The recent appearance of racist posters put up by a white nationalist individual (or group) in St. Joseph demonstrates the misconceptions that continue to harm many communities in Minnesota. The posters, urging “Whites Unite,” sadly reflect ill-informed fears about race and culture that have long divided and weakened our human family, rather than strengthening our common purpose.

But we are heartened to see the response of UniteCloud and other community members of goodwill. We are members of the Immigrant and Refugee Awareness and Action Group at Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis, and we extend our hands in care and compassion to all our neighbors. We write now in order to express our love and solidarity with others such as UniteCloud, who are working to dismantle racist views, and to create a genuinely welcoming, caring, inclusive community and society.

In our own lives, we strive to follow the wise words of the renowned Vietnamese Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, when he said, “The world is full of discrimination, violence, and hatred. If we allow ourselves to be caught by these negative energies, we cannot help each other or our planet. Instead we must cultivate freedom, solidity, and understanding”, through opening our hearts to what Hanh calls “the Mind of Love.”

We support UniteCloud in taking a stand against the spread of such unskillful thinking and action in ourselves and in our communities. We urge further steps to nurture the positive energies that contribute to a society that respects, welcomes, and cares for people of all faith traditions, believers and non-believers, races, nationalities, and ethnicities.

Immigrant and Refugee Awareness and Action Group at Common Ground Meditation Center in Minneapolis, MN
Brendan LaRocque
Kathy Kater
Renee Mungas
Yvonne Pearson
Mary McCann
Karen Heegaard
Dawn Bove
Mary Clark
Rik Svien
Amy Higgins
Meredith Sommers