Advocate Book Discussion Selection Survey

What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing- written by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

"Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry explore how what happens to us in early childhood influences the people we become. They challenge us to shift from focusing on, "What's wrong with you? or "Why are you behaving that way?" to asking "What happened to you?"

The Body is Not an Apology- written by Sonya Renee Taylor

"The Body is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective enduring strength."

You Are Your Best Thing- an anthology edited by Tarana Burke and Brene Brown

"For years, Tarana Burke and Brene Brown have been working, writing, and talking about shame resilience and empathy, both in the context of Tarana Burke's "me too" movement, which seeks justice and healing for survivors of sexual assault, and through Brene Brown's extensive writing and research. Together, they bring their experience and expertise to edit a collection of essays on Black shame and healing. Burke, Brown, and their contributors create a space to recognize and process the trauma or white supremacy, a space to be vulnerable and affirm the fullness of Black life and Black possibility.

The Body Keeps the Score- written by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.

"Trauma is a fact of life. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives."

Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement- edited by Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

"Transformative justice seeks to solve the problem of violence at the grassroots level, without relying on punishment, incarceration, or policing. Community-based approaches to preventing crime and repairing its damage have existed for centuries. Beyond Survival puts these strategies front and center as real alternatives to today's failed models of confinement and "correction." In this collection, a diverse group of authors focuses on concrete and practical forms of redress and accountability, assessing existing practices and marking paths forward."

We Do This 'til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice- written by Mariame Kaba

"Organizing is both science and art. It is thinking through a vision, a strategy, and then figuring out who your targets are, always being concerned about power, always being concerned about how you're going to actually build power in order to be able to push your issues, in order to be able to get the target to actually move in the way that you want to." What if social transformation and liberation isn't about waiting for someone else to come along and save us? What if ordinary people have the power to collectively free ourselves? In this timely collection of essays and interviews, Mariame Kaba reflects on the deep work of abolition and transformative political struggle."

Love with Accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse - edited by Aishah Shahidah

"Despite the current survivor-affirming awareness around sexual violence, child sexual abuse, most notably when it's a family member or friend, is still a very taboo topic. There are approximately 42 million child sexual abuse survivors in the U.S. and millions of bystanders who look the other way as the abuse occurs and cover for the harm-doers with no accountability. Documentary filmmaker and survivor of child sexual abuse and adult rape, Aishah Shahidah Simmons invites diasporic Black people to join her in transformative storytelling that envisions a world that ends child sexual abuse without relying on the criminal justice system. Love WITH Accountability features compelling writings by child sexual abuse survivors, advocates, and Simmons's mother, who underscores the detrimental impact of parents/caregivers not believing their children when they disclose their sexual abuse. This collection explores disrupting the inhumane epidemic of child sexual abuse, humanely."

The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness- written by Rhonda V. Magee

"In a society where unconscious bias, microaggressions, institutionalized racism, and systemic injustices are so deeply ingrained, healing is an ongoing process. When conflict and division are everyday realities, our instincts tell us to close ranks, to find the safety of those like us, and to blame others. This book profoundly shows that in order to have the difficult conversations required for working toward racial justice, inner work is essential. Through the practice of embodied mindfulness--paying attention to our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in an open, nonjudgmental way--we increase our emotional resilience, recognize our own biases, and become less reactive when triggered. It is only by healing from injustices and dissolving our personal barriers to connection that we develop the ability to view others with compassion and to live in community with people of vastly different backgrounds and viewpoints. Incorporating mindfulness exercises, research, and Magee's hard-won insights, The Inner Work of Racial Justice offers a road map to a more peaceful world."

Advocate Book Discussion Selection

The Advocate Training Series will continue in August with an advocate book discussion.

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* 1. Which of these books would you most like to read and discuss in the advocate book discussion? (Click the title links for more information.)

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* 2. Do you have a suggestion? Please put it in the comment box.

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* 3. Do you want your book sent to your home or workplace?

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* 4. Contact Information