Resmaa Menakem: Racialized Trauma

In his excellent book, My Grandmother’s Hands, Resmaa refers to people like Malcolm X and James Baldwin as having settled bodies and focused minds. The book is about racialized trauma: white body supremacy, white bodies, black bodies, and police bodies. It is a fascinating study and insight into historical trauma and how that lives in and through our bodies. Resmaa Menaken is a healer. He presents a clear picture of trauma and how it works in our bodies. He covers exercises and practices to heal the trauma in our own body. He has a section on harmonizing our bodies, and reducing our lizard brain response of fear of the other. Resmaa Menakem MSW, LICSW, S.E.P. has appeared on both The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil as an expert on conflict and violence. He has served as director of counseling services for the Tubman Family Alliance; as behavioral health director for African American Family Services in Minneapolis; 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.