00:00and so my work is really focused specifically on healing the problem has been we have not
00:13spent enough time at least as it relates to our educations our formal education
00:19about the nature of the injury and when i talk about the nature of the injury in my book post
00:23traumatic slave syndrome i'm talking about several hundred years of trauma that somehow
00:28didn't make it to our texts and therefore when we when we start looking at what is needed we have to
00:35start looking at how we got where we are how we presently deal with the contemporary issues that
00:41are closely aligned with our past and so you know often the question is asked uh about you know kind
00:49of what what kind of traumas are african americans like anyone else how how are we suffering in what
00:56ways where did this come from um and specifically black women so we're looking at intergenerational
01:03trauma that's the historical we're looking at contemporary trauma we're looking at vicarious
01:07trauma um and we're looking at stress related issues that we need to protect ourselves from
01:13so when we start looking at the intergenerational piece and we start looking at healing just in
01:18general there is there is this piece that african americans were dehumanized um and that showed up
01:25in a lot of ways particularly in in the field of medicine um the illnesses that that we experienced
01:32for example during slavery were closely related like respiratory uh infections and that's due to
01:38the filthy conditions that uh african americans lived in we are looking at i'm not having immunity to
01:45to things like pneumonia you know um consumption those kinds of things and and a time where literally
01:53a minor cut could could end your life as a result of infection because of the ignorance in 1800s
01:59around the notion of bacteria and infection and so there's all that going on but there are also
02:07other layers for example uh j marion sims uh the father of modern modern gynecology did all his work
02:14and experimentation on black women and girls with no anesthesia by the way he also identified a
02:23particular uh illness in in enslaved infants he called it trimus nascentium but it's actually
02:31neonatal tetanus and tetanus originates in for example horse manure the likely cause of the disease
02:39and enslaved infants but of course he said it was because of the intellectual flaws and fundamental
02:45indecency of their parents so he attempted to operate on every single infant using a shoemaker's
02:51all which is an instrument used to poke holes in leather and had a 100 fatality rate he killed every
02:59single baby so the question then becomes did we get any healing answer no we didn't nobody came in
03:05no dr phil no nobody showed up to help us along the way when people were beating maiming raping
03:12and experimenting on people of african descent so 339 years of trauma and no help with that trauma
03:19other than our own clear devices that we aided ourselves and held ourselves together with okay
03:26so then you got freed great any help then now remember we're not talking about we're talking about
03:32people that need uh need therapy as a result of witnessing online what happened to george floyd
03:39they weren't even there okay so imagine that and then imagine okay you did the traumas not only did
03:47you get any help afterwards there was no sign up for group therapy did the trauma continue yes so
03:52339 years of trauma no help freed no help more trauma what we are is a miracle it's true that's what we
03:59are and what we have to let go of and there's a couple of things and this is going to sound strange
04:04but often we'll hear you know the strong black woman the strong black woman yes black women are strong
04:12but we are human like everyone else which means that we need to pause and we need to take care of
04:18ourselves and understand that we need help and we have to know how to ask for it i would say that the
04:25most important thing that we have to in terms of changing trajectory and taking hold of our own
04:33efficacy when we say be the healing you you are be the healing you imagine be the healing you you want
04:39to see that means that we have to walk the talk that means that we cannot pass our injuries on to our
04:45children and others and what does that mean when we start looking at even how we perceive ourselves as
04:50women when we perceive uh the normalcy of blackness these are the things that we have to to pass along
04:59and not those those crippling ideas and ideologies and thoughts that suggest that there's something
05:05intrinsically not okay with who we are with the way we look our skin color the texture of our hair
05:11and that again across the across the whole horizon of the diaspora of blackness we have to recognize
05:20our intrinsic nobility as a people and to make certain every little girl knows that she can be
05:29that very vision that she imagines and that's not just talk what's important is when people have
05:38something called learned helplessness and learned helplessness is a very important thing to know
05:43about started off with dogs they took a dog put it in the cage turned on a red light every time the
05:48light came on they'd shock the dog in whatever area of the caged area he was he or she was in and then
05:54uh the dog eventually learned condition response that without the shock the light would come on dog
06:00would would immediately move that's condition response reinforcement right without the reinforcement of
06:04well let's just say there's a door and at that door black people couldn't go out that door
06:10what happens to a dog in that situation when you just turn the light off and on and shock it anyway
06:15is the dog will lie down because the dog learns that no matter what it does it can't change the outcome
06:21no matter what so it'll lie down so if the door's been locked people have been beaten that go to the
06:26door black people aren't going to go to the door but now not only is there no one at the door no one
06:31being beaten the door is open and sometimes people won't go out that's called learned helplessness
06:35and sometimes we have to love people back some people we we have to convince that they're worthy
06:41but you see those are all actions and love is an action word and that means that we have to know
06:48we have to understand we have to embrace and we have to change there's some things that we have some
06:54things that my mom and dad taught me god bless them they did the best they could but some of it i did not
06:58carry on because it was somehow mingled in their injury and in their survival if that makes sense
07:06so it's about really recognizing where we came from understanding those those strong shoulders upon
07:12which we stood and understanding that it's okay to be vulnerable but more importantly to look in that
07:19mirror and look at that face that's smiling back and love that face and that person and that being
07:25in that heart in other words be the healing thank you so much
07:30you
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