Vol. 20, Issue 6,  August 18, 2022

How is Your Race Literacy?

Have you ever had seismic shift in the way you look at a topic or issue? That’s exactly how I felt when I heard Milagros Phillips speak about race – specifically race literacy, racial conditioning, and healing from racism.

Yes, healing.

“Racism is a condition that affects the whole human race — the entire human family,” Milagros says. “While more than fifty years have passed since the Civil Rights Movement, America is still struggling with the issue of race.”

I’m sharing this topic — and this awesome speaker — with you today because I think it’s an important aspect of health, wellness, and wholeness, and especially as I am experiencing more corporations coming to us for workplace wellness topics. Many corporations are trying out programs promoting DEI — diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts — but some are falling short of their goals.

“How do we move into a future that is equitable, honorable, and deserving of all of us?” Milagros asks. “How do we stop leaving this issue for another generation?”

I believe, because of what I’m learning from Milagros, that it’s largely a lack of context that’s creating the void. And context (and much, much more) is exactly what she provides in her teaching about race literacy and conditioning.

I’m excited to share a few nuggets from Milagros, and hope you’ll be intrigued, as I am, to learn more.

 

Milagros Phillips

“The Race Healer”

Affectionately known as “The Race Healer,” Milagros has been facilitating programs for over 35 years on race literacy, racial conditioning, and healing from racism – programs that inform, transform, and lead to inspired actions.

Milagros, who has an impressive and diverse background (to see her bio, click here.), got started doing this work because she needed healing herself. She said she couldn’t get her life to work, and she thought there was something wrong with her. That was not the case.

“Diversity work doesn’t work because it doesn’t start with a grounding. While the problem/issue is not our fault, we’re still responsible for making change.”

“Healing,” she realized, “is a missing link in the race conversation. Healing happens from a place where we are wounded in one way or another. 

“The definition of healing is moving from what’s wrong, painful, and dysfunctional and returning it to wholeness. That involves transmuting energy and changing our minds and our hearts.

“Healing requires change. Change is natural. As humans, we’re wired for it from birth. Change assisted by understanding quickens the process. It makes it a lot easier and a lot faster.”

And the context is much bigger than the 50 years since the Civil Rights Movement. Our present racial conditioning is the result of 500 years of conditioning from the time the first Europeans set out to colonize first the Western Coast of Africa, then the Americas, and other various parts of the world outside of Europe. Interestingly, she notes that the 1500’s were the first time the word ‘race’ appeared in our vocabulary.

“There are no genetic markers for race. We are one human family.”

People don’t have context, she says, and they get stuck when they don’t have context. “Context is history. If we don’t know the context, it makes it difficult to move into that healing space with integrity.”

She says there are four aspects we need to know about if we are to heal racial conditioning.

The first is Race Literacy — the knowledge and awareness of the history of race, how one is acculturated into a racial caste, and the systems in the nation-state that support race as a human divide. And, collectively, the impact of all of the above on our current events and individual lives.

“Life is a continuum,” she says, “these things aren’t random, and you see these things when you walk through the history of the human race.”

Second, we need to be Trauma Informed.

“Traumatized people traumatize others,” she points out. “Subsequent generations carry Decontextualized Trauma in their bodies. Traumatized people repeat history (without awareness).”

These first two aspects of racial conditioning are a matter of learning. The third and fourth aspects, she notes, are up to you.

The Third, to have an Open Heart and Open Mind is to be willing to listen, hear, and experience all that we’re discussing here.

And Fourth, we must be Willing to Face the Shadow of the Past in order to understand the present and stop repeating that shadow and creating the future out of that shadow. 

HOW THE HISTORY AFFECTS US TODAY

Milagros says there are five levels of racial conditioning — Institutional, Systemic, Internalized, Interpersonal, and Personal.

Racial conditioning lives in your body because it’s been institutionalized, made into law for hundreds of years,” she explains. “What we do with laws is we put systems into place to make sure that people follow those laws.

“So we have educational systems where those who have been pretty much the colonizers decide what history you will learn and what you will not learn. There are also systems in place about housing that determine where you will live, who your neighbors will be, systems of healthcare, and who is going to get what kind of healthcare – and who is not.

“It affects everything in our society and, as a result, we internalize that, and by the time we are three years old, we’ve been racialized. That which we internalize becomes part of our personality, and then we act, react, and interact with each other based on what we learn, and that becomes the interpersonal level of racism.”

So, what can we do? How can we move toward a healthy society?

“We need to become race literate,” Milagros says. “We need to be willing to receive information that can lead to transformation. We need to be willing to make changes – within ourselves, our families, and our communities – in the way that we see the world.

“Most of all, we need to recognize that we are one human family with one huge collective history that has affected our world and how we act, react, and interact with one another. And we need to understand that history.

“We need to grapple with it, and we need to come to terms with it,” she continues. “As long as we hide from the shadow, the shadow has us.

“The moment that we decide that we are going to be sovereign over our shadow and our history, we can start making the changes that we need to make to create a more equitable world.”

LEARN MORE

What I’ve shared here is just the tip of the iceberg. Milagros shared fascinating, enlightening and frankly, unsettling history in the webinar I attended. And I learned; I started to become race literate. Since then I’ve been attending her monthly Lunch & Learn programs — one hour on the first Monday of the month. If that appeals to you, find more info and sign up here at her website.

I’m also reading her latest book, Cracking the Healer’s Code – A Prescription for Healing Racism & Finding Wholeness. I highly recommend it. It will take you much deeper into this topic.

I find Milagros’ demeanor to be calm, non-judgmental, deliberate, and intelligent. She’s easy to listen to and everything she says makes sense. To bring Milagros to your community or workplace, either in person or virtually, give me a call at 503-699-5031 or email me – barbara@speakwellbeing.com

 

Summertime Musings

After a trip East in May, it’s been a stay-at-home summer for me. We’re working on transforming our peaceful little backyard into an even more inviting and peaceful garden. That’s taking a lot of exploring and learning about plants and soil and light and moisture.

Our first addition in January was a couple of Ice Pink camellia plants along the side fence as seen behind the fountain (they’re already twice as big). I love that plants bloom here in Oregon in the winter. The fountain was our second addition and I’m enjoying that immensely this summer when I’m sitting outside on the patio. The bare dirt (previously very weedy), is where we’ll be planting hostas, ferns and more perennials.

Green is a great color, but we feel like our green is all the same hue, so we’re looking at plants that add some variety to the landscape. The backdrop behind the fence is a lovely forest that provides both a great canopy and a dappled backdrop for the yard.

Like most of the country, Oregon has also been unseasonably hot this year, so much of the planting will wait ’til the weather cools off in September and October, and the rain comes, allowing the plants a better chance at success.  

I hope you’re enjoying your summer, whether it’s at home or out and about. Until next time, please take care of yourself for your well being and those you love.

Yours truly,
Barbara

For Your Well Being is published with the intention of bringing you insider speaker reports, exclusive stories about special events around the country, meeting planner tips, and fun stuff from the worlds of health and well being. Be well and be in the know! 

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