The convergence of Rev. angel's feminism-turned-black liberation womanism, study of spiritually-grounded movements-turned-liberatory zen practice, propelled her, by invitation, to traditional indigenous practice and back to a relationship with earth as her own body. From there she could not just see and understand but FEEL the connection between separation — leading to the decimation and devaluing of bodies of peoples — and the decimation of devaluing of the earth as our body. Her words speak for themselves.

(I want to speak to) "our lack of willingness thus far to address the interconnectedness of capitalism, of racism, of colonialism...of white cultural hegemony. (People say) 'we all breathe the same air'...But that's not true. We don't breathe the same air: the counties with the highest carbon emissions and pollution are the counties that also...have the highest numbers of African Americans. So people are trapped...in these conditions in which they are subject to the impact of our unwillingness to face head-on the entanglement and the complexity of the issues...We have it available to us in our practice to do the work that moves us beyond and helps us to transcend the sense of overwhelm and defeat that comes with this issue. To look at the heart of the matter...

In fact, the countries that have been the most engaged in colonialism and oppression throughout the world are also the ones that are rating the most impact on the environment. Those things are actually synonymous. That's not an accident...

We are not dealing with the trauma that comes from the history of oppression, and the history of other theft of other countries, theft of other people's lands, that is resulting in the tangible experience of climate change, but also is at the root of our inability to actually face it...and that we have capitalism being addressed as merely an economic system when in fact, in our society its a religion. It pervades every aspect of our lives. It is wholly untouchable in terms of having a conversation about what is problematic."

Rev. angel Kyodo williams —Day 2 Panel, Ecodharma Conference, 2014
[Full panel discussion audio & transcript will become available on loveStream]

Rev. angel was an inaugural teacher/presenter in a mind-stopping conversation with Tiokosan Ghosthorse (whom Rev. credits for "breaking her brain" on the fixation of ownership inherent in the English language) for the 2015 & 2016 Ecosattva Training. In 2015, she participated in the first (and thus far, only) Buddhist Leaders invitational to the White House in Obama's final year in office with roughly 130 others. 

She also spent five years helping to shape what is now Green Leadership Trust, a potent collective of people of color indigenous peoples that sit on the boards of environmental organizations and NGO's. As a result, she remains directly connected to the POC and Indigenous people that sit on the largest and well-known, and also the most nimble and impactful environmental organizations in the country, where they often acknowledge that only in the US is the environmental movement "led by" people of European descent — a direct correlation to the vast amount of resources put into the conversation movement, part of which was driven by a desire to keep land from black, brown, and indigenous peoples.

Her most consistent organizational engagement, however, was a fluke of friendship. In 2005, as she ended a yearlong leadership training in the prestigious Rockwood Leadership Institute, she was set up in an unlikely peer coaching pair with Todd Paglia, the CEO of what was then ForestEthics. As a result, Rev. angel has also sat on the board of the environmental org that has been rebranded as STAND.earth for 14 years. STAND's market campaign strategies are innovative, pull no punches, and are designed for win-win so they have a profoundly out-size impact. It is highly collaborative and home to one of the white environmental movements' most-watched leaders, Tzeporah Berman. Given its positioning, Rev. angel sees her role on STAND's board as leverage: they affect how other environmental organizations behave. As a board member, she saw the transition from a member of leadership of the white-led organization at the time saying, "they (First Nations people) don't know what's best for them"  to the same organization leading the charge that assured the same First Nations were co-decision makers in the agreement that finally made it illegal for 85% of the Great Bear Rainforest to be logged in. At the size of Switzerland, GBR makes up 25% of the world's temperate rainforest.

Rev. angel advocated for, nudged and has supported STAND in navigating from going through its first org-wide race training to the CEO making forward public statements on race, initiating campaigns that affect POC communities with their inclusion, and compelling other institutions to give space for POC to share stages where their voices could be heard.

Get to know Rev. angel on library.angelkyodowilliams.com