Spiritual Life – A Reflection on what I learned through the My Grandmother’s Hands book group
“What does God require of you but to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8.
Over the last few years, EMC has offered opportunities to learn more about the racial justice discussion going on in our world. The most recent one was two groups facilitated by Conie Borchardt working through the book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem. I was privileged to participate in one of these groups. This was challenging, but full of rewards. I wanted to share with the larger church community some of the things I learned.
Resmaa Menakem is a trauma counselor who focuses on body-centered awareness to address trauma. He teaches methods to recognize how your body reacts to triggers, and how to respond by slowing down and taking conscious control of your reaction. The book addresses experiences and reactions of black bodies, white bodies and police bodies. Everyone in our society has automatic, subconscious responses to race. If we can recognize and heal this subconscious response, we become more aware of unspoken messages we might be sending. Being more self-aware also helps to empathize with others who have different experiences.
Learning about race in our society is a journey. Like knowing myself, knowing society more deeply takes time, effort and attention. Being something of a history buff, I have been shocked by how much I don’t know about institutional racism, it’s historical establishment and on-going enforcement — and how much I unwittingly benefit by it. White-colored people who want to help end racism need to start by learning more about how racism works and healing our own issues surrounding race. Just as you wouldn’t ask an abused spouse to educate his or her abuser, we white-colored people shouldn’t ask people of other colors to do the work of educating us. But if we make an effort, with patience and forgiveness for ourselves and each other, we can contribute to creating a more just society.
Reflection provided by EMC Member Sonja Martens