geniuschild

Reflections on Collective Trauma and Healing

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 16:12:00 -0400

Reflections on Collective Trauma and Healing:

Below is a conversation on support and healing, between myself and organizer and therapist, Iresha. To read more of Iresha’s views on trauma and healing, please read: Thoughts on Mental-Health and Revolution

Iresha: Hey jodi. You were in New Orleans for a while. What made you go and live there?

jodi: I initially went to New Orleans to make connections with Post-Katrina survivors and organizers regarding organizing I’m doing with People’s Relief. I planned to stay for about a week. But I ended up living there for several weeks.

I found myself in a community that took spiritual and healing work very seriously. The pace of NYC had been really starting to get to me. And I always wondered why people were content with healing being compartmentalized, individualized, and existing predominantly inside institutions.

I found awesome community with folks who were practicing autonomous collective healing. Things weren’t perfect, and I have some critiques. But in so many ways, I had a very liberating experience. And I’m very hopeful for the possibilities of healing to be acknowledged as a necessary component of resistance and struggle on a mass level.

Iresha: That sounds amazing!

jodi: You were also considering living in New Orleans. How long have you considered that?

Iresha: I have been thinking about it for awhile—about a year now. But I make dough here in Philly. And while we cannot chase the dollar, I have a brother that I’m trying to get free. And that means making money to pay for lawyers, commissary, and helping to take care of his new-born baby.

jodi: That’s so real! I’ve been thinking about how political work can manifest in a way that doesn’t take away from caring for our communities. And how caring for our communities is not minimized as something we do that takes away from the “real struggle.” I brought it up at a FNT-NYC meeting that Zora attended. It’s a conversation I’d love to have with FNT folks in New York and Philly. I’m getting to the point where I am rejecting false choices that I’m coerced to make because activist culture is not sustainable or transformative enough to hold us all.

Iresha: Yes! I like that. I am at a point right now, where I want the work to be sustainable and effective. I think at this point, I need to slow down quite a bit for it to happen. I was going HARD as an organizer for many years, without any rest, while working full-time. I can’t do that anymore, because I was not healing my own wounds. Wounds that were exposing themselves more and more, as I kept fighting, and fighting. As organizers, we take the healing part out of the center. And yet we see so many people, leave the work, due to lack of self-care, or because they find it unsustainable.

jodi: I think the healing needs to remain at the center. There needs to be a fierce mass of people who understand trauma and healing. Obscuring or minimizing trauma and healing is one of the problems I have with the Left. I also think it’s anti-feminist and helps keep the white supremacist capitalist patriarchy right in place! I think we need to heal to resist. And we need to resist to heal. We need nuanced infrastructure to recognize when some or all of us need to slow down, or pause, or speed up. We need more intention and precision, and to stop running in quicksand…. not realizing that we’re not going anywhere.

To me, organizing is about violence, trauma, healing, resistance, and transformation. And it’s also real that freeing your brother and caring for his child is a part of your struggle, which in my mind, means it should be a part of “our” struggle. I feel a similar way about caring for my child. But the white heterosexual cisgender male dominated Left taught me real quick that my struggles to heal from sexual and domestic violence, navigate the world experiencing disabilities, and care for my child were my own damn business! And that I had to make a choice between being an organizer or being my full self. But how are patterns and norms of capitalism, liberalism, and dominant culture being interrupted if we are being made to believe that caring for our loved ones is something we’re supposed to do by ourselves, and in private? (Or if you’re lucky with a few family members or friends here and there.)

