Somatic Abolitionism as Anti-Body to the White-Body Supremacy Virus, Resmaa Menakem
Resmaa Menakem tells us what Somatic Abolitionism is and why we need to practice it.
What Somatic Abolitionism Is
Somatic Abolitionism is living, embodied anti-racist practice and cultural building —a way of being in the world. It is a return to the age-old wisdom of human bodies respecting, honoring, and resonating with other human bodies. It is not a exclusively a goal, an attitude, a belief, an idea, a strategy, a movement, a plan, a system, a political position, or a step forward.
Somatic Abolitionism is not a human invention. It is the resourcing of energies that are always present in your body, in the collective body, and in the world. Somatic Abolitionism is an emergent process.
Somatic Abolitionism is a emergent form of growing up and growing into a more fuller energetic human experience.
Why We Need Somatic Abolitionism
Nearly all of our bodies—bodies of all culture—are infected by the virus of white-body supremacy.
This virus was created by human beings in a laboratory—the Virginia Assembly, in 1691—then let loose upon our continent. It quickly infected people of all culture and pigmentation, backgrounds, and economic circumstances.
Today, the WBS virus remains with us—in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the foods we eat, the institutions that govern us, and the social contracts under which we live. Most of all, though, it lives in our bodies.
What Somatic Abolitionism Does
Somatic Abolitionism heals our bodies of the WBS virus, and then inoculates our bodies against new WBS infections through cultural container building. It begins in your body, then ripples out to other bodies, and then to our collective body.
Somatic Abolitionism requires action—and repeated individual and communal practice. Through repetition, you collectively build resilience, discernment, and the ability to tolerate discomfort that comes with confronting the brutality of race.
From the Centre for Compassionate Studies at the University of Arazona, an interview with Resmaa Menakem on Why Healing Racism Begins With the Body
Trauma therapist and author of My Grandmother's Hands, Resmaa Menakem talks honestly and directly about the historical and current traumatic impacts of racism in the U.S., and the necessity for us all to recognize this trauma, metabolize it, work through it, and grow up out of it. Only in this way will we at last heal our bodies, our families, and the social body of our nation. Though he speaks from an American viewpoint, his observations and solutions are not confined to any country but have world wide applications.
