Understanding and action
Her book: Me and White Supremacy [Quercus, 2020], with its journaling exercises, is a brilliant starting point for digging down into engrained beliefs and offers a valuable thinking structure.
Nova Reid is an exceptional individual, who not only has committed herself to improve racial justice but who is dedicated to healing and shares the burden of being a black woman on a mission to make change. As she says “ I am a curator of courageous conversations on and off stage. I am an activist, TED speaker, podcast host and author, on a purpose-driven mission to improve racial justice, by helping people be the change they want to see by courageously unlearning their racism”.
She offers courses, books, social media and is an inspiration for those in the UK and beyond who seek help with healing.
This book [2022] by Eugene Ellis - a healing guide for us all - is a follow on from The Race Conversation and in my view is one of the most important contemporary books about approaching and having a conversation about the race construct and hierarchy that was imposed first to justify slavery in the late 16th Century whether between white and black, white and white and black and black. Ellis, as a psychotherapist, writes not only in an accessible way but also a revelatory way. He covers the ‘safe’ space needed to have the conversation but also very importantly the body, mind and spirit aspects of the conversation. For example he explains ‘given that most people’s experience of the race conversation is one of feeling unsafe’ it is vital to look at the ideas of implicit [unconscious and unable to be verbalised due to how they are encoded in the brain] memory and neuroception to further explore what it really means to feel safe. Ellis also adds breathing reminders for us through the book to stop and recognise strong sensations in your body. He walks us through certain aspects of history as well as including extracts from individual conversations, together making an interwoven foundation of then and now to help us with our necessary healing. Every page has a significant insight for me which I have noted and highlighted - this is a rich, generous and, I would say, optimistic book because Ellis delves down into our combined selves as well as our individual challenges.
