The Little Book of Racial Healing

On a brisk, sunny Seattle day in February 2017, family and friends gathered to celebrate the life of Susan Hutchison, who had passed from this life two months prior. People who walked with Susan along the various paths she had traveled throughout her life’s journey shared stories of their times together. The common thread was Susan’s commitment to truth, healing, and love. Squi qui Ray Williams, a Swinomish elder of the Coastal Salish People who shared in prayer, drumming, and song, said that in remembering Susan, we were “re-membering” her; putting her back together through our memories and stories.

A direct descendant of President Thomas Jefferson, Susan knew her family’s long, deep connection to slavery. In 2003, she attended a gathering of descendants of Jefferson and his wife, Martha, and those of Jefferson and the woman he enslaved, Sally Hemings. The attendees built friendships and embraced each other as family and cousins, affectionately referring to themselves as “Sallys” and “Marthas.” In her quest to meet more descendants of families who had enslaved people, she met Will Hairston, a descendant of one of the largest enslaving empires in the Old South. Susan and Will dreamed of a “family reunion” in which descendants of people who were enslavers gathered with descendants of people their ancestors had enslaved. They believed that as people built relationships with those on the “other side,” the deep, historic wounds engendered by the legacy of slavery could be confronted and potentially healed.

Dr. Kofi Anyidoho, of the University of Ghana, describes the present-day consequences of slavery as “a tragic accident in which people today are still bleeding to death. Slavery is a living wound, under a patchwork of scars.”1 After 245 years of slavery in the United States and 100 years of government-sanctioned, discriminatory Jim Crow laws, the “living wound” is evident among people of color, who fall on the negative side of virtually all measurable social indicators relative to white people. Professor Anyidoho concluded, “The only hope of healing is to be willing to break through the scars to finally clean the wound properly and begin the healing.”2

Susan and Will were inspired to begin this healing by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, spoken from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963: “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.” They invited black and white cousins, Jeffersons and Hairstons, to join them in planning a radical new approach to support and guide people in our struggle with racism.

In 2006, Coming to the Table (CTTT) was born when two dozen of these cousins gathered together at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU). They shared stories and developed deep and important friendships. Participants conceived a vision of a more connected, just, and truthful society that would acknowledge and seek to heal the unresolved and persistent racial wounds of the past that continue to affect and harm all of us today. The damage to people and communities of color are obvious. It is also important to recognize the wounds of separation, division, guilt, and shame that white people carry. Since that first gathering, CTTT has grown into a community of thousands across the United States and around the world. In these challenging times, efforts like CTTT are needed now more than ever.

This Little Book introduces Coming to the Table’s approach to moving toward this vision. The approach represents a continuously evolving set of purposeful theories, ideas, experiments, guidelines, and intentions, all dedicated to facilitating racial healing and transformation. You might think of this approach as a recipe that has been evolving within a growing family for generations. A recipe with ingredients that change over time as new ideas sprout up as more people participate. A recipe for a meal we create together and bring to the table to nourish and support our beloved family.

The CTTT approach initially grew out of the STAR program (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) at the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding (CJP) at EMU. The work of CTTT stands on this foundation of trauma awareness as well as that of restorative justice and follows a process supported by four interrelated pillars:

• Pillar 1: Uncover History—Research, acknowledge, and share personal, family, community, and national histories of race.

• Pillar 2: Make Connections—Connect with others within and across racial lines and build authentic and accountable relationships.

• Pillar 3: Work Toward Healing—Explore how we can heal together, using a variety of methods.

• Pillar 4: Take Action—Actively champion systemic and structural change throughout our society and in all aspects of life to support equality, justice, and healing for all.

The following pages introduce you to the foundations of racial healing in trauma awareness and restorative justice, with a chapter devoted to each of the pillars described above. A chapter on circle processes offers tools for effective communication when making connections (Pillar 2).

Why are we the two to write this book? The genesis came after we co-facilitated a breakout session at a 2016 restorative justice conference. In conversation with other restorative justice practitioners, we agreed to contribute some writing to the field to help support the understanding that “race” is critically important in any and all conversations about justice in the United States. We also represent two “sides” of the history and conversation about race.

As a Jamaican native having grown up in Brooklyn, Jodie uses her story as a catalyst for transforming systems. As of this writing, she serves as the community organizing coordinator at Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) and leads RJOY’s national Truth-telling, Racial Healing, and Reparations Project. Additionally, she is a trainer and facilitator of restorative processes in schools, justice systems, and communities. Jodie speaks nationally on the subject of restorative justice, truth processes, and reparation, and is a published poet and writer, with her work featured on the online platforms For Harriet and Blavity. She earned an MA in conflict transformation from CJP and serves as president of the board of managers for Coming to the Table.

Tom is related to the largest slave-trading dynasty in US history. His first book, Inheriting the Trade, is the story of his experiences in the making of the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North, in which he and nine distant cousins retraced the triangle slave trade route of their ancestors and grappled with the present-day consequences of the legacy of slavery. He is a co-author, with Sharon Morgan, of Gather at the Table: The Healing Journey of a Daughter of Slavery and a Son of the Slave Trade. Tom serves as executive director for Coming to the Table and is a trained STAR practitioner.

We recognize “racial healing” is a big topic for a little book. We do not intend this book to be an exhaustive representation of racial healing theories or options, or an “all-or-nothing” approach. We trust the ideas and resources presented here will complement and/or apply to other social and racial justice approaches. You may find some elements more useful than others and develop alternatives that better fit your context. At the end of the book, we have included a wide variety of recommended additional reading for further study.

Overall, we hope this Little Book inspires struggle, curiosity, and wonder as well as a desire to grapple with concepts of racial transformation, liberation, and healing. We consider these pages a starting place from which to transform individual hearts and minds, the communities in which we all live, and unjust systems and structures. With our collective intentions and good work, we can transform our world.

Ray Williams, the Swinomish elder who guided our re-membering of our deceased friend, Susan, said she was with us in the church that day, along with other ancestors. You could feel and see them, standing tall above Ray as he spoke. “Mom Shay” was surely there. Shay Banks-Young and Susan were cousins; a “Sally” and a “Martha” who loved and supported each other and helped plan and lead the first CTTT gathering. Shay, who passed away six months before Susan, was a tireless civil rights activist, spoke nationally on racial harmony and genealogy, and never wavered in her commitment and service to CTTT and her “linked descendants” from slavery days. Susan and Shay leave us with a powerful legacy—and responsibility. Ray encouraged everyone at Susan’s service to conduct our lives so that the ancestors know we are paying attention:

They are in a place of pure knowing. They want to share what they know with us. When we have ears to hear, eyes to see, and when our hearts are open, they have gifts for us; gifts that will help us. There is a lot more to life than we often are aware.

The ancestors, including Susan and Shay, ask us to truly believe in our gifts, whatever they may be: loving, singing, writing, organizing. They invite us to be open to receive our gifts from the ancestors and to carry on the work of healing. We have the opportunity to show up, show what we have learned, and show what we can do.