This and the next three episodes feature conversations with members of the association, Buddhists of African Descent (aka BAD) which engages in connecting traditional systems of African spirituality with the basic tenets and principles of Nichiren Buddhism. Thembi is one of the founding co-architects of BAD. She speaks with Rima Vesely-Flad about the significance of Buddhahood for herself and other Black practitioners in America.

Thembi (Valerie Geaither) is professor emerita at Metropolitan State University in Minneapolis, where for 25 years she was a professor of Education Philosophy and Family Studies, as well as a co-director of the Center for Community Based Education, Learning and Research. She was also a catalyst in establishing the university’s School of Urban Education.