Community Book Read
Before we can change systems, we need to build common understanding. So in 2021, Director Taili Mumgabee began leading monthly Book Reads, inviting community members from policing, prosecution, schools, social work, and other pillars of programming to join him in the work of unpacking generational trauma.
As a foundational text, the Community Book Read gathers every month, both in person and on Zoom, to discuss pages from Resmaa Menakem's seminal book, My Grandmother's Hands. Considered the first of its kind, therapist and somatic abolitionist Menakem reveals how racism and white supremacy live not only in our language and our laws, but in our very bodies and nervous systems.
Therefore, the work of healing cannot just be about writing new public policies. It must be about confronting the legacy of trauma within each and everyone of us, for racism is a trauma that is inflicted on all bodies. White Americans suffer their own secondary trauma as well. And blue Americans—our police—are similarly entangled in these overlapping traumas.
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Bringing in expert speakers to present on trauma, resilience, community health, resourcing, motivational interviewing and a wealth of skills, URO is dedicated to expanding the knowledge of trauma, the conversation on its impact on all of us, and the resources for healing.
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Resmaa's work has helped me move from my head to my heart. Feeling guilt, shame, anger, frustration, fear—around race and racism—and not getting so mired down in my own stuff means that I can more fully show up for doing this work in my family, and community. My being able to pause, slow down, articulate, and move through deeper healing in myself via these teachings -- has meant I have moved through a tremendous about of trauma healing within my family, too!
L.S. (Book Club Participant)
MISSION
To facilitate community engagement on the consequences, impact and readdressing of generational trauma, racial trauma, and early childhood trauma to develop a communal consensus on how to incorporate meaningful practices that can be implemented in our k-12 education system and criminal justice system that resolve, interrupt and or diminish the long-term impacts of trauma in our community.
GOALS
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Incite a lively and healthy conversation that allows us to develop a consensus of our understanding of trauma
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Foster and promote healing opportunities that go beyond band-aid approaches to address deregulated bodies, mental health, and addiction
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Create access to multiple modalities of healing for our local education and carceral systems
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Mobilize community members to think and act collectively towards solutions to our challenges around trauma in our k-12 education and carceral system
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Impact the reimagining policing initiative by fostering collaboration between community and policing
VISION
We envision a world in which Tompkins County Schools, Justice Systems, and broader community reflect a highly-evolved awareness of trauma and works to resolve all forms of trauma holistically.