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Rhonda V. Magee2019ColorInsight practices
The Inner Work of Racial Justice
Healing ourselves and transforming our communities through mindfulness
Justice is built in laws and institutions. It is also built, or undone, in the body, in the room, and in what we let ourselves see.
Begin the practice- Movements
- 6movements in the reflective practice on this page
- Author
- LawMagee is a professor of law at the University of San Francisco
- Foreword
- 2019published with a foreword by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The idea
Justice is outer work. It is inner work too.
Rhonda V. Magee, a law professor and longtime mindfulness teacher, argues that racism lives in our bodies, habits and institutions, so undoing it takes inner work as well as outer change. Drawing on her own life and on the contemplative practices she calls ColorInsight, she offers ways to notice racialised reactions with compassion, stay present in hard conversations, and turn awareness into action with others. It refuses both easy guilt and easy comfort, and treats justice as an ongoing practice.
Rhonda V. Magee teaches law and has taught mindfulness for many years, and the book joins the two. Its starting point is plain: racism is not only written into laws and institutions. It also lives in how we were taught to see, in what the body does in a tense room, and in what we learned not to look at.
So the work has an inner side. Mindfulness here is not a way to calm down and move on. It is a way to notice racialised reactions as they rise, to stay with discomfort instead of escaping into guilt, defensiveness or numbness, and to treat yourself and others with enough compassion to keep going.
And it has an outer side. Awareness that never becomes action misses the point. The practices are meant to change how we listen, what we notice at work and in our neighbourhoods, and what we do together. Magee calls them ColorInsight: paying attention to race and racism with mindfulness and care, rather than looking away.
Where the work happens
Three circles, after the book's subtitle: healing ourselves, transforming our communities.
Ourselves
The inner work- Notice reactions as they rise in the body
- Know your own racial story
- Meet discomfort with compassion, not flight
Each other
The work between us- Listen deeply across difference
- Stay in hard conversations a little longer
- Repair when you cause harm
Our communities
The work we do together- Learn the history of where you live and work
- Notice who is included, and who is not
- Act with others, over time
Turn towardStay withAct with others
The motion the practice below follows, in every circle.
A practice, not a test
Nothing on this page measures anyone. There is no score and no right answer. What you write in the practice stays in this browser, is never sent anywhere, and is kept only if you choose to keep it.
The practice
Six movements, one moment.
Bring one real moment when race was present: a remark at work, a news story, a silence at dinner. Not the hardest thing in your life. Move through it at your own pace, and end with one small step. About fifteen minutes.
Ground
Arrive in the body before you go anywhere near the story.
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Feet
Feel your feet on the floor, or wherever they rest. Weight, pressure, temperature.
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Seat
Feel what is holding you up: the chair, the ground. You don't have to hold yourself up alone.
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Hands
Let your hands rest. Notice them from the inside: tingling, warmth, stillness.
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Breath
Notice one breath in and one breath out. You don't need to change it.
Take as long as you like on each one.
Then stop here. That is not failure; it is listening to yourself. Step away, move your body, drink some water, or reach out to someone you trust. If you carry racial trauma, this kind of practice can be gentler with a teacher, a group or a therapist. The page will be here when you return.
Recall
Bring one moment when race was present. Not the hardest one.
Where were you?
Notice
What happened in the body, the feelings and the mind? There is no right reaction. Just notice.
In the body Then, or now as you remember it.
Feelings As many as are true.
Inquire
Ask a question of the moment, and of what you were taught. Choose one or two that pull at you.
Questions Pick up to two.
Compassion
Widen the circle: you, the people in it, everyone harmed. Change the words until they are yours.
One at a time, about three breaths each.
For yourself
Respond
Choose one small step you can actually take. Small and real beats large and vague.
What kind of step?
Not kept anywhere yet. Close the page and it is gone.
Kept on this device
Take it with you
The practice works when it repeats.
One reflection changes little. A weekly one, on paper or in your calendar, becomes a habit of attention. Everything here is made in your browser.
Print · A4 or Letter
The reflection sheet
All six movements on one page, with ruled space to write by hand. Blank, so it works for any moment, alone or in a circle.
