1) Mindful Reflection on History: A Practice

Below are a serious of quotes that might support us to go deeper in our relfection and integration of these two modules about history. A possible practice could be to drop them in a meditation session, allowing them to turn over in the mind. And/or you may wish to journal about them. You can do this alone, or you might do this with friends and then discuss your reflections.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” - James Baldwin, The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985

“History is not the past. It is the stories we tell about the past. How we tell these stories - triumphantly or self-critically, metaphysically or dialectally - has a lot to do with whether we cut short or advance our evolution as human beings.” - Grace Lee Boggs

“The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do.” - James Baldwin, in The Price of the Ticket: Collected Nonfiction, 1948-1985

2) Some Prompts for reflecting on Traces of the Trace

Most family members Katrina Brown wrote to with an invitation engage in this exploration do not respond, but a small number do. As we witness in the film, these family members then reckon with their responsibility towards their family history in various ways, together and apart.

• What moments of the film most stood out to you? Why?

• We know imagination plays an important role in Buddhist practice. What is it like to imagine the experience of those enslaved? Of those enslaving others? Is this imaginable?

• What did you learn about your own racial conditioning in watching this film? What is relatable? What is less familiar?

• As far as you know or imagine, have your ancestors been implicated and/or impacted, directly or indirectly, by slavery and colonialism?

• How do you relate to the idea of responsibility for the actions of people long gone, be they related or not? Do you? What does healthy responsibility look like for you?

2) “Racial Karma”

• Are there ways in which Buddhist teachings about karma help us (or not) make sense of history? Of the momentum of racism over time?

• What does the idea of “healing racial karma” evoke for you?

• What happens when we think of whiteness as a habit instead of an identity? As something we do/enact, versus something we are?