The Little Book of Racial Healing: Coming to the Table for Truth-Telling, Liberation, and Transformation (Justice and Peacebuilding)

This book introduces Coming to the Table’s approach to a continuously evolving set of purposeful theories, ideas, experiments, guidelines, and intentions, all dedicated to facilitating racial healing and transformation.

People of color, relative to white people, fall on the negative side of virtually all measurable social indicators. The “living wound” is seen in the significant disparities in average household wealth, unemployment and poverty rates, infant mortality rates, access to healthcare and life expectancy, education, housing, and treatment within, and by, the criminal justice system.

Coming to the Table (CTTT) was born in 2006 when two dozen descendants from both sides of the system of enslavement gathered together at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), in collaboration with the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding (CJP). Stories were shared and friendships began. The participants began to envision a more connected and truthful world that would address the unresolved and persistent effects of the historic institution of slavery. This Little Book shares Coming to the Table’s vision for the United States—a vision of a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past. Readers will learn practical skills for better listening; discover tips for building authentic, accountable relationships; and will find specific and varied ideas for taking action. The table of contents includes:

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Trauma Awareness and Resilience
• Chapter 3: Restorative Justice
• Chapter 4: Uncovering History
• Chapter 5: Making Connections
• Chapter 6: Circles, Touchstones, and Values
• Chapter 7: Working Toward Healing
• Chapter 8: Taking Action
• Chapter 9: Liberation and Transformation

And subject include Unresolved Trauma, Brown v. Board of Education, Lynching, Connecting with Your Own Story, Wht Healing Looks Like, Engage Your Community, and much more.

Thomas Norman DeWolf serves as Executive Director for Coming to the Table and is the author of Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History, the story of his experiences participating in the making of the Emmy-nominated documentary Traces of the Trade, in which he is featured. Tom is co-author of Gather at the Table, winner of the Phillis Wheatley Award for Best Nonfiction. The African American Jazz Caucus awarded him the 2012 Spirit of Freedom Award for Social Justice. Tom is a certified STAR Practitioner (Strategies for Trauma Awareness & Resilience). He lives in Bend, Oregon.

Jodie Geddes is the Community Organizing Coordinator at Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY). Jodie serves as Vice President of the Board of Managers of Coming to the Table. She received her M.A in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, where she recently co-taught “Restorative Justice Organizing for Communities” at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute. She lives in Oakland, California.