During the last 10 minutes of the Historical Trauma break-out session of the 5th Annual Arizona ACEs Summit, Elder Prosper Waukon reiterated a magnificent story from the elders. It was the 2nd time I heard it and I was equally impacted by it on Tuesday. Today, I called him to hear it one last time so that I could accurately share it with all of you: Our essence is tied to our land of origin. In the Americas, after 500 years of blood from foreign lands mixing in the soil, all ethnic...

Alongside two elders and a colleague, we arrived at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health in Toronto, Canada. Our intention was to facilitate the first Canadian/American collaboration to heal Historical Trauma. I vacillated between feeling immensely excited and powerfully emotional; what an honor to be a black woman surrounded by First Nation relatives on Native land. Our first great work was to enter the sacred ceremonial space for prayer and cleansing. As a tribal African woman, I...