Thread by @EngagedPureLand

"Black Lives Matter to the Buddhist Churches of America," a collected thread of posts originally presented for #BlackHistoryMonth 2021. When considering the widespread BCA support for Black Lives Matter, this background from the Civil Rights Era may be useful.

August 1963: Buddhist Churches of America Ministers Association unanimously vote to support the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They issue a statement: "We stand on the basic principle of the Sangha--brotherhood of all men--in urging Congress to pass the Civil Rights legislation."

September 1963: BCA Board of Directors passes resolution supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They adopt the same statement as the Ministers Association, and use it to guide future discussion.

February 1964: The Oakland Buddhist Life Program discusses civil rights.

April 1964: BCA Board of Directors sends letter to Senator Thomas H. Kuchel supporting the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and condemning a proposed amendment that would permit religious discrimination.

August 1964: BCA Ministers Association adopts a resolution in opposition to Proposition 14, which would repeal the 1963 Rumford Fair Housing Act and allow racial discrimination in housing.

The statement read: "WHEREAS Buddhism is a religion which stands on the basic principle of Sangha--the clignity of the individual man and the brotherhood of all men; and..."

"WHEREAS we Buddhists who uphold this principle, believe in basic human rights and equal justice for all peoples regardless of race, creed or color; and
WHEREAS we support the existing California Fair Housing Laws; and..."

"WHEREAS the proposed Constitutional Amendment will foster discrimination:
Therefore be it..."

"RESOLVED, That we, the Buddhist ministers of the Buddhist Churches of America, assembled at the annual Ministerial Conference in Gardena, California on August 25, 26, 27, 1964, do hereby unanimously express our opposition to the proposed California
Constitutional Amendment..."

"on housing (Proposition 14); and be it
RESOLVED further, That copies of this resolution be distributed to all our churches urging our members
to vote against Proposition 14."

March 1965: The Florin Buddhist Church youth hold a discussion of the world's problems, centered on "the Negro's fight for Civil Rights."

April 1968: Horrified by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Buddhist Churches of America sends a telegram to his widow and directs all BCA temples to observe April 7, 1968 as a day of meditation in memory of Dr. King.

August 1968: The annual BCA Ministers Association once again includes civil rights as a main topic of discussion, especially in relation to the protests and riots of that summer.

October 1968: Former Portland NAACP president Harry Ward presents to the Buddhist Churches of America Northwest Extension Seminar about Black history and challenges of the current day.

February 1969: BCA Minister’s Workshop on Youth Problems includes seminar on "The Black Issue." The speaker was Mrs. Virna Canson, Field Director and Legislative Advocate for the West Region, NAACP.

July 1969: Taitetsu Unno is the keynote speaker at the Pacific Seminar. His speech was “Buddhism, A Challenge for Modern Man.” He requires attendees to pre-read two books: “The Awareness of Self” and “The Dark Eye in Africa,” an anti-apartheid book.

December 1971: Four years after Loving vs Virginia made interracial marriage legal in the United States, Rev. Koshin Ogui conducted a wedding for a Black Buddhist man and his White Buddhist fiancée at Buddhist Church of San Francisco.

August 1972: "Panel on Problems Facing the Black Community" organized for the annual Buddhist Churches of America ministers' meeting. 64 ministers heard directly from Black Buddhists, students, and experts.

The 1972 panel was recorded and distributed to temples for use with middle school, high school, and adult audiences.

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