Bearing Witness to Injustice through our Breath

Contrary to marketing schemes, mindfulness of our breath was never meant to serve ourselves alone but to tune in to our responsibility toward the community of all lives.

The phrase “Take a deep breath” is often paired with ideas of relaxation. This perspective has been perpetuated by the wellness industry, prioritizing the self over others. In light of global suffering, it is important to return to the ancient (yet “living”) view of how the breath re-connects us to the web of life and thus to our responsibility in this web. The word for self (nafs) and breath (nafas) are both spelled the same in Arabic. In Islam, it is said that Allah “breathed” spirit into us to give us life. Thus, connecting to the breath re-connects us to ourselves, but this re-connection isn’t complete without healing our relationship with the web of life that we are one with. Facing this responsibility wasn’t always meant to be “relaxing.” Instead, it can be an invitation to “break open” instead of “breaking down.”

While inequality and the fight against it are nothing new, the global pandemic and the protests against racial violence in America have highlighted its presence further. Eric Garner’s last words before his life was taken by racial violence in 2014 were, “I can’t breathe” repeated 11 times. It is sad that it took a virus, which targets our ability to breathe regardless of our background, to make more people and institutions begin to pay attention to these same last words spoken again by George Floyd. It’s too early to say whether this initial attention will lead to long term meaningful change.

Meaningful change must begin with our own inner work, which can allow us to deeply listen to the people who are impacted by racism, colorism, and other forms of inequality in our community. Part of this listening involves committing to educating ourselves instead of using “positive thinking” as an excuse to keep ourselves in the privileged comfort of ignorance. We also shouldn’t use the excuse “But I’m not racist!” or “I don’t see racism here! We live in a diverse country.” Even the best of us internalizes societal messages that harm how we subconsciously relate to our own background and to other people. Kerning Cultures, a local podcast, has compiled a list of resources to begin educating ourselves about racism in the Arab region and what we can do about it.

Our inner work can also help us have difficult but necessary conversations within our homes, schools, and workplaces about ways that we contribute to inequality, whether intentionally or not. Our inaction and silence cause harm even if we do not intend to. While noticing our intentions is important in contextualizing where we are coming from, jumping to defend our intentions often distracts us from seeing how we can make our actions better in line with our intentions. Just because we have good intentions, and just because we are friends with people from different backgrounds, that does not mean that we are not accountable for the harm we have caused. And if we have caused harm, it does not make us bad people; rather, it is an opportunity to do better.

The breath can serve as an anchor against the winds of defensiveness and paralyzing existential guilt which distract us from bearing witness to injustice, even if it were against ourselves as the Qur’an advises us to do: “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves…” (4:135).