Still Processing with Micah McCreary, next week Thursday at Warehouse 6!

Gathering info: Thursday, Feb 6, 7pm, Warehouse 6, 136 E. 6th St, Holland, MI (Public parking available in the 7th St parking garage)

Our next gathering features Micah McCreary, author of Race and Trauma: A Path to Wellbeing. Micah holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology. He currently serves as president and professor of theology at New Brunswick Seminary.

This is New Brunswick’s Identity Statement: We are a multiethnic, intergenerational, ecumenical theological institution of higher education that instills creative, contextual, and critical thinking and a passion for justice that reflects God’s transforming love in Jesus Christ.

I include this because I realize that part of what Still Processing offers, is a safe space from the harm that the church and Christianity has caused and continues to cause. I am always conscious of this. I assure you that Micah understands and respects this. This will not be a “Christian” gathering.

Micah and I have so much to talk about! We will certainly discuss his book, which explains the very real, but currently contested, notion of intersectionality. Intersectionality theorizes that systems of oppression, like racism and sexism, intersect and thus amplify the discrimination that some people face. This was first applied to Black women (racism and sexism), but has since been applied more broadly.

Micah and I will also make time to discuss the growing threats emanating from the Trump Administration and the cultural/ideological movement that it represents.

I want to share a little piece of an email exchange that Micah and I had.

I wrote the following: “I am in deep despair. That’s where this email finds me. And I know many people in the Still Processing community are as well. I want to serve them in their despair and anger and sadness. Some of my anger is directed at White Christianity and Hispanic Christianity. I am filled with rage, honestly.”

Micah responded: “I was speaking in Charlottesville Virginia on Tuesday and my adult daughter was with me. We talked about the stress of this season, and I mentioned being in a state of readiness. Then I realized I am always in a state of readiness because I have always known trauma. What a gift 😂😂😂”

I want to understand this “state of readiness” better, and the ways in which it is informed by trauma!

I leave you with this.