Several weeks ago, I registered to attend Pathways to Resilience: Dispelling the Baggage of ACEs in San Diego. I confess that when I woke up the morning of the presentation, the sunny skies and blue ocean near my home beckoned to me, and I considered attending only one of the two sessions. Am I glad I changed my mind!
When I arrived and took my seat, I was surprised to see that the audience was almost entirely African-American, with only a small handful of Hispanics and Caucasians, myself included in the latter group. I hadn’t realized the program was hosted by the San Diego Black Health Associates—or that I was about to hear a presentation so deeply moving that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
The presenter was Dr. Cheryl Grills, a psychology professor at Loyola Marymount and past president of the National Association of Black Psychologists. Her topic: The multi-generational trauma experienced by enslaved African Americans and the enduring effects that are felt by their descendants today.
Grills’s slide presentation examined how the harrowing treatment of slaves in the US, coupled with the institutionalized racism that followed emancipation, continues to fuel unabated trauma in the black community.
I found it fascinating that she described the process in terms of “memes,” an approach I had not heard before. I am embarrassed to say that I thought memes were just the funny pictures and videos my kids found on the Internet. As most of you probably know (I’m a little late to the game), memes are cultural symbols, and they inform social ideas and behavioral systems. They can also morph, infect, and mutate, like a virus. For example, the fact that slave owners went unpunished if they killed a slave to correct behavior or prevent escape is a meme, according to Grills, that has morphed over the years into a tolerance for police brutality against black men.
Academics and researchers have long looked at the many ways that historical trauma like this is passed through generations. What is unique about Dr. Grills is the solution she offers: Emotional Emancipation Circles (EE).
EE Circles were created by the Community Healing Network (CHN) in collaboration with the Association of Black Psychologists. They are self-help support groups where black people come together to “emancipate themselves from mental slavery” and “replace the lie of black inferiority with the truth of black humanity,” as she puts it.
I was thrilled when Grills announced that we would all be participating in an EE Circle. After we formed a large circle around the room, we were asked to share our feelings or a personal story about racism and how it has impacted our lives.
As one of two white females in the circle, I definitely stood out as the minority in the room. It was difficult not to feel a twinge of shame for the privileges I have received in my life. Or for the fact that I have never experienced racial bias that made me feel fearful, devalued, less than human. But I can tell you this: That I was moved to tears when one mother divulged how she would plead with her teenage son “not to wear a hoodie out in public,” or how she felt compelled to constantly remind him how to comport himself with police. As the mother of two now-grown sons, I never, not even once, thought this was something I needed to do to ensure their safety.
Another woman spoke about her son who was imprisoned for a relatively minor drug charge—and how the unintended consequences of his imprisonment (the loss of his wife and daughter, for example) changed his life forever.
Now, I am well aware that the unwarranted mass incarceration of black men—and racism in all its many guises—has demeaned and ruined countless lives. But confronting the fear and heartbreak on the faces of these mothers was a stark and brutal reality check. In the end, witnessing these women expose these traumas in the comfort of the “Circle” felt healing and transformative. And the Swahili chants we recited to complete the session were an unexpected pleasure to be sure.
This movement for emotional emancipation is grassroots and global in nature. Several hundred people have been trained to lead EE Circles. If you are interested in attending an EE Circle, want to become a leader yourself, or just want to learn more, visit www.communityhealingnet.org.
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