Shutting it Down Without Shutting Down

So, it's the holidays. You just want to sit down and spend time with the fam/loved ones/ yourself and not have to think of cities burning, police violence...injustice. You turn off Facebook, the TV, and stay offline for self-care because remembering hurts. Seeing so blatantly that black lives don't matter to many with institutional and positional power, the power to make many decisions that affect our day to day lives and well-being, shakes you to the core. And deep down you already knew this, you knew this before you were born. It is part of our DNA.

Those of you who are retraumatized by all that is happening, I hope and pray you find balm for those deep psychic wounds with friends and created family and in community.

Those, like me, with chronic illness perhaps sitting at or being pushed to the margin of these movements because you can't physically be on the frontlines , know that you are enough and you are doing enough. Your healing IS part of these larger movements.

Another way that those of us not having the mental, emotional or physical capacity to be in the streets can take part, besides in taking care of ourselves and our loved ones, is to not shop today. One day. No matter how great the sale, it is not worth the cost.

Help those putting their bodies on the line to shut places down- cities, stores, highways, by simply not purchasing a single thing today.

Help #ShutItDown

It's part of the healing this country needs.


For more on trauma and DNA:

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genes
http://thegrio.com/2012/04/24/study-shows-violence-changes-the-dna-of-children/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140413135953.htm

Historical trauma and microaggressions:

http://www.acesconnection.com/blog/historical-trauma-and-microaggressions

Healing collective and multigenerational trauma:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/12/02/healing-historical-trauma-through-promoting-traditional-culture-mainstream-medicine
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/love-and-the-apocalypse/free-yourself-from-the-past

http://www.healingcollectivetrauma.com/links.html

Info on Ferguson:

Open letter
Updates
Give to the Defense Fund
Ferguson Rapid Response Giving

#blacklivesmatter:
A Her story of the #blacklivesmatter movement

Also...this:
Ain't I a Human?: Ferguson and the Negligence of Black Women, Femmes and Girls
Sympathy, Outrage and White Humanity: Reflections on BDS, Anti-Black Racism and Justine Sacco 
We are NOT all Trayvon: Challenging Anti-Black Racism in POC CommunitiesBlackness is the Fulcrum
Things To Stop Being Distracted By When A Black Person Gets Murdered By Police

THE 14 TEENS KILLED BY COPS SINCE MICHAEL BROWN