One of the things that Machelle Small Wright (author of “Behaving as if the God in All Life Mattered”) says: whenever there is a deep human conflict, the vibratory energy of that conflict is held by nature spirits until it can be consciously released by humans. She created a “Battle Energy Release Process” that she has used to release negative energy on the Civil War battlegrounds in the South.

I used a modification of that process, that I called the “Slavery Energy Release Process”, to release the energy of slavery from the waterfront in Savannah, Georgia, where, 150 years ago, human beings were gathered and sold. (Although the process was successful — you could FEEL the energy change — I stopped doing it. I didn’t think that it was my role as the descendant of the slaves to initiate the release process.)

The city of Richmond, VA, did an interesting twist of the release process, engaging in a full year of activities acknowledging and atoning for its slave past. I haven’t been there to feel the energy, but I’ve seen video of the process… it was quite moving.

America is haunted by its slave past. The formation and growth of America as a nation cannot be understood separate from the economic and consciousness foundations of slavery and oppression. Yet, we ignore it. The descendants of both the masters and the slaves are tainted by this history. We revere Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Colin Powell, but we still don’t come to grips with what it meant to own (and be owned by) another human being.

I become the “Invisible Man” in almost any urban setting in this country (including my own hometown of Portland, Oregon). When I walk down the street, especially in the evening, people avert their eyes, turn away, or freeze. The cloak of invisibility has nothing to do with how I am dressed, what I’m carrying or how I’m behaving. The only difference between me and others walking down the street is my skin color. This is the legacy of slavery. This is what we must cure. NO ONE moves forward without curing this disease.

Exclusivity — the concept of “I am separate” – was the breeding ground of slavery. “Racism” didn’t create slavery – exclusivity created both slavery and its rationalization called “racism”. Slavery is just an extreme form of exclusivity – the disease that threatens humanity more than any combination of viruses. And, once you shut down your heart enough to actually own another human being, other forms of oppression become much easier – the genocide of the First Peoples, putting Japanese-Americans in concentration camps, treating children like property and women like dirt, invading other countries willy-nilly.

The problem: we cannot deal with this legacy, at the same time as we continue our self-laudatory “We’re Number One” attitudes. Usually, an attempt to move us away from our mutual denial and delusion is seen as “Un-American”.

Now, for the good news.

All around this country, and all around the world, people of all colors and ethnicities have rolled up their sleeves and have committed themselves to doing the heavy lifting of undoing the legacy of slavery and oppression and forging a society that is based on the concept of “We are One”. In this country, there are thousands of groups that involve millions of Americans in releasing the energy of slavery.

My job, the work of Commonway Institute, is NOT to replicate the work of those millions. My work is to FOCUS the energy of those millions, so that we can turn these flickers of light into a laser beam that cuts away our denial and delusion.

I envision thousands of people (mostly white) going out in waves, a few in every city and town that has a legacy of slavery amd oppression (which is all of them), and releasing that energy. (Those “energy workers” would have to first map their location, working with local people to locate the places of slavery and/or oppression that need release. That mapping alone can be a healing process.)

Then, once the energy has transformed, engaging the inhabitants of the city or town in a “truth and reconciliation” process that allows them to consciously transform the energy into a positive force for change.

Is this possible? Of course. Will it actually happen? That, of course, depends on you…

Peace,

Sharif