My Grandmother's Hands. Resmaa Menakem

      If the persistence of white supremacy in twenty-first century America surprises you, this book will give you a startlingly different understanding of why. You will discover the vital force behind white supremacy is in our blood—literally—and in our nervous systems. However light or dark our skins, we Americans must all contend with these elemental forces.

      If you are not surprised that widespread white supremacy continues to injure America, but have no ideas or little hope for overcoming it, keep reading. This book offers a profoundly different view of what we can do, individually and together, to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide. This process has little to do with ideology, politics, or public policy and everything to do with neuroscience and the body.

      If you see white supremacy as a belief system or ideology, in this book you will discover only a fraction of it exists in our cognitive brains. For the most part, white supremacy lives in our bodies. In fact, white supremacy would be better termed white-body supremacy, because every white-skinned body, no matter who inhabits it—and no matter what they think, believe, do, or say—automatically benefits from it. (Beginning with Chapter 1, white-body supremacy is the term I’ll use.)

      If you are convinced that ending white supremacy begins with social and political action, do not read this book unless you are willing to be challenged. We need to begin with the healing of trauma—in dark-skinned bodies, light-skinned bodies, our neighborhoods and communities, and the law enforcement profession. Social and political actions are essential, but they need to be part of a larger strategy of healing, justice, and creating room for growth in traumatized flesh-and-blood bodies.

      If you believe America’s racial tensions lie not in white supremacy but in its dark-skinned people and the power they wield, do not read further. The pages ahead will trigger your trauma reflexes and make your life more painful than it already is.

       “But all our phrasing—race relations, racial chasm, racial justice, racial profiling, white privilege, even white supremacy—serves to obscure that racism is a visceral experience, that it dislodges brains, blocks airways, rips muscle, extracts organs, cracks bones, breaks teeth. . . . You must always remember that the sociology, the history, the economics, the graphs, the charts, the regressions all land, with great violence, upon the body.”

      TA-NEHISI COATES, BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME

       “The reality is that we are bodies born of other bodies, bodies feeding other bodies, bodies having sex with other bodies, bodies seeking a shoulder to lean or cry on . . . Bodies matter, which is why anything related to them arouses emotions.”

      FRANS DE WAAL, OUR INNER APE

       WATCH YOUR BODY

      As you experience this book, you’ll learn to pay attention to your body.

      If you have a white body, there will be times when it will reflexively constrict in order to protect you from some of the truths you’ll encounter. This constriction will be followed by a thought such as “I’m not like that; I’m a good person,” or “White-body supremacy has nothing to do with me,” or “This isn’t about me because I don’t belong to a racist organization.”

      When this occurs, just notice what you’re experiencing without doing anything about it. Don’t try to undo the constriction. Don’t try to hold onto it, either. Just watch your body closely and notice what sensations, impulses, and emotions arise.

      Don’t take the reflexive thoughts seriously, either. Don’t try to support them. Don’t debate them. Don’t act on them at all. Just observe them as they arise, and note any images or other thoughts that may follow.

      If you have a Black or other dark body, there will be times when your body will experience a sudden shock of recognition or understanding. Things you hadn’t fully grasped before may suddenly become clear. This might be followed by a rush of energy in the form of joy, or anger, or outrage, or a felt sense of clarity and rightness. Let yourself experience these sensations fully, but don’t hang onto them. Let them move into and through your body like a wave; then let them go.

      If you’re a public safety professional, you may experience both sets of sensations and thoughts. When one appears, allow it to flow fully into your body and mind, without doing anything about it. Then let it go, like a steadily shrinking image in your rear-view mirror.

      Whatever your profession or skin color, as you read this book, at times you may sense profound hope,

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