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Racism is not only about the head. It’s also about the body. The body is where we live. It’s where we fear, hope, and react; where we constrict and relax; and where we fight, flee, or freeze.
In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates exposed the ongoing destruction of the Black body in America. That destruction will continue until Americans learn to feel the inherited trauma of white supremacy, which is deeply embedded in all our bodies.
This trauma doesn’t just affect African American bodies. White American bodies suffer their own historical trauma as well. So do the bodies of our police. We all need to recognize this trauma, metabolize it, work through it, and grow up out of it. Only in this way will we at last heal our bodies, our families, and the social body of our nation.
The process differs for African-American, European American, and police bodies. But all of us need to heal our racialized trauma—and, with the right guidance, all of us can.
My Grandmother’s Hands shows us how to begin.
Join us with Resmaa Menakem, the author of My Grandmother's Hands at the Tucson Festival of Books for an experiential session to begin this healing in the SBS Tent at the Tucson Festival of Books!