Cultivating Capacity for Challenging Racism
"Awakening Your Ally-Body: From White Racial Shame to Allyship," An Article by Vanissar Tarakali
The journey to powerful and accountable racial justice allyship is actually a process of thawing out and healing from trauma. This is challenging because trauma is stored deeply in the body, and so the thawing-out-from-trauma journey unfolds in our bodies. It is deeply intimate and personal.
One of my allyship workshop participants who experienced this thawing process in her body came in with a vague fear connected with being a white racial justice ally. As she and the group brought compassionate attention to their sensations, she felt rage, helplessness and sadness emerge in her body underneath the fear. She directly experienced the devastating impact of systemic racism on her being--"like having a car accident on my front door step every day”--and felt how she had numbed herself for years to cope with this “disaster.”
Direct, bodily insights like these, while painful, support empowered allyship. After her thawing out experience, this participant felt more space and energy, and was able to identify the next steps she needed to take to be a conscious racial justice ally: “It’s empowering …to be able to observe it happening…this new awareness… insert[s] more choice into what is an otherwise automatic numbing reaction.”
One of my allyship workshop participants who experienced this thawing process in her body came in with a vague fear connected with being a white racial justice ally. As she and the group brought compassionate attention to their sensations, she felt rage, helplessness and sadness emerge in her body underneath the fear. She directly experienced the devastating impact of systemic racism on her being--"like having a car accident on my front door step every day”--and felt how she had numbed herself for years to cope with this “disaster.”
Direct, bodily insights like these, while painful, support empowered allyship. After her thawing out experience, this participant felt more space and energy, and was able to identify the next steps she needed to take to be a conscious racial justice ally: “It’s empowering …to be able to observe it happening…this new awareness… insert[s] more choice into what is an otherwise automatic numbing reaction.”
I'll be offering "Shame and White Allies Working for Racial Justice" on Saturday, February 13. Read on for details.
Workshop: Shame and White Allies Working for Racial Justice
with Vanissar Tarakali
Guilt and shame are common issues for white people seeking to acknowledge and address racism. White people’s shame about racism often shows up as behaviors that reinforce racist dynamics, including denial, defensiveness, passivity and self-absorption, the calling out of which often serves to deepen shame and limit white people’s receptivity. How can we respond compassionately to this shame without condoning the resulting racist dynamics?
On February 13, Vanissar Tarakali will offer a workshop that brings theory and embodied practice together to explore white people’s automatic, shame-coping behaviors, and offers insights into why certain racist behaviors are so entrenched, even in well-intentioned white people.
This workshop, which draws on over a decade of research into the psychology of how white people unlearn racism, will benefit white allies seeking to strengthen mutual support and compassion for everyone working to transform racism. People of color who would like to recognize when racial shame is motivating white behavior are also welcome to attend. This workshop will help everyone recognize when white racial shame is operating and offer options and antidotes to support white allyship and accountability.
On February 13, Vanissar Tarakali will offer a workshop that brings theory and embodied practice together to explore white people’s automatic, shame-coping behaviors, and offers insights into why certain racist behaviors are so entrenched, even in well-intentioned white people.
This workshop, which draws on over a decade of research into the psychology of how white people unlearn racism, will benefit white allies seeking to strengthen mutual support and compassion for everyone working to transform racism. People of color who would like to recognize when racial shame is motivating white behavior are also welcome to attend. This workshop will help everyone recognize when white racial shame is operating and offer options and antidotes to support white allyship and accountability.
You can learn more about Vanissar's background and work by visiting her website: http://www.vanissar.com/.
Saturday, February 13, 10am-5pm
Sliding Scale: $80-180; limited financial assistance available
First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison St. in Oakland
Email our registration desk to sign up
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