Like many children, I was taught in elementary school that racism ended after the Civil Rights era of the 1950s and 1960s. Clearly that was not the case then and it is not the case now. As a child, I didn’t know how to begin to articulate the sense I had of white supremacy as a prevailing force, but I could feel that white people’s snap judgements had far-reaching effects. I wondered how I would navigate this imbalance as I grew up white in a society in denial about racial disparities and perpetual economic disenfranchisement.
Racist fear-mongering tactics have had an enormous influence on the collective consciousness for centuries and reinforce oppression to this day. The message that white America sends to Black America is, “It is our birthright to hold control over you, and you’re not allowed to do anything about it.” The slave patrol mentality is still heavily operational in the subconscious of America.
In 1989, after a white woman was raped in New York’s Central Park, Donald Trump spent $85,000 to run an inflammatory full-page ad in four different newspapers to explain that he hated “roving bands of wild criminals” and how he had no interest in cultivating understanding or compassion. Amid the toxic cycle of media sensationalism, a group of Black children ranging in age from 14-16 were arrested and imprisoned for 6 to 13 years before they were exonerated in 2002.
In 1996, I was seven years old. That year, while Hillary Clinton touted Bill Clinton's extremely punitive crime bill of 1994, she painted a picture of “super-predator” children with “no conscious, no empathy” who need to be brought “to heel.” By age seven, this type of rhetoric had already been part of my indoctrination in the years prior to Clinton’s statement.
The slave patrol mentality still influences policy throughout public and private sectors. From land grabs to medical experimentation, we can see that systemic racist policies play out over and over again. If there is any doubt, look at who is harmed and look at who profits.
Our society’s dominant narrative subliminally repeats, “Treat the violence of white supremacy as ‘normal’ and unchangeable.” America’s continued dedication to white supremacy can be seen in the outraged reactions to the simple, peaceful protests started by Colin Kaepernick during NFL games that bring focus to racism and police brutality. Colin Kaepernick has been punished for kneeling during the national anthem, demonstrating white America’s devotion to the flag and contempt for the bodily autonomy of Black people.
Sarah Bellamy writes in her article “Performing Whiteness,” “White people may not realize it, but white supremacy causes disruptions between their psyches and their bodies.” This schism begins in childhood and festers at the roots of the mental and physical health issues that are common in America. No one’s system is untouched by the widespread impact of white-body supremacy because the programming runs so deep. Racialized trauma amasses in the body and is passed down from generation to generation, and yet as a country we have not addressed the deep wounds of slavery on an authentic level.
In his book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, Somatic Experiencing practitioner Resmaa Menakem writes, “There’s a way out of this mess, and it requires each of us to begin with our own body. You and your body are important parts of the solution. You will not just read this book; you will experience it in your body. Your body—all of our bodies—are where changing the status quo must begin.” Menakem provides a roadmap for releasing what we all have been holding and suppressing in our bodies. He outlines the background of racial trauma inheritance in his article “Healing Your Thousand-Year-Old Trauma.”
Many of us have long histories of denying our problems and running away from the areas that evoke shame. I used to resort to many forms of escapism, including activist work, to avoid being present with myself. Over the past several years, the practice of Somatic Experiencing has been transformative in my life. I have been able to create space to drop the facade of perfectionism so that I can live and grow in raggedy authenticity.
Those of us who are white have been able to remain disassociated from the national and global assaults on marginalized communities. We are not fully living in our bodies because of the intensity that arises, so instead we reside strictly in our heads and disassociate from the rest of the body. Now, for the sake of the planet and everyone on it, we can no longer turn away from the internal responsibility of addressing this detrimental embedded dynamic.
When we start to shed the conditioning of white supremacy in ourselves, we begin to see the origins of the weight we have been carrying. We must acknowledge how attachment to whiteness creates rifts among us. White aversion in white people manifests as guilt-driven white savior behavior, claims of colorblindness, and self-hatred. White craving manifests as white nationalism, claims of superiority, and disdain for the “other.” These approaches may look opposite on the surface, but they are really two sides of the same coin that uphold the brutal white-dominated system to which we are accustomed.
The hierarchical domination-submission model is so entrenched that it is difficult for most to even imagine that anything different exists beyond it. Humanity is still largely clinging to a white supremacist paradigm, and people all over the world are operating in fear of this program coming to an end. What would the world look like without the white domination mindset perpetuating the familiar standard throughout major global institutions?
We will not be able to feel true liberation until we decide to find out together. I still have a multitude of layers of white supremacist conditioning left to shed, and with each release I open access to a deeper personal freedom.
July 1, 2020