Terri E. Givens, Radical empathy: finding a path to bridging racial divides

Susan L. Brooks

Susan L. Brooks (J.D.) is Professor of law at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law, Drexel University, USA. Corresponding author: Susan L. Brooks at sb589@drexel.edu.

Terri E. Givens, Radical empathy: finding a path to bridging racial divides. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2021, 201 pp., ISBN: 978-1-4473-5724-7 (hbk), ISBN: 978-1-4473-5726-1-(ePub), ISBN: 978-1-4473-5727-8 (ePdf).

Stories have the power to create social change and inspire community.
–Terry Tempest Williams

In The little book of racial healing: coming to the table for truth-telling, liberation, and transformation, co-authors Thomas DeWolf and Jodie Geddes present a framework for facilitating racial healing and transformation informed by restorative justice and restorative practices. Their approach relies first on uncovering history through story sharing. According to DeWolf, who self-identifies as a descendent of slave traders, and Geddes, a Jamaican native who serves as a restorative justice trainer and facilitator, the key to racial healing is to connect with our own stories of race and to listen deeply to the stories of others about the legacy and aftermath of slavery (DeWolf & Geddes, 2019).[1]

Storytelling makes it possible to confront and overcome white supremacy, separation, and hierarchies of human value and develop authentic, accountable, and healthy relationships from which to plan collective actions to bridge divides and transform our communities (DeWolf & Geddes, 2019: 45).

Radical empathy presents a very similar approach to the topic of bridging racial divides, albeit one which is less explicitly about restorative justice for the most part. Dr. Terri Givens, a highly accomplished political scientist and entrepreneur, shares her often difficult and even painful stories and experiences around race as well as the stories of her family members and ancestors. In doing so, she guides readers through the process of her own racial healing and invites them to create parallel journeys for themselves. Givens identifies the core element and requirement for the work of racial healing as empathy, which she defines as ‘the ability to see the world from another person’s perspective, in order to understand their feelings and life experiences’ (1). She uses the term ‘radical empathy’ to emphasise the need to move from feeling to doing, from recognising the humanity in another person to taking action towards racial and social justice. ‘Radical empathy requires that we move beyond focusing on personal growth to focusing on what is good for our community and our country’ (34). It is not enough that we have empathy. We also need to practice empathy as a lifelong endeavour.
Givens separates radical empathy into six distinct steps which represent the practices required to engage in this ongoing effort: 1) a willingness to be vulnerable, 2) becoming grounded in who you are, 3) opening yourself to the experiences of others, 4) practicing empathy, 5) taking action, and 6) creating change and building trust (20). Throughout the book she demonstrates these practices by weaving together her personal and family narratives with scholarly writings on racial justice and other topics that represent highlights of her life experience and expertise, including leadership, healthcare, love and marriage, and European history. Consistent with Givens’ emphasis on action, at the end of each chapter she includes a set of suggested steps readers can take to move along the path towards creating positive personal and social transformation.
The first step on this journey is to engage in self-exploration grounded in self-love and compassion. To bring about change at the social and political levels, we need to start with ourselves. Givens writes that her father’s passing in 2001 led her to want to understand the connections between the history of racism in the United States and its impact on her family and on her own life story. She attributes the motivation for writing the book to the current political moment in the United States, where she believes it is highly critical to find ways to bridge the many levels of divides in our society and the larger world.
Givens also emphasises the need to be vulnerable. She models vulnerability and courage throughout the book by sharing her stories in a candid and self-reflective manner. Givens embraces nuance and complexity in her accounts, acknowledging the intersectionality of her identities and how they inform her life events. A recurring theme in her narratives is how she came to recognise her own internalised oppression and how she was able to make use of therapeutic and other resources to find self-acceptance and self-love. Similarly, Givens’ suggested action steps invite readers to reflect on their own stories from a position of embracing their whole selves and building on their strengths as well as potential opportunities for growth and change.
As I read Givens’ moving descriptions of her family and her life’s struggles, I could identify with many aspects of her story, including being part of a large nuclear family and growing up with limited exposure to extended family members, questioning if I would ever find a life partner, being a woman in academia and searching for authenticity and purpose in my life and career choices. Unlike Givens, however, I have benefitted from white privilege connected to being a fair-skinned white woman. At the same time, I believe all my life experiences, including my experiences with race, have been shaped by my being a Jewish American woman and the granddaughter (on my father’s side) and great-granddaughter (on my mother’s side) of Eastern European immigrants who escaped persecution in their home country to emigrate to the United States. Acknowledging the ‘both/and’ of my own privilege and the uniqueness of my intersectional identities seems like one way I can take to heart the meaningful lessons within this book and demonstrate a small measure of the tremendous vulnerability and self-compassion Givens models so beautifully throughout its pages.
It is worth noting that the book’s culminating chapter focuses explicitly on the topic of restorative justice, a term Givens uses broadly to include models of transitional justice and reparations. She offers the examples of post-World War II Germany and South Africa, two contexts she has studied extensively and with which she has lived experience. Givens uses these illustrations effectively to demonstrate the value of restorative justice as a model that can promote radical empathy and lead to conflict transformation and healing. For Givens, these important historical examples show that if we and our country are willing to acknowledge the impact of our histories of racism, we can find new and more fulfilling ways to move forward.
The compelling stories and narratives in Radical empathy are well supported by the factual information Givens presents about the history of structural racism and white privilege in the United States as well as in South Africa and Germany. Nevertheless, as she intimates throughout her book, the process of working towards radical empathy goes beyond accepting factual knowledge. Radical empathy is a journey requiring critical reflection and action, which means taking risks and making mistakes. As Givens states, radical empathy means ‘being willing to listen, to put down the defences and acknowledge someone else’s truth’ (36).
The process of being willing to put down our defences, to remove the emotional armour many of us carry for self-protection, is indeed a daunting task for many if not most people. Here is where I believe Givens’ extremely worthwhile project can benefit from highlighting a few additional ideas and resources which are included in The little book of racial healing, mentioned at the outset of this review. The first idea is that of trauma and trauma awareness. DeWolf and Geddes emphasise the role of trauma awareness and resilience, both at the individual and collective levels. As they state, quoting Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, perhaps the best-known expert on trauma and its effects on health and well-being,

