June 2024: Body Inventory as a Tool of LIberation?

As Oscar Hammerstein wrote many decades ago, June is busting out all over and we're grateful to bust out in community with you! Before jumping into this month's prompt, we want to give a shout out to those who have guest-hosted some of the recent CWC gatherings. The ease in which these community members stepped into the role of host and the way they were embraced by the community is evidence that we have something special in CWC. We look forward to more volunteers hosting in the months to come.

If you've been to a gathering recently, you know we've been focusing on external manifestations of racism and white supremacy. We want to use the work of Dr. Durryle Brooks to turn inwards this month.

We were recently introduced to Dr. Brooks at the 2024 White Privilege Conference (WPC). His research is focused on operationalizing love as a tool for social justice movements, but it’s an exercise he used during his session at WPC that inspires this month's prompt. To help ground the audience, he invited us to do an inventory of the spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual dimensions of the body. He paired us up and asked us to share with our partner our responses to the following prompts:

Spiritually, I am…

Physically, I am…

Emotionally, I am…

Intellectually, I am…

Sharing the inventory responses with another person was both challenging and moving. Dr. Brooks went on to explain that if our antiracism practice doesn't touch all four dimensions of the body, we are likely to be replicating white supremacy. That got us thinking; how might a body inventory help us as white folks deepen our commitment to dismantling white supremacy?

To answer that, we'll focus the second half of this month's gatherings on responding to the four prompts Dr. Brooks used and then open up for a dialogue using the following questions as inspiration:

What, if anything, resonated with you as you shared your body inventory responses?
Which of the four dimensions was easier to reflect on? Which was more challenging?
In your opinion, how does this kind of personal inventory disrupt white supremacy, if at all?
What are other practices you use to help ground yourself in racial justice and liberation? How do they compare to this body inventory?

(NOTE: The spiritual dimension does not necessarily have to be about religion. It can relate to a general sense of purpose or a connection to something bigger than ourselves.)

We know this kind of personal reflection isn't everyone's cup of tea. That's why we're excited to explore this practice in community where we can express connections AND resistance and everything in between.

We look forward to seeing you at one (or more) of this month's gatherings!

P.S. Check out Dr. Brooks talking about his research in this keynote.

“We can have this rhetoric of overthrowing oppressive systems, but we have to balance that with the work of overthrowing the oppressive system operating internally that actually keeps us enslaved.” – Rev. angel Kyoko williams, Lama Rod Owens, et al. from Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation