The Body Is Not An Apology by Sonya R. Taylor–For Black Women
The Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV) presents this series of antiracism book circles as an act of radical education and collaboration. Our hope is to provide a unique opportunity to process the impact of the pandemic and respond to the renewed call for racial equity in our society. Our goal is to create a space in which participants may collectively and individually gain understanding that will result in healing, understanding, inclusion and empowerment. More importantly, they provide a way to maintain energetic human connections through virtual meeting spaces. Past circles have included participants from around the world to create transformative and educational learning spaces.
About this book
“To build a world that works for everyone, we must first make the radical decision to love every facet of ourselves…’The body is not an apology’ is the mantra we should all embrace.” –Kimberlé Crenshaw, legal scholar and founder and Executive Director, African American Policy Forum
Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies.
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. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies. When we act from this truth on a global scale, we usher in the transformative opportunity of radical self-love, which is the opportunity for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world–for us all.
Who should join?
This book circle is open to BIPOC individuals who identify as Black women who can connect to the need for self-love and healing. The co-facilitators are intergenerational, three BIPOC, Black identified women. We hope to include in this workshop different ages, religions, and professions. However, we do wish to limit our circle to Black women and girls to maintain a safe space for self-inquiry, reconciliation, and healing. We encourage you to attend affinity groups that match your self-identification.
A Note on Separate Affinity Groups
Due to the sensitive racial nature of the books offered, the RCNV’s racial equity policy offers separate affinity groups to respect the process of participants and to provide more safety and depth in the circle. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), especially, may benefit from a unified healing experience within a safe container to grieve and process. Thus, book circles offered for mixed races and for affinity groups are determined depending on the nature of the chosen book and the skills of co-facilitators. Book circles are co-facilitated by facilitators of all races; and affinity groups are facilitated by facilitators who identify within that affinity group. Mixed race individuals are welcome to join affinity groups matching their self-identification. Our co-facilitators will do their best to support every participant in their process. Our book circles provide spaces to practice mutual respect, collaboration, and the creation of an inclusive community.
Your Circle Facilitators
Amidia Frederick is a lover of nature and all things reciprocal. Ms. Frederick’s experience in the environmental field has cultivated a perspective of the world as a fundamentally connected entity. Her life’s work is to facilitate a remembering of that truth throughout her education, relationships and future endeavors. Amidia is a student at Cabrillo college.
Nikia Chaney is an educator and writer in Santa Cruz. She is the author of several books of poetry and an upcoming memoir of her life growing up with family members who suffer from mental illness. She is a member of the Hive Poetry Collective and the founding member of Amplify: Cabrillo Student Podcasts. She volunteers time with the SCC Black Coalition on Racial Justice and Equity. She teaches African American Literature and Creative Writing at Cabrillo College. Dedicated to working in the community, she has a deep passion for work that embodies the arts, community, spirituality and love.
Bhavananda Lodkey has dedicated her life to an embodied spiritual pathway. Her work spans decades of spiritual healing and guidance as a vessel and voice of the Divine Mother, devotional yoga, mentorship and rites of passages for girls to women, rituals and initiations honoring the Pathway of the Feminine, Hospice grief counseling and end of life services and ceremonies as well as holistic workshops, performance art, and event productions. She also serves as a co-facilitator for anti racism book circles, programs and workshops sponsored under the umbrella of the Resource Center for Nonviolence in Santa Cruz. Bhavananda’s foundation, frame and lens is simply, “The greatest work we can do, is within ourselves.” She serves as a bridge between the worlds of the seen and unseen, the tangible and intangible. Bhavananda dedicates to seeking truth as she continues to explore and develop the module of Spirituality as an Embodiment and the Pathway of the Intuitionist. She understands that, “Embodiment is a tangible pathway of healing: a transformational journey of remembering, reawakening and returning to the wholeness of our sacred divine sovereignty. Thereby offering the portent of a spiritual awakening, thus evolving us to the greatest potential of our humanness.
Schedule and Logistics
RCNV circles meet weekly on Zoom over the course of 8-10 weeks beginning in Fall 2021. Weekly meetings last 2 hours. This book circle commences on October 6th, 2021 for six weeks ending on November 10th, 2021, Wednesdays from 6-8 pm PDT on zoom.
Suggested donations to support the work of The Resource Center for Nonviolence is $25 per person, or more for those wishing to grant space to others. Any donation amount is accepted and no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
After you register and as our circle start date nears, your co-facilitators, Nikia Chaney, Amidia Frederick and Bhavananda Lodkey will connect via email with more details. We look forward to this journey, exploring, sharing and healing together.
Questions? Email muna@rcnv.org