Iresha: Yes, yes, yes! I love this whole notion of trauma recovery and healing being at the middle of our struggles. I find in the Left, that black folks trauma is different from white folks trauma, and being able to afford healing, and having spaces to talk about your struggles are a privilege in this movement. One that we black mamas and black folks cannot afford—financially or mentally. I have been apart of all black organizations, and that shit is a mess! You have so many folks, leading the work, who are in so much pain and have so much trauma, that they hinder the whole movement. And of course, we never speak of healing. Shit becomes normalized, and we’re still scratching our heads, as to why we can’t collectively move forward.

jodi: Healing is strategic. Healing is necessary if liberation is really our goal. Healing is necessary to break patterns of ahistoricism, because healing requires that we remember! If people are trying to forget personal or collective trauma, or even historical trauma, then how can we really say we are trying to shift power, hold oppressors accountable, and transform? But the Left, which barely if at all, succeeds at breaking patterns and norms of society at large, uses so many insidious tactics to coerce us to forget, or to muddle our memories: euphemisms, minimizing, victim blaming, etc. I refuse to forget! But it’s real that sitting with the truth hurts, which is why I also reject that healing is something that needs to be elite or privileged. So I’m going to be on that radical feminist autonomous anti-capitalist healing tip from here on out.

marfmellow: Jodi! Staying fly…….

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:56:45 -0400

marfmellow:

Jodi!

Staying fly…….

marfmellow: indee

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:55:40 -0400

marfmellow:

indee

marfmellow: we’re perfect Werking out in NOLA!

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 15:54:35 -0400

marfmellow:

we’re perfect

Werking out in NOLA!

kassandramarriellee: Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs interview by...

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:44:17 -0500

kassandramarriellee:

Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs interview by Signified

I love her so much!

spearin: Dakota Dunes Powwow, Whitecap Dakota First Nation,...

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:58:23 -0400

spearin:

Dakota Dunes Powwow, Whitecap Dakota First Nation, Saskatchewan

Photos by Andrew Spearin / The StarPhoenix

No More Stolen Lives: poignant picture from the October 22nd...

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 03:33:00 -0400

No More Stolen Lives: poignant picture from the October 22nd rally at Union Sq - taken by Alice Feng

"We resist not to overthrow a government or to take political power, but because it is natural to..."

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 03:29:07 -0400

“We resist not to overthrow a government or to take political power, but because it is natural to resist extermination, to survive. We don’t want power over white institutions; we want white institutions to disappear. That’s revolution.”

- Russell Means

hypervocal: Over the weekend, three unknown attackers cornered...

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 02:35:02 -0400

hypervocal:

Over the weekend, three unknown attackers cornered Sharmeka Moffitt, set her on fire and then scrawled racial slurs on her car, Winnsboro, Louisiana, police confirmed Monday.

Winnsboro Police Chief Kevin Cobb said the FBI was investigating whether the incident was a hate crime. Authorities were reluctant classify the attack as “racially motivated,” although the spray-painted “KKK” should be a dead giveaway.

Still, police say, Moffitt was unable to determine the skin color of her attackers.

It’s “a horrific event,” Cobb told the News Star. “We will follow the facts and seek justice.”

Joining forces in the investigation are the Franklin Parish Sheriff, Louisiana State Police and the state fire Marshall’s office, reports local news station KNOE.

It’ll be a long road to recovery for Moffitt, who, amazingly, survived the attack. A family friend told reporters Moffitt, just 20 years old, had burns on 90 percent of her body and was currently in stable condition.

But the support is pouring in. By Monday afternoon, a Facebook group called Prayers for Sharmeka Moffitt had nearly 10,000 likes.

"If we could link up erry gang And niggas is willing to bear the pain We’d put the White House lights..."

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 16:52:37 -0400

“If we could link up erry gang
And niggas is willing to bear the pain
We’d put the White House lights out today
Okay-kay-kay
We mobbin’ like we the black KKK
Don’t forget my AKA Mayday
Pee on your P-H-D or your AA”

- Terrorist Threats - Ab-Soul ft Jhene Aiko & Danny Brown (via ninjabikeslut)

deafmuslimpunx: drpirata: The Flying Cholitas: Goddesses of...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 10:27:51 -0400

deafmuslimpunx:

drpirata:

The Flying Cholitas: Goddesses of the Ring

Bolivianas <3

Photo

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 15:42:57 -0400

"No nation can slave a race of people for hundreds of years, set them free bedraggled and penniless,..."

