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The Antiracist Heart

A Self-Compassion and Activism Handbook

Roxy Manning, Sarah Peyton

 

The Antiracist Heart delivers a unique path to antiracist activism and introspection by applying neuroscience exercises, questionnaires, and journaling prompts based on the book How to Have Antiracist Conversations.

Have you wanted to stand up for the values you believe in, yet found yourself inexplicably held back? Do you long for a way to hold people accountable that doesn’t simultaneously demean them? The Antiracist Heart combines cutting-edge neuroscience with ways to build Martin Luther King Jr’s vision of Beloved Community, delivering practical tools for the internal and interpersonal work of antiracism. This book prepares the reader to have a new kind of conversation when racist harms occur – one that doesn’t shy away from hard truths yet doesn’t demonize anyone.

Based on the framework of How to Have Antiracist Conversations, the activities in this handbook empower readers to disrupt the ways racism plays out in daily life. In each chapter, Manning, a clinical psychologist and antiracist activist, and Peyton, a neuroscience expert and educator, both trainers in Nonviolent Communication, unpack key concepts like bias and trauma using brain science alongside practices for self-connection and dialogue.

The exercises are:
• Flexible
• Designed to work for individuals or groups
• For people of the Global Majority (BIPOC) or white people
• For those with or without experience in addressing the effects of racism

By better understanding the neuroscience of how brains develop in response to culture, readers gain skills to interrupt implicit biases and racist constructs deep within the brain. The activities invite introspection and a radical form of self-compassion that make antiracist dialogues and actions possible, thus creating real change.


Reviews

This companion workbook is a breakthrough tool that astonishingly provides both clearly articulated cutting-edge insights into the social dynamics and personal impacts of systemic racism/oppression on our psyches and behaviors and also concrete, accessible, doable strategies for personal and interpersonal healing and connection through greater presence, warmth, choice, and intentional, grounded, emotionally intelligent power as the basis for systemic, justice-based healing. Manning and Peyton’s synthesis and application of clinical and action-based research resonates powerfully in bridging the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural/systemic spheres of our human experience and gives us an invaluable guide to working in all three spheres effectively and with integrity. It is quite simply a bad-ass piece of work!
— Edmundo Norte, Dean Emeritus, Intercultural and International Studies, De Anza College, and Senior Fellow, Community Learning Partnership
 
 
Manning and Peyton have contributed a practical how-to guide and toolkit for folks across the full spectrum of antiracist dialogues. Nobody is left out. Everyone is seen and has a place. What makes this rare and much-needed book so useful and path-breaking is that it brings together different strands from Nonviolent Conversation, psychology, and authentic dialogues to show us all a courageous path forward for healing, antiracism, and creating Beloved Community.” 
Karen DeGannes
 
 
The insights and practical strategies shared within these pages have had a profound impact on me both personally and professionally. Within hours of applying the book’s teachings, I felt a sense of relief and renewed energy to take meaningful, guilt-free action toward making our world a more just and caring place for all.
 Jane M Connor, MA, MS, PhD, marriage and family therapist, psychologist, and Associate Professor of Human Development Emerita, Binghamton University
 
 
If you’ve ever struggled to make sense of the charged landscape of race, racism, white supremacy, and antiracism, read this book. If you longed for more clarity, skill, and confidence to address racism and white supremacy, read this book. If you want more meaningful authentic dialogue, read this book. Integrating their deep insight and compassion, Roxy and Sarah offer us a powerful guide to transformative conversations about race.
 Oren Jay Sofer, author of Say What You Mean and Your Heart Was Made for This
 

 

 


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