Growing Resilience Reading Group
For this reading group, we will independently read through the designated sections and come prepared to discuss our learnings and challenges.
The sections for each discussion are scheduled as follows: FEB 27: Please read Part 1:Unarmed and Dismembered, pages 3-136 MARCH 13: Please read Part 2: Remembering Ourselves, pages 137-236 MARCH 27: Please read Part 3: Mending our Collective Body, pages 237- 306 |
Wednesdays 5-6:30pm
Feb 27 and March 13 & 27 Pre-registration required by Feb 25! My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP Join somatic movement educators Abbi Jaffe and Amanda Franz for a lightly facilitated book group; conversations and somatic practices inspired by the book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP. “The first self-help book to examine white-body supremacy in America from the perspective of trauma and body-centered psychology. The body is where our instincts reside and where we fight, flee, or freeze. My Grandmother’s Hands is a call to action for Americans to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but also about the body. Menakem introduces an alternate view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide and takes readers through a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing practices. " - Resmaa Menakem, MSW, LICSW, SEP, from My Grandmother's Hands BY DONATION (suggested $45) Pre-registration required by Feb 25 HERE. NEXT STEPS: Purchase your book, then read Section 1 for Feb 27, 2019. Purchasing the book:
(If you know any other great sources for buying books, please let us know.) |
ABOUT RESMAA MENAKEM MSW, LICSW, SEP:
“Resmaa Menakem MSW, LICSW, SEP
has served as director of counseling services for the Tubman Family Alliance;
as behavioral health director for African American Family Services in Minneapolis;
as a domestic violence counselor for Wilder Foundation;
as a certified Military and Family Life Consultant for the US Armed Forces;
as a trauma consultant for the Minneapolis Public Schools and
as a Cultural Somatics consultant for the Minneapolis Police Department.
As a Community Care Counselor,
he managed the wellness and counseling services for civilians on fifty-three US military bases in Afghanistan.
He currently teaches workshops on Cultural Somatics for audiences of African Americans, European Americans, and police officers.
He is also a therapist in a private practice.”
~From the back cover of My Grandmother’s Hands
Special Praise for My Grandmother's Hands:
“ Resmaa Menakem cuts to the heart of America’s racial crisis with the precision of a surgeon in ways few have before. Addressing the intergenerational trauma of white supremacy and its effects on all of us – understanding it as a true soul wound –is the first order of business if we hope to pull out of the current morass. As this amazing work shows us, policies alone will not do it, and bold social action, though vital to achieving justice, will not require those engaged in it to also take action on the injury, deep and personal, from which we all suffer.”
~ Tim Wise, best – selling author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son and Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority.
“My Grandmother’s Hands invites each of us to heal the racial trauma that lives in our bodies. As Resmaa Menakem explains, healing this trauma takes courage and a commitment to viscerally feel this racial pain. By skillfully combining therapy expertise with social criticism and practical guidance, he reveals a path forward for the individual and collective healing that involves experiencing the sensation of this journey with each step. Are you willing to take the first step.”
~ Alex Haley, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing
“My Grandmother’s Hands is a revolutionary work of beauty, brilliance, compassion and ultimately, hope. With eloquence and grace, Resmaa Menakem masterfully lays out the missing piece in the puzzle of why, despite so many good intentions, we have not achieved racial justice. Yes, we need to understand white supremacy, but as Menakem so skillfully explains, white supremacy is not rational and we won’t end it with our bodies. We must begin to understand it as white body supremacy and go to the depth of where it is stored, within our collective bones and muscles. To this end, My Grandmother’s Hands is an intimate guidebook toward racial healing, one that achieves that rare combination for its readers; it is deeply intellectually stimulating while also providing practical ways to engage in the process of repair, even as we read. I believe this book will change the direction of the movement for racial justice.”
~Robin Di’Angelo, Racial Justice Educator and author of White Fragility
~ Tim Wise, best – selling author of White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son and Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority.
“My Grandmother’s Hands invites each of us to heal the racial trauma that lives in our bodies. As Resmaa Menakem explains, healing this trauma takes courage and a commitment to viscerally feel this racial pain. By skillfully combining therapy expertise with social criticism and practical guidance, he reveals a path forward for the individual and collective healing that involves experiencing the sensation of this journey with each step. Are you willing to take the first step.”
~ Alex Haley, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing
“My Grandmother’s Hands is a revolutionary work of beauty, brilliance, compassion and ultimately, hope. With eloquence and grace, Resmaa Menakem masterfully lays out the missing piece in the puzzle of why, despite so many good intentions, we have not achieved racial justice. Yes, we need to understand white supremacy, but as Menakem so skillfully explains, white supremacy is not rational and we won’t end it with our bodies. We must begin to understand it as white body supremacy and go to the depth of where it is stored, within our collective bones and muscles. To this end, My Grandmother’s Hands is an intimate guidebook toward racial healing, one that achieves that rare combination for its readers; it is deeply intellectually stimulating while also providing practical ways to engage in the process of repair, even as we read. I believe this book will change the direction of the movement for racial justice.”
~Robin Di’Angelo, Racial Justice Educator and author of White Fragility
