Two Conversions
Kaira Jewel's May 2026 Newsletter
Dear friends,
My partner, Adam Bucko, and I recently had the great honor of interviewing Andrew Young about his life and his experience in the civil rights movement. This conversation was part of our Beloved Community for Engaged Spirituality monthly online gatherings.
Andrew is a family friend—he and my father worked together in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference back in the 1960s. He and his late wife, Jean, have always been supportive and loving to me and our family. So sitting with him at 94 felt less like an interview and more like sitting at the feet of a beloved elder.
He had so many powerful stories about the power of nonviolence. Here’s one of them.
During the movement, Andrew Young was working closely with Dr. King in Albany, Georgia. King had been arrested during a march and sentenced to jail for violating an injunction he hadn’t even known existed.
While King was in jail, Andrew Young became the liaison between the movement and the outside community. That meant he had to go see him twice a day.
To put this in context: Black communities in the South were living under terror: churches bombed, homes burned, people lynched. This was not symbolic oppression. It was violent and constant. And yet the movement had committed itself to nonviolence.
At the jail, Andrew Young found himself dealing regularly with a massive desk sergeant named Hamilton—nearly 300 pounds, carrying a club and a gun. The first time Andrew entered, the sergeant called back to the sheriff and used a racial slur to describe both Andrew and Dr. King — as if they were not worth addressing directly.
Andrew later admitted he was intimidated. “That was my first test of nonviolence,” he said.
When he told Dr. King what had happened, King joked, “That’s your problem. I’ve got enough problems in here.” Ralph Abernathy teased him: “Why don’t you jump across the desk and slap him?“
But Andrew remembered something his father had taught him: whenever you meet an officer of the law, look at their badge and address them by name.
So as he left that first day, he simply said: “Thank you, Sergeant Hamilton.”
And something shifted.
The next day he came back. “How are you doing today, Sergeant Hamilton?” Then he noticed the man’s size. “You must have played football somewhere.”
Hamilton smiled. He’d played at Valdosta State.
The next day they talked about fishing. Little by little, the hostility dissolved. “The key to my relating to him,” Andrew reflected, “was just being human.”
Then something surprising happened. The sheriff—the man who had arrested Dr. King—said, “You always stop and talk to Sergeant Hamilton. Why don’t you ever talk to me?“
So Andrew did. Eventually the sheriff confided that his Catholic wife was deeply troubled by the role he was playing in segregation. He was wrestling with the kind of man he was becoming.
And here is where Andrew’s own voice takes over:
“I was relating to two of the classic racists of the South not as racists, but as friends. Over the course of those days—well, it was twelve days—I went there every day. I spent time talking to both of them. What I found was that there were no more arguments. We were friends. We smiled. We talked. We shared opinions. It was one of my best lessons.
In the midst of all this, there were these two conversions.”
Andrew didn’t learn what happened to Sergeant Hamilton until later.
“I found out later that the day after we left, he found an ad in a magazine. They were looking for a security guard at a country club up in Maine. As soon as we left, he put his wife and kids in the car and drove up there. He didn’t want any more of that racist South.”
Then, after the movement left town, something remarkable happened. Andrew got a call from a friend in North Carolina.
“Andy, why are you recommending that racist sheriff to be our police chief?“
“I didn’t recommend him,” Andrew said.
“Well, he put your name down as a reference.“
“Let’s think about it,” Andrew replied. “What do you want the police chief to do?”
“We want to have an integrated police force.“
“You probably couldn’t find a better guy to do it than him. He doesn’t like the racism he was living in, but he’s got the credentials and authority of that racist background. So if he says, ‘We need to integrate our police force in North Carolina,’ they’d probably go along.”
They hired him. And he integrated the police force.
“Those were little instances that I ended up walking into—not planned, but accidental—and people changed. So when I look at the South now, I think of thousands, tens of thousands, of these personal interactions that over the last fifty years have made a big difference in the way we live.
That was the pastoral side of demonstrations. It wasn’t confrontational.”
~ ~ ~
What moves me so deeply about this story is that courageous compassion was not weakness. Andrew Young was not naïve about racism. Dr. King was sitting in jail.
But Andrew understood something essential: nonviolence is not only refusing to harm another person. It is refusing to give up on their humanity.
And that is much harder.
May we touch our capacity to ‘just be human’ with each other, even those caught in ignorance and hatred, and not give up on anyone’s humanity.
~ ~ ~
The full interview with Andrew Young is included below at the end of this email. Listening to his voice, his laughter, and many more stories is time well spent.
