ST Healing Love-IntoBalance October2022 - Flipbook - Page 12
Acknowledging the Ancestors
As Resmaa Menakam, reminds us, in his brilliant body of work
called Somatic Abolitionism, “We did not just pop out of thin
air.” We come from generations of experience, of love, and of
trauma, much of which has been unmetabolized. Can we take
a moment to remember where we have come from? Can we
acknowledge what has been passed down to us through our
DNA as well as through the societal norms in which we were
raised? We are survivors of our ancestry and we are dream builders.
We are survivors
of our ancestry
and we are
dream builders.
Who am I? I am all my ancestors who brought me here; honoring my ancestry is part of who I am. We are
our ancestors and at the same time we are something new, the possibility of transformation.
What am I doing here? When I think of those who will come after me, I want to hand them a better, more
balanced world.
How do I honor my ancestors’ teachings? Our work is to bring forward the wisdom of our ancestors and
become who we are here to be.
The Primacy of Context
What does it take for our movement spaces to be truly loving, healing? There’s
this gap understanding what’s happening in these movement efforts, between
older and younger generations. both adults and young people need to be always
in the same rooms. All the time. If not, that’s how the gaps happen. Young and
old people be in the same conversations, make decisions together. Younger folks
need support, perhaps, not to be dismissed of our experiences. Beyond training
as training by itself is not enough, but a start, an opportunity for organizers to
be aware of youth needs. They need to be in the same space, learning and having
these conversations… not just operate from what we think we know.
—Lupe Renteria Salome
We must engage the transformative power of LOVE within the structural, historical, and intergenerational
contexts we find ourselves.
Where are we? What cultures and ecology inform the experience of this place?
What is happening here? What dynamics are at play that affect how we relate to ourselves, each other,
and the land?
What clouds our perception of what is happening here? How can we grow our awareness of the biases,
the blindspots, the needs and desires that may affect our perception of this reality?
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Healing Love: Into Balance | A Brown Paper