“Many times trauma in a person decontextualized over time can look like personality. Trauma in a family decontextualized over time can look like family traits, trauma decontextualized in a people over time can look like culture and it takes time to slow it down so you can begin to discern what’s what.”
– Resmaa Menakem, episode 200 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Resmaa Menakem is a trauma specialist and New York Times best-selling author. His latest book, “My Grandmother’s Hands”, focuses on the historical and racialized trauma carried in our bodies and souls, from one generation to the next. As we try to heal, Resmaa joins us to talk about the dangers of white comfort (4:15), the “supreme standard” of the white body (10:03), his personal experience with generational trauma (14:33), the communal horror of racial injustice (19:10), his healing work with soldiers in Afghanistan (24:26), how black people have become habituated to soothing white bodies (36:10), and the illusion of allyship (40:19).
Show-notes:
- Learn more about Resmaa Menakem on his personal website.
- Read Resmaa’s latest book, My Grandmother’s Hands.
- For more, a conversation between Resmaa and Robin DiAngelo.
- As referenced, our episode with Erica Chidi. Check out her company, LOOM.
- And her book, Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood.
Illustrations by: Krishna Shenoi.
Music by: Dylan Peck
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