Categories: Community Corner
11.02.2020
As advocates for vulnerable and marginalized communities, we are committing to active anti-racism and inclusivity. Each month, our Community Corner will highlight media focused on an overarching theme that helps us understand and interrupt white supremacy and other forms of oppression. We invite you on this journey with us wherever you may be in the process. Additionally, we will ask our community to make recommendations that we will highlight. You can make a recommendation here.
This month’s theme is: The Body. Sometimes when we talk about institutional racism, it feels very conceptual. By extension, interrupting the harm of racism can feel out of reach.
These resources explore the tangible ways in which racism and all forms of oppression are rooted in our physical bodies and point to strategies to start to break through it in our personal lives, communities and supportive housing programs.
Dr. Joy DeGruy speaks to how the legacy of slavery plays out in Black people’s bodies in describing her groundbreaking theory, Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome. In this interview with clinical social worker and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem, he discusses how healing trauma in the body is often the missing link in efforts to dismantle white supremacy, (which he explicitly terms “white body supremacy.”) Finally, the website for the Body is Not an Apology, founded by Sonya Renee Taylor, provides an incredible framework to explore radical self-love as the antidote to oppression. Their mission clearly states, “We believe that discrimination, social inequality, and injustice are manifestations of our inability to make peace with the body, our own and others.”
We hope these resources provide an opportunity for learning and reflection. Let us know what you think!
● Resmaa Menakem:
“Notice the Rage, Notice the Silence,” Interview with Resmaa Menakem, On Being podcast
● Sonya Renee Taylor
www.thebodyisnotanapology.com
www.sonyareneetaylor.com
“The Body is Not an Apology,” Interview with Sonya Renee Taylor, Unlocking Us podcast
● Dr. Joy DeGruy
“Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome: How is It Different Than PTSD?”
“Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome with Dr. Joy DeGruy” (Afro-Centric Social Work Podcast)