[T]raumatic experiences do leave traces, whether on a large scale (on our histories and cultures) or close to home, on our families, with dark secrets being imperceptibly passed down through generations. They also leave traces on our minds and emotions, on our capacity for joy and intimacy, and even on our biology and immune systems. Trauma affects not only those who are directly exposed to it, but also on those around them (DeWolf & Geddes, 2019: 8).

DeWolf and Geddes are among a growing number of authors and scholars who believe that ‘[b]ecoming trauma-informed is key to racial healing’ (2019: 9; Menakem, 2017; van der Kolk, 2014). To move towards radical empathy, it is therefore highly useful to acknowledge the role and extent of trauma.
Further, as we commit to sharing our stories and listening to others’ life experiences, it is helpful to do so in community, or in ‘circle’. Circles are a form of restorative practice, a way of creating a gathering space that encourages storytelling and relationship building. The goal in the circle is for participants to feel brave, committed and safe enough to stay in a dialogue when things get difficult. The circle process can thus offer a vehicle for accountability, repair, and transformation around issues of race and racial justice, and be a deliberate form of action we can take together in a community (DeWolf & Geddes, 2019).
As a counterpart to caring for each other in the circle, self-care is also a critical aspect of trauma healing, including racialised trauma. Self-care, too, can be about the collective as well as the individual. In The little book of racial healing the authors identify self-care among a long list of trauma healing strategies, which include several ideas similar to the action steps suggested in Radical empathy, such as creating nurturing and loving relationships, and reflecting on and addressing racism’s root causes, including the history of ‘the other’ (DeWolf & Geddes, 2019).
Finally, DeWolf and Geddes identify other interconnected paths to healing, including spirituality, an area Givens also touches on in Radical empathy. Givens states that ‘focusing on spirituality and the connections to empathy are another lens through which to consider bridging divides’ (33). She goes on to describe her own discovery of a more expansive vision of spirituality encompassing a range of peoples, cultures and religions. Additionally, DeWolf and Geddes mention the use of mindfulness meditation, which is another important set of tools and practices for trauma healing and racial healing. Mindfulness increasingly has gained widespread attention from both practitioners and scholars focused on how we can work towards racial and social justice (e.g. King, 2018; Magee, 2019).
In sum, Radical empathy is a beautifully written and a highly readable and relatable text for anyone seeking to find ways of bridging the cultural, political and racial divides in the United States and elsewhere. I would encourage readers of Givens’ wonderful book to consider using The little book of racial healing as a helpful companion, and, more generally, to explore the topics of trauma awareness, mindfulness, circles and self-care, as well as how they might draw on; Magee, 2019).dummy_textIn sum, Radical empathy is a beautifully written and a highly readable and relatable text for anyone seeking to find ways of bridging the cultural, political and racial divides in the United States and elsewhere. I would encourage readers of Givens’ wonderful book to consider using The little book of racial healing as a helpful companion, and, more generally, to explore the topics of trauma awareness, mindfulness, circles and self-care, as well as how they might drawon2018E.G. King their own sources of spirituality, as additional ways to support their lifelong journeys towards radical empathy.

Notes

[1] For a book review of DeWolf and Geddes (2019), see the third issue of the 2021 volume of this journal.

References

DeWolf, T.N. & Geddes, J. (2019). The little book of racial healing. New York: Good BooksThe little book of racial healingNew YorkGood Books2019J. Geddes.
King, R. (2018). Mindful of race: transforming racism from the inside out. Louisville: Sounds True.Mindful of race: transforming racism from the inside outLouisvilleSounds True.2018R. King
Magee, R.V. (2019). The inner work of racial justice: healing ourselves and transforming our communities through mindfulness. New York: TarcherPerigee.The inner work of racial justice: healing ourselves and transforming our communities through mindfulnessNew YorkTarcherPerigee.2019R.V. Magee
Menakem, R. (2017). My grandmother’s hands: racialized trauma and the pathways to mending our hearts and bodies. Las Vegas: Central Recovery Press.My grandmother’s hands: racialized trauma and the pathways to mending our hearts and bodiesLas VegasCentral Recovery Press.2017R. Menakem
van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. London: Penguin Books.The body keeps the score: brain, mind, and body in the healing of traumaLondonPenguin Books.2014B. Kolk, van der