Why We're All Suffering from Racial Trauma (Even White People) -- and How to Handle It | Resmaa Menakem
Resmaa Menakem, a therapist and trauma specialist, discusses how racial trauma lives in bodies of all colors, not just cognitively. He introduces concepts like "white body supremacy" and "somatic abolitionism," sharing practices for white people to heal and build anti-racist culture.
Deep Dive Analysis
16 Topic Outline
Impact of Racial Trauma on Black Bodies
Defining White Body Supremacy and White Advantage
Why White People Should Discuss Race Among Themselves
Understanding Somatic Abolitionism and Embodied Practices
The Nature and Definition of Trauma
Historical, Intergenerational, Persistent Institutional, and Personal (HIPP) Trauma
Epigenetics and Inherited Trauma
White Racial Trauma and Societal Avoidance
The Need for White People to Build Anti-Racist Culture
Pessimism vs. Observance of Reality in Racial Healing
The Practice of Orienting the Body
The Practice of Self-Touch for Support
The Role of Community in Embodied Anti-Racist Work
Distinguishing Structural Change from News Cycle Reactions
Trauma as Protective, Not Defective
Moving Beyond White Guilt and Shame
7 Key Concepts
White Body Supremacy
This concept posits that society is constructed on the idea that the white body is the supreme standard by which all humanity is measured. It suggests that being born into a white body confers an inherent advantage, regardless of other identities or socio-economic status, and is a foundational issue that needs to be addressed by white people.
White Advantage
This term is used instead of 'white privilege' to emphasize that simply being born into a white body in a society predicated on white body supremacy provides an inherent advantage. This advantage exists before any individual actions or experiences, unlike privilege which can sometimes imply earned status.
Somatic Abolitionism
This is a concerted effort to stop being consumers of the 'product' of white body supremacy. It involves engaging in embodied practices and community work to metabolize the anguish, pain, rage, and hate that arise from centuries of consuming this product, rather than continuing to project it onto Black and Indigenous bodies.
Trauma
Trauma is defined as anything that happens to a person that is 'too much, too fast, too soon,' coupled with a reparative action that should have happened but didn't. It's how the body responds when a natural fight, flight, or freeze response gets stuck, leading to either constant activation or a depressed, coiled state.
HIPP Trauma
This acronym stands for Historical, Intergenerational, Persistent Institutional, and Personal traumas. It explains that the weight and impact of current traumatic events (like watching a murder) are compounded by centuries of accumulated trauma passed down through generations, embedded in institutions, and experienced individually.
Epigenetics
This field of study demonstrates how traumatic experiences can alter genetic expression, which can then be passed down through generations. It suggests that the body can inherit 'blood-borne memories' or predispositions to react to certain stimuli, even without direct experience or verbal communication of the original trauma.
White Racial Trauma
This refers to the trauma experienced by white people, often stemming from fleeing difficult circumstances to come to unceded land, or the trauma of participating in or benefiting from systems of white body supremacy. This trauma is often decontextualized and can manifest as personality traits or cultural norms, and society is organized to prevent white people from dealing with it.
8 Questions Answered
Instead of a rote 'how are you,' it's better to ask specific questions like 'Are you sleeping well?', 'Are you eating well?', 'How are you taking care of yourself and breathing?', or 'How are you moving your body?' to acknowledge the profound impact of racialized trauma.
White supremacy often refers to a cognitive idea, whereas 'white body supremacy' emphasizes that the white body itself is the supreme standard of humanness, creating an inherent advantage for those born into it, regardless of their individual identity or beliefs.
White people should have these conversations with other white people, not with people of color. The goal is to develop a living, embodied, anti-racist culture among themselves, rather than seeking validation or education from those already burdened by racial trauma.
Being a white ally is a verb, not a declarative statement. It requires cultivating embodied anti-racist practices and culture with other white people, rather than simply declaring oneself an ally or trying to convince people of color of one's good intentions.
Yes, white people carry their own racial trauma, which looks different from the trauma experienced by people of color. This trauma is often organized around avoiding dealing with it, and society is structured to allow them to do so without immediate repercussions.
Structural change is often driven by economic impact and loss of property, rather than solely by white people's niceness or understanding. When racial unrest leads to financial costs or property damage, it forces a re-evaluation of structural issues.
Racial trauma manifests as a 'weathering effect' on every structure of the body, including the cardiovascular, brain, endocrine, and musculoskeletal systems, due to chronically elevated stress hormones like cortisol. This can contribute to health issues like high blood pressure and diabetes, beyond just lifestyle choices.
White people should recognize that guilt and shame can be dodges to developing community and taking responsibility. The focus should be on 'getting in the game' and actively engaging in communal, embodied anti-racist work, rather than seeking individual absolution.
13 Actionable Insights
1. Commit to Anti-Racist Culture
White people must commit to meeting with other white bodies for 3-10 years to develop a living, embodied anti-racist culture, grinding up against each other to contend with the issue of white body supremacy. This sustained communal effort is necessary because white body supremacy is a white people’s issue, and individual approaches are insufficient.
2. Shift to Embodied Trauma Experience
Move beyond cognitive understanding of trauma to experience it in the body through sensations, vibes, images, thoughts, meaning-making, behavioral urges, and affective feelings, noting its weight, texture, speed, and charge. This approach is crucial because cognitive methods have reached their limit in driving change, and the body is where trauma is located.
