Jan 3, 2022
On this season of Black Oxygen - we are going to discuss grief, loss and mourning. Author of the Wild Edge of Sorrow, Francis Weller says, “Grief work is soul work. It requires courage to face the world as it and not turn away …”
In this season of Black Oxygen, we are going to do just that - face our grief together.
In addition to sharing some of their stories around loss, our
guests and I will explore the following questions:
• It’s been said that the condition of Black life is one of
mourning - what does this quote by Claudia Rankine mean to you?
• Sometimes we have a tendency to think of grief as a time bound
linear process. What is your relationship to time and grief? How
would you describe your process of grief and mourning?
• We know that our times of grief are not necessarily mutually
exclusive from moments of joy - During your experience of grief and
sorrow were there moments of joy in the process? Is there anything
that made you laugh during that time?
• How has your experience of grief brought you closer to yourself?
How has your experience with grief impacted your relationships?
• How has your experience of grief impacted how you show up in the
world day-to-day?
• How do you think that tending to our collective grief could be a
source of healing for our country’s wounds? What would need to be
in place to make this happen?
• If you could create a grief playlist - what one or two songs
should be on it?
Resources:
Grieving While Black: An Anti-racist Take on Oppression and
Sorrow by Breeshia Wade
Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief by Michelle
Cassandra Johnson
See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur
The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller
The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning by Claudia
Rankine
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/22/magazine/the-condition-of-black-life-is-one-of-mourning.html