’s library), Hilda Gutierrez Baldoquin, ed.
  • Dreaming Me: An African-American Woman’s Buddhist Journey, Janice Willis
  • Making the Invisible Visible: Healing Racism in Our Buddhist Communities, Sheridan Adams, Mushim Ikeda-Nash, Jeff Kitzes, Margarita Loinaz, Choyin Rangdrol, Jessica Tan, Larry Yang
  • Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun, Faith Adiele

Other good resources on racial oppression

Websites

  • ASDIC (Antiracism Study and DIalogue Circle) is an esteemed workshop provider based in St. Paul. Common Ground partnered with them to host a 10-week circle for 30 of our leaders in 2016.
  • Colorlines is a daily news site where race matters, featuring award-winning investigative reporting and news analysis.
  • Healing Minnesota Stories – Working towards understanding and healing between Native American and Non-Native peoples.  Primarily for a white audience, this site contains articles and blogs that try to elevate Native American stories and educational events to contribute to understanding and healing.
  • Reading for Racial Justice-University of Minnesota Press is making antiracist books available to read online for free through August 31, 2020.
  • Voices for Racial Justice‘s mission is to advance racial, cultural, social, and economic justice in Minnesota through organizer and leadership training, strategic convenings and campaigns, and research and policy tools.
  • Whiteness Project is an interactive investigation into how Americans who identify as white, or partially white, understand and experience their race.

Articles

Books (many of which are in our library)

  • A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota, edited by Sun Yung Shin
  • Citizen by Claudia Rankine
  • My Grandmother’s Hands, by Resmaa Menakem
  • The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander. The New Press (January 2010).
  • The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
  • The White Racial Frame: Centuries of Racial Framing and Counter-Framing, Joe R. Feagin (this is the book we used in our ASDIC antiracism circle)
  • Waking Up White, Debby Irving. Elephant Room Press (January 2014) (PDF may be available online.)
  • White Birch, Red Hawthorn, A Memoir, by Nora Murphy

Video & film

Podcasts

Resources on Gendered Oppression

Resources from our broader mindfulness meditation community

Articles

Video/Audio & Film

Common Ground Meditation Center