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 02:20:49 -0400

“No nation can slave a race of people for hundreds of years, set them free bedraggled and penniless, pit them, without assistance in a hostile environment, against privileged victimizers, and then reasonably expect the gap between the heirs of the groups to narrow. Lines, begun parallel and left alone, can never touch.”

- Randall Robinson (via fernandoacoello)

artmusicvegan: Artist Mickalene Thomas’ exhibit Origin of the...

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 15:29:14 -0400

artmusicvegan:

Artist Mickalene Thomas’ exhibit Origin of the Universe is on view at the Brooklyn Museum of Art September 28, 2012–January 20, 2013. You can check her in this video from the archives.

Thomas is best known for her elaborate, collage-inspired paintings, embellished with rhinestones, enamel, and colorful acrylics. Her depictions of African American women explore a spectrum of black female beauty and sexual identity while constructing images of femininity and power. Origin of the Universe, Thomas’s first solo museum exhibition, highlights recent bodies of work that examine interior and exterior environments in relation to the female figure. Their settings are often inspired by her 1970s childhood.

Among the pieces on view are contemporary riffs on Courbet’s Origin of the World and Manet’s Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe. Seventy-five of the ninety featured works were added for the Brooklyn presentation. An entrance-gallery mural, a film about Thomas’s mother, and installations of furnished domestic interiors were created specifically for this show.

fuckyeahmarxismleninism: “On August 14, 1791, a fearless...

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 15:13:53 -0400

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

“On August 14, 1791, a fearless Afrikan warrior queen named Cecille called together all the field slaves of the French sugar plantation island of Haiti (originally spelled ‘Ayiti ), to convene the launching of the most successful of all slave revolts…They performed the proper rituals in the ways of our ancestors, led by the vodun priest Boukman himself, forged the united front and agreed to commence hostilities in 8 days for what we must all celebrate and appreciate! The Haitian… ‘Ayitian…Revolution!…Long live the Ancestors of the Ayitian Revolution!”

-Zayid Muhammad

URGENT: Gender Anarky Members Resume Hunger Strike Indefinitely After Prison Officials' Broken Promises

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 14:56:52 -0400

URGENT: Gender Anarky Members Resume Hunger Strike Indefinitely After Prison Officials' Broken Promises:

notyrcisterpress:

Gender Anarky members Amazon and Catarina LePre restarted their hunger strike on October 5th after promised changes to trans women’s housing were not met by Warden Paramo and their case worker at the R. J. Donovan Correctional Facility. Warden Paramo and Amazon’s case worker promised to change the housing conditions of trans women in the facility after a number of days of hunger striking, but has not implemented any changes. In response, they have chosen to strike indefinitely until the changes have been implemented. In a recent communication from Amazon, she describes the situation:

“this time we are striking indefinitely, until this matter is resolved and i am no longer on single-cell status and cat and i are celled up. today [October 7th] is our third day without food, and we are only drinking two bottles of water a day. after food, we are going to stop drinking any water. they are monitoring our health daily, taking our vitals. so far we have lost ten pounds each, as of today. cat gets a lil woozy, but we are going thru with this…

…inform [prison officials] of our hunger strike, that it is for transgender housing, that my case worker is preventing me from celling up with cat, that initially the warden instructed her to do it, but she has been avoiding it because she is a feminist hater of trans inmates. this is the only reason she is discriminating against us… she has lied to us, giving us different reasons for delays that conflict. we know whats up. this is straight up discrimination… they don’t want to give us our transgender housing, where two girls can live together, while letting any two men live together who ask to. and now they are also retaliating because of our hunger strike, trying to punish us by ignoring us now and our hunger strike for protesting in the first place. so get at them like you need to…

this is a mental health prison, with special structured programs designed for inmates with long-term mental health therapy, and this problem with us is also aggravating our mental health status, making us decompensate, get depressed, suicidal, want to cut. this is our last resort next to doing something desperate…

Amazon and Cat’s situation has never been more urgent. Continue to call Warden Paramo and act in solidarity with our comrades risking their lives to survive in a hellish institution of domination.

