Disrupt the Drift

An open letter to Baron Baptiste and the Baptiste Institute and Foundation Leadership

This is a painful time for everyone in our communities. 

We continue to be heartbroken by the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and too many others and the deep pain and division we’re seeing across the country. 

As part of the Baptiste community, we are taught to stand for something bigger than ourselves, and do so proudly. That’s why we are asking the leadership and the community to take a stand with us against racial injustice. 

Be a YES. Silence and standing by is not an option anymore. We must be a Yes for justice, even if it’s uncomfortable. True to our culture of bold and intentional action, we realize it is imperative that the global Baptiste community witnesses your demonstration of speaking up and taking a stand so we are all empowered to do the same. We ask that the Baptiste Institute publicly and openly take a stand against racial injustice, and share how you’re contributing.

Give Up What You Must. As an overwhelmingly white community, it’s up to us to dismantle racism, starting with the implicit bias and white privilege within ourselves. It’s uncomfortable, it’s challenging, yet we must stay in the fire of it to create lasting change. We are all in the experience of powerful, transformative work through Baptiste Yoga Methodology, understanding we are responsible for our own inner transformation. As Educators, Leaders, Influencers of Baptiste Yoga we are making the call for help in starting this process with productive conversations and action recognizing our existing privilege, racism and biases. If we can, and there is no doubt that we can, We must.

Come From You Are Ready Now. We are a community that mobilizes into action to create a lasting change, starting with ourselves, and into our community. 

Here’s how we can start to truly disrupt our own drift when it comes to racial injustice:

- It starts with us. Fully commit to educating ourselves and our community about racism and white privilege. We ask that the Baptiste Institute partners with Yoga Educators and Activists like Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts, PhD., Michelle Johnson or Carrington Jackson to help lead a virtual panel/discussion facilitating space that informs, educates and guides us through hard conversations and even more challenging moments of breakthrough. 

- Active Contribution towards the fight against racial injustice. The Baptiste Yoga family is big-hearted and generous when it comes to supporting causes like Africa Yoga Project. Now our own brothers, sisters and neighbors in our communities across the US need our support. We are making a call to activate our community & foundation to support change by organizing a fundraiser to raise funds for an organization like Campaign Zero, working for clear and specific change in the US system. 

The whole is indeed the goal, and our community needs us to step outside of ourselves and our comfort level and put effort and action beyond our words.

This work is the work of our lifetime and our requests are just first steps towards awakening and being in the right action. We humbly ask for your utmost care, leadership and concern as we create this path together.