Below is a full list of my upcoming events but here I want to highlight a few key ones, many coming up soon!:
Thursday, June 18, 6:30 to 8:30 pm ET, Beyond the Separate Self – Emptiness and the Freedom of Awareness in person and online
June 20 - 24, Join me in person for Wisdom for Meeting the Storm Together: Holding and Transforming Our Fear with Compassion and Collective Care, our annual BIPOC retreat with Dr. Marisela Gomez, Joe Reilly and Judy Nakatomi
More info on these below.
Upcoming retreats, day longs, and talks:
May 24 - 29
Finding Refuge, Finding Home: A Retreat in Nature
Held at Spirit Rock with Kaira Jewel Lingo, Mark Coleman, and Susie Harrington
In the storms of our lives, we need refuge—a place of nourishment and support where we can replenish our tired bodies and troubled hearts. When the Buddha taught meditation, his first instruction was to go sit under a tree. We will practice together in the age-old tradition of being outside in the company of the natural world. Together, we will tap into the natural stillness and dynamism that surrounds us and teaches us balance. As we integrate stillness and movement, we move toward being active participants in the world while maintaining balance and ease in our hearts and minds.
This retreat is silent except for teacher-led Q&A, small groups, or other practice meetings.
FULL WITH A WAIT LIST For more info and to be added to the waitlist here
In-person retreat
Thursday, June 18, 6:30 to 8:30 pm ET
Beyond the Separate Self – Emptiness and the Freedom of Awareness
At New York Insight Meditation Center Part of The Body Remembers Freedom Series with Kaira Jewel Lingo and My Tong
What if the aliveness we call ‘me’ is not a solid thing at all, but vast and open like the sky?
In this session, we begin with meditation on awareness itself, resting in the nature of consciousness and touching the spacious freedom that is always already here. From this ground, we explore the teaching of not-self through playful group forms that invite us to hold and be held by one another’s stories. Together, we discover that when the sense of a separate self softens, what remains is not emptiness as absence, but emptiness as connection, intimacy, and belonging.
For more info and to register here for June 18 — Beyond the Separate Self – Emptiness and the Freedom of Awareness
In-person and online.
June 20 - 24
Wisdom for Meeting the Storm Together: Holding and Transforming Our Fear
Annual Retreat for Black, Indigenous, People of Color
Held at Garrison Institute with Dr. Marisela Gomez, Kaira Jewel Lingo, Joe Reilly and Judy Nakatomi
In a time of intensifying uncertainty, grief, and pressure on our communities, it is essential for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to have spaces of refuge, truth-telling, and collective care. This retreat offers a place to pause, breathe, and remember that we are not meant to meet these storms alone.
Together, through mindfulness and embodied practice, we explore how fear lives in our bodies, histories, and communities, and how it can be met without turning away or becoming overwhelmed. We strengthen our capacity to stay present, to draw on ancestral and communal wisdom, and to support one another in meeting this moment with integrity and love. Inner transformation becomes the ground from which collective healing and wise action can emerge.
Mindfulness will be at the heart of all we do. The retreat will include daily dharma teachings, sitting and stationary meditation, mindful walking or movement, mindful eating, singing, dharma writing, and small-group sharing. We will practice for one full day and a half in silence and engage in optional somatic movement and nature practices that invite us into deeper presence with the land. Rooted in compassion and collective care, this retreat supports us in meeting the storm together and remembering our capacity to rest, heal, resist harm, and build Beloved Community.
In-person retreat.
Info and registration here.
June 24 - 30
Insight Meditation Society Teen Retreat, ages 15-19
Held at the Insight Meditation Society Retreat Center with Kaira Jewel Lingo, Cara Lai, Jean Esther, Anthony “T” Maes, nico hase, and movement with Monica Williams
The retreat is especially designed for young adults, aged 15-19 who, as of August 31, 2026, will be at least 15 years of age. The course offers 1/2 hour periods of sitting and walking meditation with ample instruction, along with two daily facilitated discussion groups. In addition there will be daily workshops offered in the field of meditative arts, music, nature as well as other focused topics pertinent to teens. Daily periods of free time for socializing or rest are also included. This retreat allows young adults to develop and value their natural spirituality within a supportive environment committed to inclusivity of all. Along with the teaching team, a group of trained and dedicated adult mentors will support the teens’ experience. Extensive supervision is provided.
More info and to register here.
In-person retreat.
Thursday, July 9, 6:30 to 8:30 pm ET
Touching the Sacred in the Ordinary – Finding Meaning, Connection, and Aliveness Right Where We Are
At New York Insight Meditation Center Part of The Body Remembers Freedom Series with Kaira Jewel Lingo and Linds Roberts
What if the sacred is not something we have to seek out, but something quietly waiting for us in the midst of our ordinary lives?
Through meditation, embodied practice, shared inquiry, and moments of stillness, we arrive more fully in the present moment, softening the habit of overlooking what is here. As we slow down and listen deeply, we begin to notice how meaning, connection, and aliveness naturally reveal themselves. Together, we discover that the ordinary is not separate from the sacred, but is itself the ground from which belonging, wonder, and presence unfold.
