Can we heal history as we rewrite it?

As a People, Slavery was hard on us.

The violence.

The abuse.

The shame and degradation.

Slavery taught us that we were less than human.

Born to toil and be used any ole way by White Men and Women for generations.

Slavery was generational.

Every girl child a Black Woman fought into life…

… every baby boy a Black Man father by force or choice…

… was born into a life of servitude.

A life of domination and control.

A life of being put on the bottom with the threat of death for ever speaking up or attempting to live free.

All of that is painful–but it’s not the worst part.

The most traumatizing aspect of Slavery for Black people was the tearing apart of the Black Family TO. BE. SOLD.

Our relationship with each other and money is traumatic.

The selling of baby girls to a master who was a known pedophile throughout the county…

A husband watching his wife be sold to a Master who was a sadist…

A son watching the humiliation in his father’s eyes as he was chained ”over a barrel” to be raped by a gang of White Men to ”break him in”…

See, we never talk about the wounds from surviving slavery that get passed down in how we treat each other.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have said yes to the call. The Democratic National Convention was the most diverse convention in history. Just listening to ALL the women speak about healing our nation – from Michelle Obama to Dr. Jill Biden to AOC – signals change.

That change is rooted in healing.

Healing is rooted in truth.

It takes courage to tell the truth.

It takes being brave to act on it.

It takes hope to keep moving forward when it feels like everything is falling apart.

It takes time and it takes tools.

Since George was executed by the police, I have focused all of my attention and platforms on using my knowledge and voice to stop the police from killing us. As we move toward the election, I have made it my business to support us to vote.

If we don’t, it will be the death of democracy.

In the midst of this movement, I felt led by God to create a masterclass series and a 6-week live training based on my dissertation research at Stanford University about trauma and the formation of cultural identities. As a philosopher whose work focuses on the performance of self in everyday life (performativity as well as identity theory and queer theory) I have had my attention as an entrepreneur on Black Women, slavery, and internal permission to prosper.

Since George, I’ve trained my eye on Black Men.

I realize how much understanding and grace they need that was never taught to us as Black Women. Nikki Giovanni says it best in her short video about Black Men and Slavery.

So I’m taking on healing the wound from slavery that was born when our families were sold away and how we survived by turning each other into the enemy. I realize in a very real way that we as Black Women can empower Black Men to heal simply by healing our own trauma instead of expecting them to be whole. Slavery traumatized Black Men as much as it did us.

And unlike us, our gender has afforded us a kind of “asylum” in educational opportunities while little Black Boys are in the prison pipeline by third grade.

In this historical moment of having the first Black woman nominated for a major political ticket…

… of White People turning their bodies into human shields to protect Black lives peacefully protesting…

… of a virus that’s killing us with a silent vengeance…

… I say it’s time to heal history as we rewrite it.

I love you.

Dr. Venus