The Little Book of Racial Healing
Coming to the Table for Truth-Telling, Liberation, and Transformation
The Little Book of Racial Healing is available NOW from the Good Books imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, this new addition to the Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding series presents the Coming to the Table Approach to racial healing in book form for the first time. PLEASE NOTE: 100% of author proceeds from this Little Book are donated to Coming to the Table to support the racial healing work described within its pages.
Coming to the Table (CTTT) was born in 2006 when two dozen descendants from both sides of the system of enslavement gathered together in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, in collaboration with the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. Participants envisioned a more connected and truthful world that would address the unresolved and persistent effects of the historic institution of slavery. This Little Book describes the Coming to the Table Approach to racial healing; a continuously evolving set of purposeful theories, ideas, experiments, guidelines, and intentions, all dedicated to facilitating racial healing and transformation. The CTTT Approach includes principles of Restorative Justice, Trauma Awareness, use of the Circle Process in group dialogue, and four interrelated pillars: Uncover History, Make Connections, Work Toward Healing, and Take Action. The CTTT Approach, and this Little Book, are committed to a vision of a just and truthful society that acknowledges and seeks to heal from the racial wounds of the past – from slavery and the many forms of racism it spawned. Learn more about CTTT HERE.
“This rare jewel of practical wisdom shows us how to embody racial healing in truth and kinship. It reads with such ease and affinity that you will want to treasure it and share it with everyone you know.”
“Drawing upon history, lived experience, and the conceptual frameworks of trauma healing and restorative justice, the authors provide concrete suggestions for how individuals and groups can undertake this healing journey. What a timely, much needed and practical book!”
“The contents of this little book are big, very big indeed. At this current political moment, we, by necessity must struggle. That struggle is often organic. Jodie Geddes’ and Tom DeWolf’s well-researched and practiced approach to racial healing asks us to stop and do more than reflect. Their book compels us to, in the words of Alice Walker, start ‘Healing… where the wound was made.’ In an era of re-awakenings and being woke, it is not enough. The truth-telling that emerges from these pages brings into view a kind of praxis grounded in decolonial love. Given that restorative justice practitioners often leave out racial justice, and racial justice activists often miss the healing parts of the work, this book brings the two together, and acknowledges that one cannot exist without the other; meaning without a racial justice lens, you are not doing restorative justice. In short, liberation requires healing, and in particular, racial healing that make it possible for us to continue the struggle and make steps toward reconciliation.”
“That the authors have created clarity and coherency about so diffuse, yet tangled, a subject is amazing – and to do that in a Little Book is doubly amazing! This book speaks truth without condemning, offers hope without denying reality, and honors the core dignity in everyone. They have lived in their writing the path they describe.”