Day 8
30 days/30 minute (minimum) writing practice
‘When 215 turn 5296 and hardly no one is talking about itThere is a problem.’ When I witness these words posted on fb I know where day 8 of the writing practice will go….
The horrific uncovering of indigenous babies, children, youth in unmarked graves. I breath in. Unmarked graves,’ meaning babies, children, youth buried secretly; meaning this is not a discovery, this is an uncovering; meaning people knew what was going on, people knew these children were hidden and forbidden. And there are many more children to bring home to families and communities.
Dear white sisters and brothers. May not our minds skip over, be swayed and swallowed by incessant distraction. We need to let this sink deep. Can we develop capacity to hold this kind of atrocity? Can we NOT shy away, silence away, freeze up away, defend away, be nice it away, get angry at the messenger away? Can we hold this? Can we find a way to speak about this, to challenge and hold one another accountable and commit to working on ourselves so we can find a way NOT to be innocent (and are we really innocent?) bystanders any longer? Can we find a warrior path forward towards allyship/accomplices/coconspiritors/grief tenders/truth tellers/system changers?Can we let folks know we will be silent no longer? That we will let this sink into our bones, integrate it into our very beings so we can face this kind of trauma that is our trauma too? How can it not be? This is our trauma too. This is a big part of the reason we are silent. Underlying shame and guilt showing up as defensiveness, avoidance, niceness, positiveness, silence… We have to make the unconscious conscious and let it sink deep into our very beings. Historical trauma lives in our bodies and our culture has robbed us of our bodies as a place to dwell and learn and listen. We have bought into a culture of distraction so we don’t feel, so we separate ourselves from the pain of other human beings.
My dear colleague, Sobaz Benjamin opens up our facilitated spaces with James Baldwin’s “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Can we face these times? Can we find the courage to feel our feelings in order to feel our shared humanity. Can we go deep within to unravel, untangle and meet our edges so we can hold the pain and speak out, stand up, and find ways to be silent no longer?
Another dear colleague of mine, Nelly Marcoux and I are holding another 6 part series White Folks’Work: Awakening to Our Whiteness/Embodying Radical Responsibility. Come join us if you don’t know where or how to step on this warrior path of accountability and commitment! Starting September 22nd!More information to come.