How do we heal as a Collective?

I wanted to share some of my innermost thoughts on what happened in Los Angeles about a month ago now, specifically by local government leaders. The local community was shaken by some very ugly and racist remarks made by City Council members here. 

This brought about a wave of heaviness and grief, this time right here at home as there was yet another manifestation of how unhealed internalized racism and oppression can very easily turn into a weapon for harm, especially when it resides within the bodies of folks in high positions of power. I am sure this was not an isolated case and speaks to an ingrained culture of racism and systemic oppression deep within the highest echelons of power in our local government. I am so deeply sorry that our Black/Indigenous/LGBTQ siblings had to experience this. I know this is too common for you and often a part of your daily life, and for that I am sorry that we can’t do better. I am also very sorry for the rest of us in the collective since this is just one more reminder of the deep colorism that we suffer from and the deep healing work that all of us still need to do.

I have truly felt very pained and anxious about the state of our community. I have also been grappling with how we hold humans accountable without throwing them away. How can we practice accountability without discarding people altogether? The feelings and emotions were so high during those weeks, and still are, that it was hard to look beyond the harm done. 

However, the question that is very often on my heart is “how do we heal as a collective?” 

While I catch myself going through the spiral with everyone else in the moment (because I am also human), I also feel a very deep sense of responsibility to the community I serve, to respond when these issues occur and to try to provide a bit of nuance to the conversation. I see my role as offering a deeper response to these issues. To try to bring in a healing justice lens as we grapple with all of this. It is incumbent upon all of us to do so, but most especially the healers, coaches, teachers, and all those leading others. I feel we have a very special responsibility to find revolutionary ways to bring folks together that offer a different way forward. One that is rooted in love and justice, in understanding and compassion. 

I believe we can hold both our anger and our sadness. Both are important emotions that need to be expressed. But like adrienne marie brown and Sonya Renee Taylor call us to, how can we engage in “radical permission” to truly allow ourselves to explore the wholeness of other humans? Understanding that we too are wounded, that we too are flawed, and that we cannot cancel each other out. That we truly need to look at each other and create spaces of collective healing. It is indeed hard work but at the end of the day, it is truth-telling, loving, care work.