White-Body Supremacy Virus
Resmaa Menakem is a somatic abolitionist social justice worker and author who has had an immense impact on my life. As an activist, Menakem emphasizes that social justice focused change needs to happen on the inside and outside of institutions, as well as a dismantling of white-body supremacy that festers inside our body’s like a virus. In his book My Grandmother’s Hands (2017) - which I highly recommend - he highlights that there are various forms of trauma residing in all of our bodies from generations of brutality towards each other (including white-body against white-body before the development of race and racism). He remarks that unless we do the work to release the trauma - which he astutely calls the white-body supremacy virus - stored deep in our tissues, we will continue to point fingers of blame, create larger chasms of division and othering, and protect our own hurts by hurting others.
I recognize that for many white-bodied people, conversations (or the topics in general) around racism, structural/systemic racism, privilege, reconciliation and decolonization feels heavy, uncomfortable, and overwhelming, and often brings up feelings of shame, guilt, deflection, and bewilderment regarding what to do about it. This cascade of emotion is routinely followed by frustration, anger or resentment, and intense self-protection and defensiveness with sentiments like: “why should I feel guilty about something that I didn’t actually do? I am one of the ‘good ones’!” or “how long do white-people have to feel guilty and ashamed before the system balances out?” or “there are so many variations of privilege, why are we focusing on white-privilege?” or “I shouldn’t have to feel guilty or blamed for being born a white person!” or “I don’t have privilege! I have suffered and struggled through life too!”
Sound familiar?
I invite you to pause, breathe, and stay with me……
I have grappled with these reactions in myself, and I have heard countless other white people around me express similar questions and statements.
I recognize that there are many different markers of privilege, and this focus on white-privilege is not meant to negate the existence or gravity of these other markers or the intersectionality of each individuals’ existence. I am a Canadian, able bodied, neuro-divergent, white, middle class, grad level educated, tall and slender cis gender female in a supportive relationship without children. I have markers of privilege while I also have markers of disadvantage, and depending on the context, where I am in the world, and who I am engaging with, these markers can also shift on the spectrum from privilege to disadvantage.
What I have come to learn is that these strong reactions around guilt, shame, frustration, overwhelm, anger and defensiveness are not just arising because of the conversations and challenges we are facing around race, imbalance in power, oppression, and reconciliation, these are deep emotions (or parts of ourselves) that are being touched and triggered during moments of discomfort and are torpedoing to the surface. A foundational aspect of white-privilege is a belief that we have a right to be comfortable, and if something is making us uncomfortable we can reject it, rationalize it, push it away, ignore it, or vilify it, so that we can settle back into our status-quo and “comfortable” existence. Racialized, marginalized and systemically oppressed people do not have that luxury (or privilege).
We must learn how to stay in the discomfort, soothe and calm the parts of us that get rattled and feel blamed or judged as “bad,” and recognize that transformation, connection and healing happens when we can listen, validate, and apologize without taking on lifetimes of shame and guilt. Validating, listening and supporting others as they share hardship and rightfully ask for respect, equity, inclusion, and opportunity is not meant to be a personal attack on your worth or value as a human being. If you have felt that way, or noticed a big inner wall arise when discourse on race, privilege, oppression and reconciliation have been broached, what if you paused and looked inward to see what fears and wounds in you need your love and attention?
Decolonizing Somatics
Part of my own reconciliation process is continually slowing down to recognize where I am blindly participating in systemic racism, and as soon as I am aware, I vow to do better. As a somatic practitioner, I very recently realized that ‘somatics’ - as a field of practice - was coined with the intention to Universalize multicultural bodymind healing modalities. However, the “Universal” language of Latin is used which is Eurocentric, and actually erases multiculturalism while centering white-ness. Additionally, ‘somatic’ is meant to be a “catch-all” referring to the intelligent healing systems of embodiment through movement, dance, breath, drumming, music, sound, martial arts, tuning into sensation, ceremony, and ritual, that come from wisdom lineages in Africa, India, Asia, Latin America, and Indigenous cultures from around the world. Many “modern” somatic schools and teachers that have been labelled as pioneers in this field will mention their multicultural “influences”, yet the accolades and the pioneer-status is awarded to the European and North American teachers who synthesized and repackaged what has been taught and practiced around the world for generations.
To decolonize somatics, we must re-center the cultures and teachers who are the true pioneers, and ensure that as we practice and as we teach, that we continually learn and remain open, as well as give credit to where credit is due. All of which will lead to inclusivity that honors and deepens our integrity and our connection to our Universal roots.
I recognize that this is an ongoing process and this is just the starting point. I have a lot to learn, a lifetime of reconciliation ahead of me, and a bounty of knowledge to gather and steep in.
With awareness comes responsibility. I know I will make mistakes and I will accidentally be the cause of harm. All I can do is commit to learn, listen, and honor the medicine and growth of the repair when I become aware of a rupture. My hope is that as I engage in this important process of dismantling the white-body supremacy virus that I was born with and ingested blindly for most of my life, you will step into this cauldron of transformation and growth with me.
Below are some resources to check out to support you in your own re-discovery of what decolonizing somatics looks like.
Books
My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem
Healing Justice Lineages by Cara Page and Erica Woodland
Diverse Bodies, Diverse Practices: Toward an Inclusive Somatics - edited by Don Hanlon Johnson
Articles
Notes for Decolonizing Embodiment by Ben Spatz
What’s in a Name? Somatics and the Historical Revisionism of Thomas Hanna by Lindsey Drury