16: We Apply Balms and Sweet Oils On Our Scars | Healing Internalized Racism

Join TaReon as she shares what she's been learning about internalized racism and the steps she's taking towards healing from the effects of it.

Show Notes

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Transcript

TaReon Jael: 0:00

Welcome to the Wellness for Black Girls podcast. I'm your host to TaReon Jael, a Certified Health Educator and Medical Lab Scientist. For more information, please visit www.wellnessforblackgirls.com. While I hope you enjoy listening to and learning from the podcast, please remember that it is not intended to be a substitute for a relationship with the licensed healthcare provider. Hello, and welcome to episode 16. I recently read an article in Essence magazine titled"Black Girl Future" by Tarana Burke. She's the founder of the'me too' Movement International. In the article she reflects on how she finds her true self in the ancestral wisdom of our greatest minds. I pulled a quote from the article where she writes that,"Our depths are too complex for the uninvited to navigate. The magic we conjure too powerful for the uninitiated to comprehend. We are celestial beings filled with truth, creativity, wisdom, devotion, pride, peace, mystery, vulnerability, love, and yes, magic. We apply balms and sweet oils on our scars and carve new pathways so that our daughters might heal and find their way back to us..." I want to share a moment of transparency. I felt moved by her words, but I also felt a bit of a disconnect. I can very clearly and easily see, embrace, and love the depths of other Black Women, but struggle to do the same for myself. I believe a lot, if not, most of this stems from being constantly bombarded with negative messages about Black Women. So lately I've been working to be more intentional about healing from internalized racism and inferiority. I started doing a little research to help me better understand these concepts and ways to heal from their effects. So in this episode, I hope to share what I've learned. This concept is a heavy one. So to help me understand it better, I started by first finding the definition of racism. I'm going to use the Merriam Webster definition because the editors recently revised it after a young, Black Woman named Kennedy Mitchum urged the editors to update the definition to more clearly explain the idea of systemic or institutional racism. So the first part of the definition reads that"racism is a belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities, and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race" and the"behavior or attitudes that reflect and foster this belief. And the second part of the definition reads that"racism is the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another. And in that second portion of the definition is the word oppression. So let's define oppression. It's the unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power. Something that oppresses, especially in being an unjust or excessive exercise of power. So when we, as Black, Indigenous and People of Color live in a country that was founded on and continues to operate under this system of oppression, and other forms of oppression, we can, and often do, absorb or internalize these negative messages about who we are. When these racist messages and views are absorbed and then directed at others within our racial/ethnic group and other people of color it's referred to as internalized racial oppression. And when these same racist messages are absorbed and directed towards ourselves. This is called internalized inferiority, or self-hatred. Hate is defined as an intense hostility and aversion, extreme dislike or disgust. So when I switch up the wording to apply it towards my racial group. It reads"an intense hostility or aversion directed towards my racial group." And when I switch up the words to apply it to myself, it reads"an intense hostility, aversion, and disgust towards myself." And when I read that, I feel uncomfortable and a sense of shame because I find moments when I catch my reflection and immediately pick apart elements of my physical appearance, especially my"Black" features like my nose and my hair. That's the thing about internalized racism and inferiority. It can manifest in our lives in ugly ways. We can experience low self-esteem, powerlessness, hopelessness, and apathy. And we'll distance ourselves or become abusive and violent to others in our community. We know the effects of racism run deep. How can we heal individually and as a community? I believe racial healing is a process that involves taking proactive individual actions throughout our lifetime. And as we begin to heal from racism, we can learn to give others in our lives the opportunity to heal from racism too. Author, Annaliese Singh writes in a 2019 article titled"Is Healing from Racism Possible?" that"racial healing means we begin to unlearn the stereotyped racial messages we internalized about our own race and the race of others. It means we as individuals learn to recognize the wounds that racism creates in us. Healing means we work to stop participating in the system of racism and white supremacy." In this same article Ms. Singh goes on to share steps that we can take for racial healing. I'm going to share a couple of these steps here with some modifications that speak more to healing from internalized racism and inferiority. The first step is to know our racial identity. This starts by learning and knowing our history, especially our history that takes place before colonization and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This is crucial in helping us build a positive racial identity that is not influenced by identity under white supremacy. I've recently been following the work of Lyvonne Briggs, who was also known as Pastor Bae. She's an Emmy award-winning, body and sex positive womanist spiritualist whose work centers around empowering Black-Christian adjacent women to lavish themselves with love in a world that tells them not to. I recently completed her course titled Ancestor Veneration 101: Introduction to African Traditional Religions and Spiritual Systems. It was a nice intro for me into learning more about some of the traditions of our ancestors. I've included links to Pastor Bae's work in the show notes. So please check her out and show her some support. The next step involves engaging in collective racial healing. This is best done with people who are also committed to their own racial healing journey. This would be a perfect time to reach out to the women in your life. We touched on the power of women in community in episode four of the podcast titled Sister Friends, Sister Circles. There's something about connecting with other Black Women and getting to a place where we can see their beauty and realize that we are a reflection of them and vice versa. You probably know the next and final step that I'm going to share...self-care. I've previously talked about various self-care practices that can help us heal. Lately I've been enjoying lighting candles during my morning and evening routines to bring in a cozy feeling to my environment. I've also recently been more intentional about incorporating mind body movement into my routine on my off days and using the Exhale app to hear some guided meditation, breath work, and daily affirmations. Exhale is a free app by Katara McCarty designed to help Black, Indigenous and Women of Color on their emotional well-being journeys. So I invite you to take some time during your day to do some small things for yourself, do something you enjoy, just because you can. Now I want to share four quick journal prompts. The first is how do you feel about your racial identity? The second prompt. How do you challenge internalized racism and inferiority in yourself or others? The third prompt says, write yourself a love note, honor every step of your journey and every part of your body. Celebrate at least 10 things you adore about you. And the fourth prompt involves reflecting on a poem that I've recently been reflecting on. Tarana Burke references this poem in her Essence article that I mentioned in the intro. This poem is titled"won't you celebrate with me" by Lucille Clifton. won't you celebrate with me what i have shaped into a kind of life? i had no model. born in babylon both nonwhite and woman what did I see to be except myself? i made it up here on this bridge between starshine and clay, my one hand holding tight my other hand; come celebrate with me that everyday something has tried to kill me and has failed. Thank you for listening to this episode. Be sure to head to www.wellnessforblackgirls.com/episodes/sixteen to read the show notes. All of the links to the references and resources I mentioned in the episode will be there. If you're not already go ahead and follow the podcast@wellness4blackgirls and follow me@tareonjael.