Here for July 9 — Touching the Sacred in the Ordinary – Finding Meaning, Connection, and Aliveness Right Where We Are
In-person and online.
Saturday, July 18, NOTE DATE CHANGE 11:00 am to 12:30 pm ET
Harvest: Beloved Community for Engaged Spirituality June Gathering
The Beloved Community for Engaged Spirituality with Kaira Jewel Lingo and Father Adam Bucko, meets monthly on a Saturday mornings from 11-12:30pm ET.
We invite you to join us on Saturday, July 18, from 11 am to 12:30 pm ET for our Saints of the Beloved Community series, the last of the series for the first half of 2026. (This was previously scheduled for June 13 and had to be rescheduled).
No gathering in May or June
As we move toward a summer pause, our July gathering will be a time to gently review together over the first gatherings of this year, harvesting the wisdom, insights, and practices that have touched us most. Through reflection and a few interactive elements, we’ll explore how to carry these lessons more fully into our daily lives. Rather than a guest speaker, this gathering will be a facilitated session led by Adam and I.
For more info here
To register here
Online
Thursday, August 6, 6:30 to 8:30 pm ET
This Is It – The Opportunity of This Moment
At New York Insight Meditation Center Part of The Body Remembers Freedom Series with Kaira Jewel Lingo and Linds Roberts
What if this moment—just as it is—is already enough? In this closing session of the Body Remembers Freedom series, we turn toward the immediacy of our lived experience, discovering that the freedom we’ve been exploring is not somewhere else, but right here in how we meet this moment. Through meditation, embodied practice, and shared inquiry, we integrate what has been touched throughout the series—allowing insight, presence, and compassion to settle into the body and take root in our daily lives. We also take time to reconnect with our deepest aspirations for how we want to live, sensing what feels most true and life-giving now. Whether you are returning or joining for the first time, this session offers a space to arrive fully, trust your inner knowing, and explore what it means to live what we remember—right here, in this moment.
Here for August 6
In-person and online.
Ongoing every Thursday at noon ET
Weekly BIPOC Meditation Sangha Online
We extend a warm invitation to Black/Indigenous/People of Color to join for an hour of meditation, teaching and sharing with Kaira Jewel Lingo and Marisela Gomez, and other guest teachers, who alternate teaching every Thursday from 12 - 1pm ET.
By donation. More info here and to register here.
Recent teachings:
Embodied Presence in Uncertain Times with Kaira Jewel Lingo
Recorded live in April. This is a 40-minute teaching and embodied practice with Kaira Jewel Lingo from the Fierce Vulnerability Kinship Lab, a global, locally-rooted program facilitated by Kazu Haga.
Our Intimate Conversation with Andrew Young
Recorded live April 25 at our Beloved Community for Engaged Spirituality Monthly Gathering
Adam and I hosted an intimate online conversation with Andrew Young. Now 94, he is also a dear family friend, and someone my dad had the honor to work with in the Civil Rights Movement.
For many of us, the civil rights movement can feel distant, something we learn about rather than something we touch. For Andrew Young, it is lived reality. He worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr. as a trusted partner in the work of nonviolence, helping to shape the strategy and negotiations that guided the movement through some of its most difficult moments. He was present in the campaigns that led to the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, and he carried that work forward at great personal cost, including arrests and physical danger.
Watch here.
Good things I’m spreading the word about:
At the Threshold: A Four Part Series on Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy
June 2, 2026, 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Announcing a four part, online panel discussion on Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy entitled “At the Threshold,” hosted by the Brooklyn Zen Center.
Panel #1: What is Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy: Responding to Eco-crisis From the Cushion to the Earth (June 2, from 7:00pm - 8:30pm ET) Register here.
Panel #2: Reports from the Field: What does Buddhist Eco-chaplaincy Look like in Practice? (July 21)
Panel #3: Intersectional Care: Where Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy Practice Intersects with Issues Oppression and Equity (Sept., date TBA)
Panel #4: Interfaith Efforts and Buddhist Eco-chaplaincy: Coalition building and interfaith/interspecies solidarity (Oct., date TBA)
SUPPORT KAIRA JEWEL
You are invited to support Kaira Jewel's work to continue to offer transformational teachings to diverse groups of people. Thank you!
CONNECT WITH KAIRA JEWEL
Bowing to such an elder. Wonderful simple clear story for all of us in these times. Thank you dear Kaira Jewel.
Thank you so much for sharing Andrew Young’s story. This is exactly the kind of encouragement we need right now. I’m very grateful to Andrew for developing the Crossroads Africa program which changed my life and awakened and initiated me on so many levels. Deep bows!