Calendar · .ics
Repeats weekly. Delete it from your calendar any time.
A weekly fifteen minutes
One moment, once a week: what you noticed, felt and will do. Your calendar does the remembering.
Text · .txt
Your page, in words
The page you finish in the practice, as plain text for a journal or notes app. It is made on your device and goes nowhere else.
Finish the six movements first.Eight insights
What the book asks us to see.
The ideas readers return to most. Vote for the ones that changed how you look.
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Racism lives in bodies and habits as well as in laws and institutions.
Magee holds that racial patterns are learned and held below conscious thought, which is why good intentions alone rarely change them. Inner work makes the automatic visible so it can be met.
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Paying attention to race is the beginning, not pretending not to see it.
Claiming not to see colour can shut down inquiry before it starts. Magee's ColorInsight practices ask you to notice, with curiosity, how race shapes your experience and other people's.
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Notice the body's reaction before the story about it.
A tightening, a flush of heat, an urge to change the subject: these arrive first. Pausing to feel them gives you a choice about what you say and do next.
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Self-compassion is what keeps you in the work when it gets uncomfortable.
Shame pushes people away from reflection. Meeting your own mistakes with kindness and accountability together is what makes it possible to keep looking.
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Everyone has a racial story, including people who rarely think about theirs.
Exploring how race has shaped your own life, family and opportunities is part of the practice for everyone, not only for those who are targeted by racism.
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Deep listening across difference is a practice, not a personality trait.
Listening to understand, rather than to defend or correct, can be trained. Notice the urge to respond and let the other person finish first.
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Inner work and collective action belong together.
Reflection that never reaches action stays private comfort; action without reflection can repeat the harm it means to undo. Let each feed the other.
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Discomfort often marks the edge of what you were taught to avoid.
When a conversation about race feels hard, that is frequently where learning is possible. Stay one breath longer than you want to.
Practice in the world
Begin once. Return often.
A few things to set up, then the small practices that keep the work alive in ordinary days.
Begin
Set up once-
Write a one-page racial autobiography
Note your first memory of noticing race, what your family said about it and what went unsaid.
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Find a practice partner or circle
Ask one friend, colleague or group to commit to honest, regular reflection with you.
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Look at whose voices you hear
List the authors, journalists and teachers you read most, and add voices from communities you know less well.
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Learn one local history
Find out how race shaped your own town, school or workplace, and who told that story.
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Choose one place to act
Pick one setting, such as your workplace, school or neighbourhood, and one concrete thing you will do there this month.
Return
Again and again-
In the moment
Pause before responding
In conversations that touch race, take one breath and notice what your body is doing before you speak.
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Once a week
Reflect once a week
Spend fifteen minutes on one moment when race was present: what you noticed, felt and will do.
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Each day
Practise compassion for yourself and others
Close the day with a short wish for wellbeing that includes yourself, people harmed by racism and people you find hard.
Turn toward what you were taught not to see. Feel it, stay with it, and then take the next right step, with others.
HourLife note after Rhonda V. Magee
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Frequently asked
What is The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness about?
Rhonda V. Magee, a law professor and longtime mindfulness teacher, argues that racism lives in our bodies, habits and institutions, so undoing it takes inner work as well as outer change. Drawing on her own life and on the contemplative practices she calls ColorInsight, she offers ways to notice racialised reactions with compassion, stay present in hard conversations, and turn awareness into action with others. It...
What are the key takeaways from The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness?
Readers on HourLife most often highlight ideas such as: “Racism lives in bodies and habits as well as in laws and institutions.” “Paying attention to race is the beginning, not pretending not to see it.” “Notice the body's reaction before the story about it.”
Who should read The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness?
It's a strong pick for readers exploring Better Conversations, Better Life, Mindfulness, and Self-Awareness Journey. HourLife distills its core idea into community-voted insights and one practical action worth trying.
What's one thing I can do after reading The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness?
Write a one-page racial autobiography — Note your first memory of noticing race, what your family said about it and what went unsaid.
How long does it take to read the The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness summary?
About five minutes. The HourLife summary distills The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness into its core idea, 8 community insights, and 8 practical actions you can apply right away.
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