Click here to read part 1.
Click here to read part 2.
In her talk on 'Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome', Dr. Leary did not put a lot of emphasis on family life - at least, not in the part of the film that I watched. She did say that our patterns of relating are 'generational' - I would have said intergernerational.
Black men and women learned not to trust each other, not to rely on each other. Family life is crucial to all of this. We learn these patterns of relating from our parents - from the way they treat each other, and the way they treat us.
We have inherited toxic patterns from enslavement. They have infected our families for many generations- and we are in danger of passing them on to our own children.
Many of the problems faced by our Black youth today, particularly African Caribbean boys and young men, have their roots in enslavement, these toxic patterns of relating, and the self-hatred we internalised. Self-hatred became part of us. We were taught to fail. We were taught to be less-than.
My work is about solutions. About loving ourselves and each other, valuing ourselves and each other. Improving Relationships/Improving Communication is a practical workshop to help us learn methods of healing our relationships. Click here to check it out today.
Keywords: Black, African, relationships, healing
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