Juneteenth on the Block

June 16, 2026 | Events

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Presented by Noir Collective AVL

🗓️ June 19, 2026 @ 2:00pm ET

đź“ŤIn-person

đź“Ť39 S Market St Suite C, Asheville, NC

Come celebrate Juneteenth with us at the Ujamaa Marketplace, part of the Boosting the Block initiative that seeks to connect Asheville’s historic Black business district to Pack Square.

Join us for the Juneteenth Edition of the Ujamaa Marketplace, where culture meets commerce, creativity, and community—an intentional space where emerging entrepreneurs and artisans showcase their talents, build meaningful connections, and bring their goods to market!

More from Dr. Rima Vesely-Flad

James Baldwin argued that racism is not a “Black problem” but a white fear-driven delusion that scapegoats Black people and evades interior work. Drawing on Baldwin’s essays and testimony, we discuss his critique of white moral pretentiousness, evasion, and the projection of shame and fear—especially the fear of death—onto Black bodies. We also see how Baldwin’s analysis relates to Buddhist teaching on dependent origination from the Rice Seedling Sutra.

 

In this dharma talk, we investigate the role of Sati—which is translated as knowing, awareness, presence, or mindfulness—in the writings of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde, in conversation with early Buddhist writings.
In this dharma talk, we understand the weight of suffering through the eyes of James Baldwin and Audre Lorde. We learn how Baldwin gleaned the difference between suffering due to the violence of racism, and suffering that is central to the human experience. We learn about Lorde’s embrace of the idea that pain can teach us something important, but that we need not suffer uselessly.

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