In times of uncertainty, action changes things

CONCORD, CA—Anyone reading this article is most likely able to speak and read the English language with skill, ability and privilege.

Coming of age in the Midwest in the 1970s, with a mother who freshly immigrated from Hong Kong to the middle of snow country, I was not experiencing the soon to be known as “First 5” approach of early literacy and language development. This approach, launched in 1998 in California, draws focus to a child’s ability to communicate starting at birth through their first five years by investing in families – children’s first and most important teachers – and promoting, supporting and optimizing early literacy, language and childhood development through being read to and spoken with.

My mom wasn’t big on conversing and reading with me as she was not able to read, write or speak the English language. Yet she desperately wanted to ensure her child was “mainstreamed,” without a Chinese accent and not set apart from all the white and multi-generational families as they seemingly carried on parenting and moving through life and spaces with more ease because they had known English as their first and only language.

I was punished for trying to learn Cantonese when I was 5 years old. She told me that I did not need to learn that language and that English was the only way to make it in this country. And yet, she was not able to be in this “only way” lane of language with me.

It was in that moment – and several more traumatic experiences of interfacing with the public at grocery stores, telemarketer phone calls and my schoolteachers – that I aspired to command the English language. I have always wanted to know every word’s accurate pronunciation, definition and how it is used “properly,” so I could transcend assimilation. Then, I could never be embarrassed, pointed out for misspeaking or be seen as “one of those foreigners.”

From trauma-informed to healing-centered

This morning, I was preparing to deliver a virtual workshop for a statewide social and emotional learning (SEL) conference and was listening to the keynote address from Shawn Ginwright inviting the move from a mindset of “trauma-informed to healing-centered.”

I have been well-invested with having a trauma-informed lens in the work I’m involved in over the years. My mantra when working with young people and all humans being is: “It’s not about whether there’s trauma in the room; it’s about how much trauma.”

I’ve also been well-versed with assessing my own life experiences with trauma and in the practice of noticing and naming when my own trauma shows up – always at the most inopportune times, I might add.

That’s been a lot of weight to carry around and be committed to for me and I’m sure for a host of others of marginalized populations, our Black, Indigenous and People of Color community members, intersectional identities and our LGBTQI+ folx, to name a few in these times of racial reckoning and a new civil rights movement.

I’m ready to transcend from trauma-informed only to a building of healing-centered awareness and work. Ginwright’s definition of healing-centered engagement is a non-clinical, strength-based approach that advances a holistic view of healing and re-centers culture and identity as a central feature in well-being.

Culture offers a shared experience, community and a sense of belonging. Healing is experienced collectively. Healing-centered engagement uses culture as a way to ground people in a solid sense of meaning, self-perception and purpose. It is explicitly political, rather than clinical.

Inspiring aspiration

When our most marginalized identities become leaders, they uplift the vibration of our democracy. Because of our collective action of voting, the following was realized:

Mauree Turner became the first non-binary person winning a seat in the House of Representatives in Oklahoma and is Black identified.

Sarah McBride became the first transgender person and woman winning a Senate seat in Delaware.

Cori Bush became the first Black person and woman winning a seat in the House of Representatives in Missouri. Bush is a prominent Black Lives Matter activist.

Young people are now more able to “see” themselves as successful and contributing members of society, our country and our culture. Even during these uncertain times, there are people in action ready to make change and inspire aspiration, acknowledging trauma and working through a healing-centered lens.

Kiku Johnson is Rainbow Community Center’s executive director. As a man of color and trans experience, Kiku has invested his life engaging and elevating youth and adult voices of marginalized intersectional identities. Send ­questions and comments to kiku@rainbowcc.org.