On July 1, 2022, President J. Derek McNeil welcomed Resmaa Menakem in Seattle on tour for his newest book, The Quaking of America: An Embodied Guide to Navigating Our Nation’s Upheaval and Racial Reckoning. Author, therapist, and licensed clinical social worker, Resmaa Menakem specializes in the healing of racialized trauma and also advocates for Somatic Abolitionism. His book My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, a New York Times bestseller, has become woven into the curriculum of many courses at The Seattle School.
After connecting in the spring of 2020, President McNeil and Resmaa Menakem developed a friendship and sense of brotherhood through their shared work and goals. Their conversation at The Seattle School on July 1 included the impact of white-body supremacy and the origins of racial trauma along with the need for somatic integration and perspective in the healing process for America.