Over these past few months, I have been getting to know the EcoFaith leaders and trying to figure out what project I would like to pursue. I knew that I wanted my research to be beneficial to EcoFaith both now and in the future, but I had to figure out what that would be. I came into this internship with a few broad ideas on what topics might be interesting to study, and I’ve slowly been able to narrow down my list and make a decision. As of right now, I have begun researching transgenerational trauma focused around leadership and storytelling with an emphasis on power dynamics, trust, and biases.
One of the biggest things that pushed me in this direction was the one-to-one conversations that I’ve had with the leaders during and outside of the Thursday meetings. Through these conversations, I was able to fully realize my fascination with family history and the things that get passed down from generation to generation.
At the beginning of the Red Black and Green New Deal ally meeting last month, as an introductory question they asked everyone to share their name, where they’re from, what organization they’re with, and why we think it’s important to follow Black leadership. This got me thinking about how I could tie the topic of transgenerational trauma with leadership within the environmental justice movement. Black leaders should be the ones we follow in this movement because they are the ones that have been affected the most by the climate crisis. Black leadership can elicit negative reactions both implicitly and explicitly through the biases that have been ingrained in our brains for generations. My goal in the next few months is to provide evidence for why it is important to follow BIPOC leadership and how to support BIPOC leadership. I want my research to increase positive responses to BIPOC leadership, facilitate conversations, and most importantly increase understanding and empathy.
I am very excited for the upcoming months!
Every fourth Thursday, EcoFaith Leaders have committed to joining the Red, Black, and Green New Deal Ally Briefing starting at 8:45 am PDT. To learn more and join us for the next meeting, please visit http://www.ecofaithrecovery.org/rbgndallymeeting/
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