3. Practice Somatic Orienting
Engage in the practice of ‘orienting’ by consciously noticing your surroundings (exits, windows) and looking behind you, over your left and right shoulders, using your hips and neck. This practice helps to release historical stuckness in the body, particularly in areas like the hips, vagal nerve, and neck, which have historically been sites of trauma for Black bodies.
4. Practice Somatic Self-Touch
Gently place your hand on parts of your body (e.g., chest, stomach, head) where difficult sensations or emotions arise, not to remove them, but to offer support and stay with the experience. This consistent ‘self-touch’ provides support to parts of the body that may have rarely experienced it, helping to process and integrate difficult experiences.
5. Engage in Communal Somatic Support
In a trusted community of white people, engage in supported touch by asking another person to hover or gently place a hand over yours while you are self-touching for short periods (e.g., five seconds), then pause to notice what emerges. This practice helps develop communal synergy and understanding of how racial trauma manifests in the body, moving beyond intellectual exercises.
6. Redefine “Ally” as Action
Understand that being a white ally is a verb, not a declarative statement, requiring active, communal work rather than mere declaration. Cultivate relationships with other white people to build embodied anti-racist practices and culture, as evidence suggests that declarations without communal action are insufficient.
7. Prepare for Personal Loss
Be prepared to lose friends, money, relationships, and status when committing to developing an embodied anti-racist culture. This understanding is vital because the fear of such losses often prevents white people from engaging in the deep, sustained work required.
8. Approach Racial Work with Reps
Treat the work of dealing with race like learning any skill, requiring consistent ‘reps’ and a willingness to go through awkward stages to condition and temper your body to understand nuance. This sustained practice is necessary because racial understanding is not innate for white people and cannot be achieved without dedicated effort.
9. Move Beyond Guilt to Responsibility
Recognize that individual feelings of white guilt and shame can be a ‘dodge’ from genuine engagement and responsibility. Instead, ‘get in the game’ by actively participating in communal anti-racist work, as guilt and shame do not help anyone and prevent meaningful action.
10. Reframe Trauma as Protective Fuel
Understand that trauma is a protective mechanism, not a defect, and its energy can be harnessed for personal transformation. By engaging with this energy, individuals can find fuel for growth rather than remaining stuck in damaging patterns.
11. Ask Specific Well-being Questions
When inquiring about someone’s well-being, especially a Black person or person of color, ask specific questions about sleep, eating, self-care, breathing, and body movement, rather than a generic ‘how are you?’ This approach elicits more honest and impactful responses, acknowledging the deeper impacts of racialized trauma.
12. Check In With Your Body
Prioritize checking in with your body before important conversations or processing difficult topics. This practice ensures authenticity and prevents feeling ‘sold out’ or disconnected from your true experience, as the body is where all experiences are located.
13. Avoid “Wokeness” or Virtue Signaling
Engage in anti-racist work with the genuine intention of building culture and structural change, rather than seeking individual affirmation or ‘wokeness points.’ Such superficial engagement does not lead to the sustained cultural shifts necessary for true anti-racism.
7 Key Quotes
White body supremacy is a white people's issue. There is nothing that, there is no health concern, there is no economic concern, there is no education concern, there is no prison concern, there is no law enforcement concern that will not be exponentially better if white people start to deal with white body supremacy.
Resmaa Menakem
White comfort trumps my liberation.
Resmaa Menakem
Fragility, white fragility is actually brutality, right? It is actually brutality, couched as fragility.
Resmaa Menakem
Trauma over time becomes decontextualized, right? And trauma over time that becomes decontextualized can look like personality in a person. Trauma over time can look like family traits in the family. Trauma decontextualized over time can look like culture in the people.
Resmaa Menakem
My pessimism is irrelevant to the action that white people need to take.
Resmaa Menakem
America goes from shock to trance faster than any other nation on Earth.
Dan Harris
Trauma is what happens inside of you when what happened happened.
Resmaa Menakem
3 Protocols
Developing Embodied Anti-Racist Culture for White People
Resmaa Menakem- Commit to meeting with other white bodies for three to ten years.
- Engage in embodied practices specifically focused on race.
- Grind up against each other, dealing with discomfort, sexism, homophobia, and other issues that arise within the group context.
- Witness and observe each other's experiences and reactions during this work.
- Share personal experiences to allow the community to learn and develop nuance, resonance, and dissonance.
Orienting Practice for Trauma Release
Resmaa Menakem- Take a small, quick moment (2-5 seconds) to notice your surroundings.
- Pay attention to exits, windows, and the space around you.
- Specifically, look behind you, over your left and right shoulders, engaging your hips and neck.
- Repeat this practice to help release historical stuckness in the body and contend with past and present threats.
Self-Touch Practice for Body Support
Resmaa Menakem- When you notice a sensation or feeling arise in a part of your body (e.g., stomach, chest, head), gently touch that area.
- Do not try to put something in or take something out; simply support that part of your body.
- Stay with the sensation, even if you don't immediately experience relief or activation, and continue to get reps in.
- Optionally, in a trusted community, ask another person to hover their hand over yours while you perform this practice, then pause and notice what arises.