Then They Came for Mine
Healing from the Trauma of Racial Violence
- 180 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Black Americans' resilience during centuries of racially-motivated violence is beyond remarkable. But continuing to endure this harm allows for generations of trauma to fester and grow. Healing has to be the priority going forward.
For decades, Tracey Michae'l Lewis-Giggetts clung to her upbringing in the church, believing that racial reconciliation would come through faith and discipline, being respectable, and doing what's right. But when her cousin became the victim of a white supremacist's hateful rampage, her body and soul said, "no more."
The trauma of America's racial history, wreaking havoc on not only Black and Brown folk but white people too, in its own way, will not be alleviated without the will to face it head-on. We must name the dehumanization that plagues us, practice truth-telling and self-care, and make space for our vulnerability—to do the hard work of healing ourselves and our communities.
This book is written with that healing in mind. It unpacks how American systems and institutions enable the kind of violence we've seen connected to white supremacy and nationalism. It examines the way media has created a desensitization to violence against Black bodies. It outlines what it looks like for a person who claims to follow Jesus to be anti-racist. But more than anything, it offers a blueprint for healing and reconciliation that includes the necessity of white people untangling from an ancestral mandate of colonization and false notions of supremacy, and Black and Brown people reckoning with the impact of trauma and feeling free to grieve in whatever way grief shows up.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Praise for Then They Came for Mine
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Personal Is Political
- 1. Why Black Trauma Matters: We will heal through our breath
- 2. It’s All Intersectional: We will heal by recognizing the myriad of ways the image of God is reflected in us
- 3. Justified By Law: We will heal by understanding that control is a mirage, but safety is constructible
- 4. Silence Is Violence: We will heal when we are better stewards of this life in every way
- 5. “What about Chicago?”: We will heal by choosing accountability as a precursor to unity
- 6. Fading Empathy: We will heal by affirming that there are many routes to where we must go, but love must pave every path
- 7. The Real Causes of White Violence: We will heal by embracing the process of healing and all that we uncover on the journey
- 8. Oh, to be Seen in the Fullness of our Humanity: We will heal by exposing our hearts over and over again
- 9. A New Narrative: We will heal through authentic acceptance of the whole story and embracing our freedom work
- Notes