"To Be Available to the Universe": Trauma and Healing within Black and Brown Freedom Movements

This essay joins scholars interested in creating a more expansive and politically robust understanding of trauma and healing within freedom movements than traditionally imagined. It takes part in conversations initiated by Black and Latinx feminist and disability studies scholars who have unapologetically believed in the liberatory potential of Black and Latinx feminist thought in creating a new way of being “human.” It examines practices centered on inner transformation as embodied by Aurora Levins Morales, Toni Cade Bambara, and Ericka Huggins to demonstrate how Black and Latinx feminist writers used their inner light as a guide to determine their actions in the world. Their attention to self-healing, intimate harm, and collective care allowed them to become familiar with their own pain and that of others. Being a witness to their own pain allowed them to activate their awareness of a sovereign self – a self that could thrive despite the terror of state violence and generate an alternative destiny for humanity.