by Dr. Evan Auguste and Veronica Agard
Movement elders and ancestors from Afeni Shakur to Malidoma Patrice Somé have long discussed the need for stamina in true liberatory struggle. Others have maintained that without tending to the consistent ways we have all been socialized and misoriented to oppressive worldviews, we risk reproducing harm within our own movement spaces.
At a recent summit on Haitian liberation, Professor and Mambo Bayyinah Bello reminded attendees of the importance of developing more firm relationships with our power, by intentionally tending to our relationships with spirit, nature, and community. Healing circles represent one such modality of intentional maintenance with oneself, community, and ancestors while pursuing the long struggle of liberation.
According to Linda James Myers, in addition to a structural dynamic, oppression operates as an internal dynamic that shapes our values, relationships with one another, and pursuit of wellness.
In addition to maintenance, movement work is rife with internal disputes, traumatic experiences, and pain as individuals desperate for better futures often harm one another as they outline and pursue at times disparate ideas for the future. Healing circles also can offer spaces for communal maintenance and perhaps consensus building in liberatory effort. We should strive towards this and not extract from one another in a way that mimics the systems we seek to disrupt.
Beyond attending to wounding, there is also evidence that attending African-centered healing circles can help to shape liberatory vision, commitment, and community. For instance, a forthcoming paper on the qualitative effects of the Association of Black Psychologists Inc.’s Sawubona Healing Circles demonstrated that attendees developed new senses of Pan-African kinship and commitments to collective action. We think of The Salt Eaters here, when Toni Cade Bambara writes “…the difference between eating salt as an antidote to snakebite and turning into salt, succumbing to the serpent.” We each have to find our balance between tending to our healing and staying stuck in the traumas that we experienced and inherited.
There’s an idea often shared here on social media that healing is formulaic. One that comes off like if we complete steps 1 through 6 all of our problems or worries will be solved. Or if we go to a guru, teacher, or healer; we may think that they can ‘solve’ things for us. Capitalism disconnects us not only from nature but often from each other. It’s crucial to seek out lineages of care and healing and practitioners that share your values.
Our healing journeys—and anyone who supports us along the way—should be treated with respect, compassion, and understanding. What comes after healing is another wave or spiral, and not in a negative way. What comes ‘after’ can look different for everyone, but it’s important not to judge nor cause harm to yourself or others.
Throughout many encampments, healing circles were hosted for resistors to process their experiences, traumas, and hopes. Several virtual and in-person circles have been held for people doing movement work around Haitian liberation as well, allowing for space to align visions for the island and process generational divides. Similar work has been ongoing to support folks processing the ongoing violence occurring in the Congo, Sudan, and Palestine.
Through an extended deliberate practice, you’ll find that some methods of healing will work better than others. ‘After’ is not a fixed point in the multiverse that is your healing journey. Only a continuum of what has occurred, acknowledging where you are currently, and discerning where you’d like to be.
Suggested reading
We Need to Focus on Black Joy Just as Much as Black Liberation by Veronica Agard
The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara
The Weight in Being Well: The Salt Eaters and the Genius of Toni Cade Bambara – The Feminist Wire
Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding Our Sorrow and Growing Cultures of Care in Community by Camille Sparta Barton
What is Ancestor Veneration & Why is it Necessary for the Wellbeing of African & Indigenous People? - by Omikunle Ekundayo, Soulcare Collective
Epigenetics and Intergenerational Trauma by Sonya Joseph
Communities of Care for Liberation by Yashna Maya Padamsee
My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem
Healing Justice Lineages by Cara Page and Erica Woodland
Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman by Malidoma Patrice Somé
