“The first step in any healing is the reclamation of autonomy. Until a person has control of the choices made over their own system, other changes will just be band-aids. Interpersonal trauma causes us to lose our own center and subjective viewpoint and adopt that of our oppressors so that we can predict unpredictable behavior and survive. Healing happens when the space is made and held for reclamation of one’s own experience. This is autonomy. It cannot be given or granted to another person- though the circumstances that make its expression possible can be stolen. A healing space does not take over the process of a survivor, or presume to grant another person autonomy. A healing space makes room for the survivor to re- own their own process. Another may hold that space, may reflect what is seen and honor it. But no one should decide what healing means except the person healing. In this case, no one should decide what healing means except the collective community doing the healing- in this case, the Black community. A police system created by White body supremacy trauma to reinforce White supremacy simply cannot be a protective force from racial trauma.”