History of Racial Affinity Groups at IMCC

In the fall of 2011, sangha leaders began discussing diversity initiatives at IMCC. Shortly after, the IMCC Diversity Committee (previously known as the Building Community Committee) was created. We launched in 2012 with a series of events inviting the sangha to consider issues of separation, diversity, and, specifically, race and racism.

After IMCC leaders met Ruth King, we invited her for the first of many trainings with IMCC’s leaders and community. In May 2013, Ruth led a 2-day weekend workshop including 15 Board Members and 15 Sangha Members. It was in this meeting that Ruth laid out what would become the basis of her book, Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out.

In 2014, Ruth returned to Charlottesville twice. Once, to offer a weekend workshop on The Mad Mind, which included 50-60 IMCC sangha members and members of the Charlottesville community, especially those working in the public sector in Charlottesville. The other to lead a weekend workshop on Healing Separation to mostly Insight Meditation Practitioners. It was after this workshop that efforts to form Racial Affinity Groups (RAG) intensified, and after initial efforts to meet in mixed race groups, the first IMCC Racial Affinity Group started in November 2015, consisting mostly of IMCC teachers and a few Board Members.

The initial efforts to meet in mixed race groups reflected the challenge us white folks had and have had in recognizing our own racial identity. This is one of Ruth’s more pivotal messages and helped us to see “the intention of a RAG is to create a safe place to take risks and explore racial ignorance, aversion, and urgency mindfully.”

Each year since 2015, a new RAG has been started, with as many as seven RAGs being held through 2020. We estimate that over 70 people have participated in IMCC-sponsored RAGs through 2022. Each RAG has investigated our racial identities through the hundreds of questions Ruth has mindfully crafted, which point to the overall inquiry: Why are matters of race still of concern across that nation and throughout the world? And what does this have to do with me?

In 2018, Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism from the Inside Out was published by Ruth King, which included expanded instructions for forming RAGs. In 2020, the online Racial Affinity Group Development Year-long Program, Brave Space, was offered with over 270 meditation practitioners attending across the nation, including several members of the IMCC community.

Starting in 2023, IMCC brought on a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Coordinator. This role supports IMCC’s mission to be a welcoming, engaged, and equitable community where all may find refuge, connection, and a path toward liberation. The DEIJ Coordinator’s responsibility is to form new RAGs and coordinate special and whole sangha DEIJ-focused events along with the DEIJ Committee. The creation of the DEIJ Coordinator role was inspired by a strategic planning process where IMCC reevaluated our organization and consciously moved toward more inclusive leadership and teaching structures.

One special event was on October 9, 2025, when RAG alumni gathered to honor Ruth King. We shared stories of our learning, our healing, and our gratitude to Ruth for her leadership and contributions to our sangha. Seven individuals shared stories about awakenings they had experienced as a result of the work they had done in their RAGs. Most described themselves as liberal, caring, white people, with the self-perception as not racist or anti-racist. Each described an incident that revealed to them their own unconscious bias, prejudice, and/or privilege. They attributed their ability to either see these truths or to be able to accept the feedback given to them to the reflections, readings, and support they experienced in their RAGs. The stories were vulnerable, moving, and very powerful.

IMCC remains dedicated to the work of racial healing and engaged Buddhism. Many sangha members are involved with local community events like Charlottesville Clergy Collective’s Moral Mondays, and leading small groups to offer support and places of refuge in today’s political and
racial environment. This includes IMCC's first multi-sangha-sponsored RAG in collaboration with Cloud Floating Free, another sangha local to Charlottesville. If you're interested in participating, please reach out to Sarah Adams at sarah.e.adams91@gmail.com.