Call Warden Paramo the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility: (619) 661-6500

Demand that Eva Contreraz (C-45857)and Catarina LaPre (K-67313) be take off single-cell status and be allowed to share a cell. Demand that an end to the discriminatory housing policy against trans women in the correctional facility. Continue to call every day until you receive word that their demands have been met. The calling system may be confusing, but when in doubt dial 0 for the operator.

Attack!:

Gender Anarky has uncompromisingly attacked transphobic violence within the prison system, and have consistently called for directly attacking the systems of domination that the make living conditions of trans women, both inside and outside prison, a living hell. Attack the institutions that maintain the miserable system of gender in solidarity with Gender Anarky and the continuing hunger strike.

Write to Amazon and Cat:

Let them know you support their struggle against the the prison administration. They can be reached at:

Eva Contreraz C-45857
PO Box 799003 (C15-223)
San Diego, CA 92179-9003

Catarina LePre K-67313
PO Box 799003
San Diego, CA 92179-9003

for updates check back at genderanarky.wordpress.com

Disappointing #StrikeDebt Affinity Group Banner Drop

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 05:56:00 -0400

On Saturday, October 13th, as part of a convergence at Columbus Circle for #GlobalNoise actions, an affinity group affiliated with Strike Debt dropped a banner reading: “DEBT IS THE NEW COLONIALISM”

Banner drops with banners that have rad messages are awesome! But a banner, at Columbus Circle, reading “DEBT IS THE NEW COLONIALISM” which purports to be a
“solidarity message,” is disappointing, to say the least. Disappointing, but not surprising, as the action and messaging seems to originate from at least some of the all too familiar cohort of political gentrifyers who time and time again, AND one year later, refuse to relinquish their “weird tunnel vision” and decenter white middle-classness. But instead INSIST on promoting “ethical solidarity between the ideological polar extremes of Whiteness.”

Why do people refuse to take pause? Who is being served and what is being gained by conflating consumer/student/mortgage debt with the so-called “old” colonialism? Why couldn’t folks challenge themselves as to how to get the point across that debt is bad! Student loans ARE bad. Health care bills ARE bad. Foreclosures ARE bad. But debt IS NOT the new colonialism! I’ll just say, let folks, as an example, go by the J. Marion Sims statue or the African Burial Grounds and drop a banner reading “DEBT IS THE NEW SLAVERY.” Or go by a prison and drop a banner reading “DEBT IS THE NEW PRISON.” FOH! (Affinity group or no affinity group!)

Debt is debt… it is an oppressive system, but it is not THE “new” anything. Not the “NEW COLONIALISM” or “NEW SLAVERY” or “NEW PRISONS.”

FREE Counseling Services for Women of African Descent at...

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:51:08 -0400

FREE Counseling Services for Women of African Descent at BlackWomen’s Blueprint.

wakeupblackpower: “Lil Big Head” Afrofuturism art.

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:45:19 -0400

wakeupblackpower:

“Lil Big Head”

Afrofuturism art.

harmreduction: thespiritwas: HELP the Sylvia Rivera Law...

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 14:34:48 -0400

harmreduction:

thespiritwas:

HELP the Sylvia Rivera Law Project RAISE $15,000 BY NOVEMBER 8TH!

The SRLP 10 Indiegogo Campaignis a month-long fund-raising drive leading up to our 10^th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, November 8 @ 1199 SEIU, NYC. This is your opportunity to support the Sylvia Rivera Law Project’s important work of increasing the political voice and visibility of low-income people and people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming

Happy 10th Anniversary, SLRP!