A Letter of Accountability and Learning

Published by Healing from White Yoga under the direction and guidance of Dharmic mentors (Dharmic means Indigenous Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain people)

Written by Alex Brott — community member. Shared with permission.

Hi there,

I hope this note finds you holding up okay, and enjoying the shift into spring. I’m writing because I participated in causing harm in a community space I have been a part of, and was asked to write publicly about it as part of a process of repair.

For several years, I have been part of a white mens’ healing and accountability space, in which a Hindu woman of color supports and mentors our work. During a recent series of meetings, this mentor shared extensive details about violence done to her people, and how that violence is rarely acknowledged, and often denied outright. In a moment when this mentor asked to be heard and believed about this, some members of the group did not do so, causing harm that compounded the kinds of violence she’s been working tirelessly to teach us about. While I saw what was happening, I didn’t intervene or interrupt in the moment.

A number of dynamics contributed to this, but I want to speak specifically to our Hinduphobia and abrahamic supremacy. I understand Hinduphobia to refer to not just bias and negative stereotypes about Hindu people, but to the centuries-long and ongoing history of colonization and violence faced by Hindu people, even in South Asia. By abrahamic supremacy, I mean the believed supremacy of abrahamic faiths, values, perspectives and people over indigenous and other ways of life, spirit and knowledge, both in historical conquest and in shaping contemporary dominant narratives and power structures in much of the world. (I hold a lot of nuance here, given the realities of both anti-semitism, and Islamophobia in parts of the world. I’m very happy to discuss more if you are interested.)

Combined, these dynamics led me to resist internalizing the information being shared, devalue the seriousness of this history, and overlook the impact of these experiences and our actions on a Hindu person. I am working to repair my relationship with that mentor, learn more about these topics, and unpack how my worldview and sense of being are deeply shaped by the dominance of abrahamic faiths and values.

with love,

Alex

If you have written a personal letter of accountability to Hindu and other Dharmic peoples to help repair some of the harm you have done through Hinduphobia, the yoga industrial complex, white supremacy, western dominance, and more, please do share it with us at healingfromwhiteyoga@gmail.com. We’d love to help in the repair work. Much harm has been caused by so many of us without even realizing the damage left in our wake.

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